The Little Literal Me...

Oh my!  I had a serious epiphany today!  God just opened my eyes to something that has been on my mind...
(WARNING:  this is VERY long!)


Miss Jasmine is my precious, sweet girl...who I might define as complex.  She challenges me with her deep questions and understanding of how things work.  She asks me "why" probably 50 times a day...no exaggeration.  She often says "why did I just do that?" talking about herself.  My answer is often "I don't know why you did that...you tell me."  (As I typed this first paragraph she has asked me 'why' 6 times...she's asked me about the Easter bunny, if 'Jasmine is pretend' in the movie, and several questions about Sleeping Beauty...all while she cuts out a picture she colored.)


So...I've recently in the last year defined my child as very literal.  There have been a couple of good examples of this that have occurred. 


The first one I can think of occurred at 'pre-school' last year.  They had "Bring Your Teddy Bear to school" day.  All the kids brought their favorite bear to carry around with them.  The teachers read the book "We're Going on a Bear Hunt."  If you've never read this book, it's about climbing over a mountain, going through the mud, swimming across a river...etc.  After the teacher read the book, she told the kids that they were going on REAL bear hunt!  All the kids gathered their bears, got in a line, and went on a bear hunt. MY child was crying the whole time.  The teacher pulled her aside and came to the conclusion that she was upset about her bear possibly getting dirty.  When they told me about it later that day, I knew that was not at all what it was - that's not like her...so I asked her later.  Turns out she was scared because she didn't want to get dirty in the mud and she didn't know how to swim well enough to cross the river.  She LITERALLY thought they were going on a bear hunt!


(She just asked me "how come Dufenshmirtz hasn't found anyone to love?"  - straight from Phineas & Ferb.)


This week we went to the church library for story time.  Ms. Rita was asking the kids in the 3-5 year old room if they knew the names of the people sitting on each side of them.  When she got to my kids, she discovered that they were brother and sister since she asked Austin what the girl's name next to him was and he said "sissy".    Ms. Rita asked Jasmine..."do you play with your brother during the day?"  She answered "no, not usually".  The teacher was a little shocked and I was too.  I chimed in with, "you play with him all the time."  So...later that day I asked her why her answer was 'no'.  She said plainly, "I play with Austin during the morning.  During the 'day' I usually play by myself at naptime."  Simple, literal...got it.


Example #3...she told people that she'll be the only princess in the house when our baby girl is born.  I knew that she had asked me weeks earlier if our baby girl will have a princess name...and I had told her 'no'.  She just meant that her name is a princess name and the baby's won't be.  She did not mean her sister wouldn't be a princess.


So...I've been struggling a little with this.  Will she be misunderstood at school?  Will teachers not 'get her'?  Will they think she's rude?  How do I understand her?  Can I explain her?


So...God decided to put 2 scenarios in my head about ME!  The first one I remembered was when I was finishing 8th grade and tried out for Big Mac Keeper (cheerleader) in high school.  This was a position for 4 people, who only tried out in front of a panel of judges and could be 9th-12th grade...but cheered with varsity.  My try-out went great until the judges asked me a question.  "Can you tell us what you can contribute to the squad?  What can you bring to the squad?"  (long pause...totally blank...a little confused.)  My answer, "I don't know."  30 min later they announced the 4 BMK's and I was NOT one of them.  I was devastated.  I told my Dad about that question and then told him..."I don't have any new jumps, or new cheers, or new things to add."  I very litterally thought they wanted something that no one else had.  My dad then informed me that answers like "a positive attitude or trying my hardest" was what they meant.  "OHhhhhh...I get it."  Well...fortunately for me one of the girls found out she was moving 2 weeks later and I got another shot!  Yea me! I aced that answer 2nd time around.


Also, I can remember knowing in my head when I was 15 years old...that when you accelerated onto the highway that the speed limit was 60 mph.  So...Mom and I set out on another driving lesson together and I accelerated onto the highway to her panicking..."slow down, what are you doing?"  Me:  "I'm going 60".  Her:  "not when all the other cars are stopped."  Me: "oh, I get it now."  I never had a problem driving after that.  ;)


So...God revealed to me that I AM THE LITERAL ONE in this family.  It's ME that she takes after.  Oh my gosh...I had no idea!  Thank you Lord for the insight that I've been needing.  I can't believe I didn't know that I was like that.  So...Jasmine is my little, literal me.