One of the words that is now gracing my daughter’s vocabulary is “hot” (or “Ott). She understands the concept of “hot” insofar as she is not, under any circumstances, to touch something that is “hot.” If I label the oven “hot,” she’s pretty good at keeping away from it. She does not, however, fully understand the meaning of “hot” beyond the fact that it has to do with temperature. Nor does she understand that food which was once “hot” becomes “cold” and “yucky” after a prolonged period of time.

Me: (placing a glob of her favorite delicacy, macaroni, in front of her)
Her: (gently touching a single macaroni with her index finger) Ott.
Me: It’s not hot.
Her: Ott.
Me: Button, it’s not hot. It’s warm.
Her: (refusing to have anything to do with the macaroni) Ott.
Me: Warm. Warm is good. You can eat warm food.
Her: Ott.
Me: Look, I’ll show you. I’ll eat some too. See? Not hot. Warm…ish. Can you say “room temperature?”
Her: Ott.
Me: No, not hot. Lukewarm.
Her: Ott.
Me:  It’s not hot.
Her: Ott.
Me: Ok, now it’s cold.

Evidently, cold macaroni is acceptable. Because, you know, it’s not hot.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 22nd, 2006 at 11:15 pm and is filed under Daily, Parenting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.