Photo Contest: $250 Target Gift Card + Bitsy’s Brainfood
One of the things I love about having a two-year-old is listening to all the funny stuff that comes out of her mouth. Whether she’s telling jokes that make no sense or mispronouncing words (Snoopy is Snoofy, which is the cutest thing ever) or trying to engage me in the beginnings of an actual conversation, it is all adorable.
But the best is when Harlow totally wows me with a zinger or an insightful response or an extra big word that makes me realize she is way smarter than her size would have you believe.
Here are 13 examples of smart stuff Harlow has said or done recently that suggest she is way wiser than her years.
1. Harlow has perfectly sound mermaid logic.
A few weeks ago, we were swimming in the pool when Harlow’s big sister asked me a very important question.
Mazzy: Mom, are mermaids real?
I didn’t have to answer because Harlow immediately weighed in.
Harlow: YES!!!!!
Mazzy: How do you know?
Harlow: Because I’m a mermaid!
2. Harlow is a master of small talk.
We had a few new friends over the other day. Most of the kids were swimming in the pool but Harlow chose to sit with the adults who were chatting poolside. She screamed “STOP TALKING!!!!” because she hates when the conversation doesn’t revolve around her.
Me: The adults are allowed to talk to each other, Harlow.
Harlow: Talk to ME.
Me: Ok. What would you like to talk about?
Harlow: Cookies, cars and dinner.
And then all the adults (+ Harlow) spent the next twenty minutes talking about their favorite kinds of cookies, their favorite cars and what they would be having for dinner, which made for way better conversation than whatever nonsense we were talking about previously.
3. Harlow mastered hopscotch on her very first try.
4. Harlow has good reasons for being scared of the dark.
HARLOW: It’s dark out!
ME: I know. It’s getting late.
HARLOW: I’m scared of the dark!
ME: What are you afraid of?
HARLOW: (without missing a beat) ZOMBIES!!!!!!!!
Not exactly the answer I was expecting.
Here are Harlow’s exact words after listening to Taylor Swift’s “Style” while riding in the car: “If you are out of style, then your hair won’t look pretty. You don’t want to be out of the style.”
Truth.
6. Harlow knows the importance of her own name.
I took Harlow to a carnival and she got to go on real rides for the first time. No fear whatsoever. On the ride above, Harlow had her heart set on the pink car so she climbed in even though another girl was already sitting there. Then as the ride was going in circles, I watched her chat this older girl up the whole time.
“What did you talk about?” I asked Harlow when it was over.
HARLOW: You know, our names… stuff like that.
ME: What was her name?
HARLOW: I don’t know. I told her I was Harlow.
7. Harlow understands the difference between a good sandwich and a bad sandwich.
ME: You haven’t eaten any of your sandwich.
HARLOW: I don’t like sandwiches!
(pause)
HARLOW: Well, I like ice cream ones.
8. Harlow always practices fairness.
Fyi, I have no idea where she learned this. She just busted it out during dinner one day.
9. Harlow has an excellent memory.
Whenever I tell Harlow she can’t do something (like this morning it was cut an apple with a cleaver), she asks “Can I do it when I’m bigger?”
I say yes and then she runs through a whole list of things she has built based on previous conversations, so I know she is keeping track. So far the list is, “When I get bigger I can jump in the deep end, I can paint my nails, I can chew gum, I can wear lipstick and I can cut an apple with a knife.”
Not only does she have an excellent memory, she has big (yet attainable) goals.
10. Harlow knows how to use our words against us.
Speaking of getting bigger, Mike and I have used that to try and convince Harlow to eat more, since she is a notoriously picky eater. So now, when we tell her she is not getting dessert, she breaks down on the floor and cries, “BUT I WANT TO GET BIGGER!”
11. Harlow makes up her own words and they are better than the originals.
I handed Harlow a handful of cherry tomatoes and said, “Here are some tomatoes.”
HARLOW: No, Mom, there are four matoes!
I looked. There were indeed “four ‘matoes”.
Whether she was purposefully making a joke or not, I have no idea. She wins either way.
12. Harlow knows how to use pronouns.
Harlow was facetiming with Grammy and showed her a My Little Pony doll.
GRAMMY: Oh, is that My Little Pony?
HARLOW: NO! it’s MY little pony.
GRAMMY: Right. That’s what I said. It’s My Little Pony.
HARLOW: It’s not YOUR little pony! It’s MY little pony!
GRAMMY: Oh okay, it’s YOUR little pony.
HARLOW: That’s right.
Like my own personal Abbott and Costello routine.
