Sweet Pea Momments / Except our Feet

Image by MyAngelG via Flickr

My son. What can I say, he likes to point out the obvious. We have a small galley kitchen so it is a rule in our house that toys, shoes, etc. don't belong in my kitchen. We are cleaning up after lunch and I am barking out. "Please get everything off the floor that doesn't belong in my kitchen. Why is their a life vest and a teddy bear in here. Come on, let's go everyone."

My son follows up with "exect our feet." I am sure my eyes rolled back into my head.

He is 7 years old, but how long will it take for him to get this? We talked about how these OBVIOUS statements are a form of mocking me. Big deer in the headlights on that one. How do I get this concept across? He spent a few minutes in his room and I called everyone into the kitchen to explain the concept of not saying what is OBVIOUS. I told them that mommy doesn't have time to fully explain everything. They need to be able to think it through. We had so much fun with this one. I gave the example of trying to get everyone out to the car. Petra has a doll, Reye an action figure and the twins have picked up sticks. I say "I don't want anyone to bring ANYTHING into the car." What do I mean? What are you to leave behind. Everyone got it. Then I said "except my nose," everyone laughed, and "except my shirt." Then Reye got a big smile and said "now I get it." We all then started sharing all those funny exceptions, pants, underwear, socks, hair, arms, legs, etc.