妈妈的功用

旻达是个急脾气，热心肠的小姑娘。 她还特别缺乏安全感，小时候总是一副惊慌的样子。 所以我对她比较宽容和有耐心。
于是，我在她心里似乎是这个功用：
一岁时，半夜啼哭半个小时。我在月光下，告诉她，‘我要让你爸爸抱了。’ 哭声才渐渐停止。
两岁时，夜里经常哭醒，哄也哄不停。 她爸爸把她抱到楼下，大哭十分钟后，可以在我怀里轻声哭，直到睡着。
三岁时，到托儿所接她时，经常因为饿了，晚了，早了而发脾气。边跺脚还边瞟着是否有老师注意，很不愿破坏在老师心里的乖乖女形象。看来只有妈妈是受气包。
四岁后，终于离开了我的床。早上醒来，仍找妈妈，我要马上去她的房间报到，否则仍要哭上十分钟，直到她上过厕所为止。这是什么毛病？！
五岁时，她再大哭大闹时，我请她去洗手间里哭，并把门关好，以免吵着别人。她转去向Katie诉苦。Katie一直很不满，为什么旻达只要妈妈，不要她，于是很高兴地接管旻达。Katie有一次也受不了，也请她去洗手间。旻达愤愤不平，‘你怎么像妈妈一样？！’
六岁了，今天早上打电话来向我哭诉，‘Katie不让我用计算机。’ 我一般不插手孩子之间的矛盾。但她大有说上五分钟，‘我想你了，我要你马上回来！’的趋势，我赶紧打断她，让Katie来听电话。

Good Night

This is my first day of school. I will be back to home at 10 p.m. Katie, Minkai, and Minda called me a few times during the day. I know that Katie is influencing. The other two do not quite get the idea, but Katie is worried.

At 3 p.m., they called me again. Minda told me that Minkai and she would sleep at 9 and Katie would sleep at 10 because Katie is an older kid. I confirmed it. Minda was in a good mood, so she did not complain. Minkai said good night to me :-) I told him that he could see me tomorrow morning.

I am grateful for their acceptance of my being home late.

Thinker

Minkai is a thinker, which means that he needs to resolve conflict by logic. He likes to think too.

One day, he said, "Mom, look, it is 2:35! 2 plus 3 is 5."

Another day, he could not find his cup. He told me that his cup was put into dishwasher. My three kids usually use more than ten cups a day. I was reluctant to give him another cup.
I said, "it must be the cup on the counter top."
He said calmly, "no, it is too tall for me to reach."
The counter top is about 2 inches less than his height. And yes, it would be hard for him to put a cup with water there.
So I gave him another cup.