What Else Does This Kid Know?

Today I took the children to an adult friend's birthday party; the guests were mostly families with young children, many of whom we see routinely, so John was looking forward to seeing other kids. I made the novice mistake of telling him at about 9:00 a.m. that we would be going to a party later that day (at noon). Following was about two straight hours of weeping that we were not leaving for the party right then. I even took us in the back yard to play and the entire time John sat still on the deck, head in hands, crying, begging me to go to the party. I'll remember not to make that mistake again for a while!

Anyway, John fell asleep on the 40-minute drive to the party, which was hosted at a home where we have visited only twice before. We arrived in the neighborhood, but John was still sleeping and I was ten minutes early, so I decided to drive around to pass the time. John awoke and his first words to me were, "No, I want to go to the party!" I replied, "We are on our way to the party." John retorted, "No, you are just driving around the neighborhood seeing houses."

It took me some seconds to close my jaw so I could ask him to repeat himself and he did, just as clearly as the first time. This child is only two-and-a-half?

Later while at the party, one of the birthday girl's brothers commented to me how quiet John is. He said, "He doesn't talk much does he? He wouldn't talk to me, and he wouldn't even talk to B--- and J--- [other children] when they were talking to him." I explained that John is cautious and takes a while to warm up (and does this surprise anyone who knew me as a child?). In truth, he is a nonstop chatterbox who says things that amaze me!

Two other surprising moments happened on the drive home from the party.

We were driving from the party to the highway entrance when John said, "Hey, there is Trader Joe's!" We shop at our nearby Trader Joe's most Wednesday mornings on our way home from occupational therapy. I glanced at the shopping center and didn't see it, but I had a niggling feeling. When I arrived home, I checked online and learned that there are exactly two Trader Joe's locations in all of Charlotte and we had driven right past the other one today! How he recognized a different Trader Joe's location, I have no idea.

Then we were driving along I-85 when I missed the exit for I-77. We had been driving in silence and I did not say a word or make indication when I realized I had missed my exit. I was silently glancing ahead at the next sign so I could get off and turn around when John said, "We're lost." Aghast, I asked, "What did you say?"

John (said like he was talking to a dim person): "We're lost, Mom."

This child only learned of the concept of being lost once, which was a few weeks ago when I got lost and had to call Chris from my cell phone because my GPS system isn't working. So, not only has John been exposed to the idea of "being lost" once, but how on earth did he know we had missed our exit between two seemingly identical freeways? Anyway, I laughed and told him that he was right, we were lost, but that I knew what to do.

This is when parenthood begins to feel a bit eerie. What else does this kid know? All I can say is: don't talk about any state secrets within his earshot because I think he is listening more closely than I thought!