Monday, April 16, 2007

Misreading the signs

These are two incidents on how a three year old sees the world around him.
One-
The city of Orlando's public transportation is called the Lynx. It consists of bus routes that "link" you through town. The Lynx's bus stops are marked with a round sign with, either a picture of a bus on it or the "paw print" of the mountain cat the Lynx.

On our last day in Orlando I was driving the kids to the store when Max yells out from the back seat, "Daddy, Daddy! Stop! Stop! A clue. A CLUE!"

It took me a few minutes to figure it out but then we spent the rest of trip trying to find all the clues.

Two-
Now either my laziness has taught Maxfield, or he is just THAT observant of other people, but he knows to look for the handicapped push pad to open automatic doors in public places. These pads are usually located right next to doors at his eye level.

While staying at a hotel, before our trip back up north, we were exiting the lobby and he wanted to use the handicapped button to open the door. The only problem was the doors were not the automatic handicapped type of doors. The button he kept trying to push, which was at his eye level, was the fire alarm for the hotel.

Thank God that both Lauren and I are quick enough to get to him before he actually set it off.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's why each time he,Max, picks up the phone, I'm afraid he's going to dial 911. Why? Because he can! Guess What? William moves north and we have snow and hail on April 16th! Winds are blowing and it is 32 degrees!!!! What comes next?.....

Patience said...

Were the paw prints blue perhaps?!? Secretly, I enjoy watching Blues Clues. I don't know why.

Kami said...

OMG on the alarm button. Too funny.

Anonymous said...

momo9, didn't William say it would be "a cold day in hell...." before he moved back North?

Anonymous said...

that is so cute!

Anonymous said...

HAHAHHA! omg, priceless!!

Anonymous said...

Gotta love (other people's) kids!

Jaime said...

I grew up in a small town in Maine, and your first glimpse of it would be as you crested a hill and started down into town. We took yearly road trips to Ohio, and arriving home afterwards was always cause for celebration, because oh my god, we've been in the car for 16 hours. Anyway, when my sister was little, she'd wait until we crested that hill and yell "Yay, we're in Maine!". We didn't have the heart to tell her we'd been in Maine for 3 hours.

Unknown said...

My 3 year old set off the fire alarm at Domino's pizza once. It was so loud, and there were fire trucks and everything. The manager was a good sport about it though.

Anonymous said...

My niece took to hitting the emergency button at the end of the escalators which would cause it to immediately stop. When she was 2 she did it one time at the Willow Grove Park Mall. Luckily there was only 2 teenagers on there so they just jerked forward and then walked the rest of the way up. No one knew it was her but I was secretly laughing as I told her it was wrong. We were in the mall for another 2 hours and the escalator still was shut down.

Another time we were in NYC at the Disney store. It was packed and we were at the top of the escalator. She reached out to hit the button but luckily my husband was a second quicker than her and grabbed her hand so she couldn't get it. There could have been some trouble there!

So you might want to watch out for those buttons too! They are often at kid-eye level and very tempting to them.

sari said...

My boys and I were using the bathroom at the baseball game the other night (a college game). To save time, we all used the "family" bathroom that of course has the handicapped button.

My five year old hits the button and opens the door WHILE I'm going to the bathroom. And you can't, you know, close the door once it starts swinging open. And it was right by the snack bar.

Hello, everyone!

eclectic said...

Oh dear. That boy will be 15 someday. ;)

Anonymous said...

Interesting. I can remember a certain button at eye-level that YOU couldn't resist pushing, Bill, setting off a very loud alarm at our new house in the middle of a party. Funny how ALL the other grown-ups walked right by that very same button without feeling an urge to push it.
Ahh, retribution. Max is exacting my revenge.

Chris Cactus said...

Wow. Thank goodness for small favors.

Jody said...

LOL! A clue! Doug was having a serious conversation with me, which I was half listening to, while I was reading. I interrupted him with my laughter. Too funny!

Just Jan said...

It truely is amazing how observant children are. I love the story about the CLUE!! How cute!! It would have been quite a different story you posted had you 2 not been quick on your toes with Max and he HAD indeed set off the alarm...LOL

Anonymous said...

I don't think it had anything to do with Blue's Clue's, I think he wants you to get a clue...