Uh-Oh

When Isis first began uttering words we were ecstatic. We would do everything possible to get her to mutter those beautiful sounds. Something would fall, "buum!" She wanted more of something, "Mo!" She was finished, "Ah duun!" She is mimicking every word now and we love it.

Enter the word uh-oh. This too was very cute until we realized it was consuming her life. Isis likes things just so and our day goes better if everything would just stay in its place and function perfectly.

Enter not so perfect mommy. Enter daily accidents that happen. Enter random unexpected events. Enter the little pointer finger finding every possible mistake. Enter my hell.

Ask Isis what happened in the bathroom and she'll tell you, "Boom! Uh-Oh! Mommy! Daddy!"

Translation: Boom, the cup fell into the sink. Uh-Oh the bottom of the sink fell off. Mommy broke it. Daddy will fix it. Now, if you can fix the uh-oh, Isis will clap emphatically for you and her world returns to normal. Let's take a look.

"Uh-oh!"

"Daddy fixed it!" (notice finger)

"Yeah, for daddy!"

Very cute. Let's explore some other situations. Uh-oh, there is food on my finger and needs to be wiped off before I can continue eating. Uh-oh, this cheerio is broken and therefore inedible. Uh-oh, my glo worm doesn't have any legs. Uh-oh, there is horse poop in our driveway. Uh-oh, please wipe the finger paint off my finger. Uh-oh, there is a picture of spilled milk. Uh-oh there is a speck of dirt too tiny for mommy to see but I can see it uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh. Enter the finger.......

..........enter mommy's deep sigh and not-so-nice-mommy-face. What was once so cute is now slowly killing me.

I think what scares me this most about this is how much it seems to consume her day. How much it truly bothers her and sometimes keeps her from doing things. I have taught children who have similar issues and have watched how difficult it is for them to cut because they might go off the lines. I have stood there with a box of wipes for children who must clean their fingers every time glue gets on them. I have seen children unable to take spelling tests because they didn't know exactly how to spell every word. I have stood in awe at children unable to do word searches because their words might intersect and therefore their lines might cross and oh how the tears would pour.

I am hopeful that this is a phase and soon enough a new word will come around that she is more interested in. But until we have truly passed this stage, I'm praying hard for her kindergarten teacher.