13. Harlow does a spot on imitation of her mom.
Harlow always asks me to play “baby” and “mommy”. Usually I’m the mommy and she’s the baby which is oddly similar to how we act together anyway. The other day, Harlow switched roles and said she was the mommy and I should be the baby.
ME: Goo goo ga ga.
HARLOW: Put your phone down or else I will take away TV. Now go to sleep. I said close your eyes. Now… WHERE ARE MY SUNGLASSES????
Yep. She’s got me down to a tee.
Today, I’m launching a search for the Smartest Cookie for the chance to win a $250 Target gift card and a selection of products from Bitsy’s Brainfood!
Bitsy’s Brainfood was started by two moms who believe learning to eat smart should be fun. They make nut-free whole grain vitamin-packed organic cookies (sold in the cookie aisle at Target) with flavors like Zuchinni Gingerbread Carrot, Orange Chocolate Beet and Sweet Potato Oatmeal Raisin.
Bitsy’s Brainfood doesn’t hide the fact that there are vegetables in their cookies— they want kids to embrace their veggies and know they’re good for them.
The cookies are in the shape of the alphabet because— DUH. What is smarter than learning to spell while you eat your sweets?
In addition to the regular bag, they also come in a pack of 16 single serve bags perfect for a healthy nut-free Halloween alternative.
To enter, just post a comment below or on the Mommy Shorts Facebook page explaining an instance when your kid said or did something super smart. You can also post a picture on Instagram tagging #bitsysmartcookie with a caption. If you post on Instagram, you must tag and follow both @mommyshorts and @bitsysbrainfood.
I’ll post my favorites and announce the winner on September 24th date!
“My imagination is a better drawer than me. Is your imagination a better drawer than you, Mom?” My 5 year old sums up artistic frusturation while surrounded by balls of paper trying to draw a dinosaur…
My four year old recently remarked, about the dinner I made: “that’s impressive, mommy!” (Gee thanks, kiddo, as if I’ve never cooked before.)
And my Kindergartener is still giving me hugs and kisses right before he gets on the school bus. I count that as super-smart-loveable charmer thdt he is! I love every minute of it because I’m sure it won’t last.
Oone more – because we (mom and dad) are scientists, our 4 and 5 year old boys regularly use words Iike “hypothesis,” “theory,” etc. For example, “I suspect this object will sink in water but that one will float. I should text my hypothesis in a scientific experiment.” Yes, were raising little nerds or mad scientists! (They love being crazy and playing sports too)
Picking up my 3 year old from preschool when her teacher pulled me aside. She said she was attemping to read a story to the class and they were just not settling down. She said to herself, “Ok, I am not here right now.” My daughter said to her, “Actually, you are right there.” I laughed that she used the word actually but not surprised she said it.
I was sitting next to my 2yr old when I finished up reading. I closed my ipad but asked him he wanted to play a game. While handing it to him I opened the kids folder and tapped on the app. I handed it to him and he told me, ” I watch a movie.” He then backed out of the app, out of the folder, into the folder where I have movie and entertainment apps and clicked on netfix to watch Curious George. He smiled at me and I got up and just walked away.
My older kids were asking about caffeine, like how it tastes, what it does to your body and why their pregnant aunt shouldn’t have a lot right now.
Me: when we drink it, it can give us a lot of energy and it can keep you awake. Since babies eat what their mommys eat…
My youngest son: they would explode…like TNT
My 4 year old and I were playing hospital:
Me: “fill out this paperwork. Who’s your emergency contact?”
Emily: “the ambulance”
Me: “right…but who do you want the hospital to contact if you need treatment?”
Emily: “the doctor!”
My 2 y.o. loudly proclaims”Dinner’s ready” when the microwave time ends…last night she did it with a room full of dinner guests. Nothing to do but smile and make a joke about how it’s usually veggies. Truth sayer among us.
On the way home from work/preschool, I had turned the radio down so I could talk with my 2 year old daughter about her day. Once the conversation had died down a bit, the following interaction occurred:
Daughter: Mama, turn the radio up please! I listen to music.
Me: (turns radio up-local pop station is playing)
Daughter: No! I said music!
Me: Sweetheart, this is music.
Daughter: No, mama, this is just noise. This not music. Please turn on Elmo.
Me: Touché kid, touché
After my almost three year old took the bag of cotton candy and made confetti with it all over the floor. i said Lance we don’t make messes. He said it’s ok mommy. Sometimes it takes him reminding me that it is really ok to make a mess. That’s why we have a vacuum.
[…] Post 09/25/15 25 Hilariously Deep Thoughts from Little Kids Two weeks ago, I talked about all the smart things my two-year-old says and asked you all to submit the smartest things your kids have said for the chance to win a $250 […]