Directions

Driving directions are notoriously difficult to "explain" to my Daughter. I have tried to help her by making her the Navigator when we travel. She is absolutely excellent at reading maps and giving the blow by blow Yahoo maps directions, but when it comes to "do you know how to get to the....." her standard response is "NOOOO", followed by a burrowing deeper into a book.

When we were at the College, she said she wanted to celebrate MLK day by going out to lunch with me and talking about social justice. I asked her where she wanted to go and she said Pizza Hut. Was there a Pizza Hut downtown? She got very nervous and said (two or three octaves higher than her normally high pitched voice...) "I don't want to be responsible for you getting LOST, but I don't think it is downtown." I took a deep breath and asked if she would help me try to find it. "Yes".

I started to drive in the direction I thought it might be. "Not this way, Mom, go LEFT." I turned left at the first opportunity and said "This way?"

"NO" she shifted herself in the seat so as to be perpendicular to the front of the vehicle. "LEFT. The way Those cars are going." She pointed Back The Way we came...

I stifled the giggles. Must.Not.Giggle.

My Daddy and I used to drive my Mother absolutely crazy with the "my left or your left" game...

SO, I pulled the car back onto the road, going the way she was pointing, and then she gave me absolutely excellent directions, just as if she was reading from the Yahoo Maps printout and finally said

"And, NOW, if you'll look to your Right, I do believe you'll see a Pizza Hut!"

Sure enough.

WOW!

Another major thing off that stupid "She's never going to be able to..." developmental checklist.

AND. The Social Justice talk was Totally Excellent, as always. The pizza, though, not so much. We're entirely SPOILED now that we've had Take and Bake from Superstars.....sigh.

Comments

[Ann]

There are a mere 28 steps in the Mapquest directions from the college to Village Pizza...

[Kathleen]

woohoo! way to go daughter bird. we had a surpise with owen this week. he receptively knows all 26 upper case alphabet letters. they haven't tested lower case and he's expressing them too. and they think he knows at least 1-20! never formally taught. it was the kind of good news we needed and love to share. :)