The Giving Munchkin
The Munchkin tried to share yesterday, but the recipient just didn’t appreciate it.
We were over at my parents’ home after a shopping trip to Target (a small list of things needed, including diaper pins because the darn things aren’t taking the abuse of two kids so well, and bibs for Baby Boy, who is much more urpy than his sister was). The Munchkin loves going over there for many reasons, but one of the best is that she loves their animals – Rusty the German Shepherd-mix dog and Wicket the grey tabby cat. Rusty loves the Munchkin because he usually gets half her food when she eats over there. Wicket is not so fond of her, but he has suddenly become tolerant of her petting him. We’ve even seen her pull his tail and he hasn’t moved. Eventually she does annoy him enough that he runs off, but this is an improvement from the days when he just ran to start with.
So Wicket was letting the Munchkin pet him – he was curled up in the family room next to the pump organ – and the Munchkin noticed a skein of red yarn that she had played with earlier. I had insisted that Grandma stop her before she unwound the whole thing, but it was still on the floor. With us watching, the Munchkin picked up the end of the yarn string that she had pulled out and offered it to Wicket. He didn’t budge. She wanted him to play with it, and he wasn’t going for it. She then picked up the whole skein of yarn and dropped it on the cat. “Here, kii,” she said. The grown-ups (including 12-year-old Auntie) went into giggles as the cat ran off. “Kii! Kii!” the Munchkin called as she chased after him.
Obviously she had gotten it into her little head that cats should play with yarn – I think she’s got a book with a picture of a cat with a yarn ball. So when the cat didn’t go for just the string, she gave him a whole skein of yarn. I really think she was disappointed when the cat didn’t appreciate her gesture. Grandma praised her for sharing with the kitty as I desperately tried to smother my giggles. The cat escaped to the great outdoors and the Munchkin went back to finding other things to take apart.
Maybe next time we’ll try letting her give Wicket a treat instead. Maybe not. When we let her give Rusty a dog biscuit, she had to sample it first. Then she was upset that he ate it all. The dog didn’t share. This probably isn’t the best way to teach her about sharing, since animals have no concept of it. Why do we do it? Because it’s entertaining. And she loves the kii and Wud-ty (kitty and Rusty, in Munchkin-speak) as hard as she loves her brother. Fortunately, they can take it.
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