Chit chat about climbing frames, slides and shopping

Now N has the hang of the language thing, I’m finding we have some great conversations.  Some are a little loopy and irrelevant as you’d expect for a 3 year old’s thought processes.  Others involve out and out lies and making up stories (predominantly things he might be telling nursery about the farm – must remind the OH to watch out what he says in case dubious things get repeated in public!).

Last night we had an amusing conversation on the way back from nursery based around climbing frames.  At least I was talking about how we should start researching the type of wooden climbing frame we’d want to get for him ready for when the weather turned drier (here’s hoping).  The plan was that it would be a birthday present, so he didn’t have anything big for that.

Of course as soon as I mentioned a climbing frame and present, he went off on a long ramble about how ‘I had presents for Christmas, Father Christmas comes down the chimney and brings presents for the children, and I had presents for my birthday, but it’s not my birthday anymore’.

I explained how we needed to research some climbing frame companies, and how we’d have to go and see some to choose the type of frame we’d want.  My vision is for a big wooden frame, with a swing, maybe a slide, and a little playroom/hide out for him to play in.  I’m not sure what exactly he was envisaging because he informed me

‘I’ll have a little climbing frame’ and

‘nursery have a climbing frame’.  Yes, but wouldn’t you like a climbing frame at home in our garden?

‘Yes, then Rexy comes and plays with me on it’.  Nice to see he’s inviting his cousin round already.  Any chance he gets N wants him to come and play, and stay for tea.

Then his mind moved onto where we were going to buy this climbing frame from.  I’m presuming we’ll need to go to a specialist place, or potentially use my Nectar points towards it as I’ve got a stash saved up if I can find the right climbing frame.  Not N.

‘We go to the shop and pay the lady and buy the climbing frame.  You give her money’.  Great he’s grasped the notion of buying and selling, but nothing like presuming all shop assistants are women.

‘It might be a man in the shop’ I tell him as a lot of outdoor toy specialists I’ve spoken to at agricultural shows and fairs etc have been male.

‘No, we pay the lady in the shop’.  Oh ok, he seemed very sure of that.

Arriving home, the conversation continues as I hear him tell his dad

‘We’re going to buy a climbing frame with a big slide and a tree house, and pay the lady’.  I had no idea where the slide had come from given we hadn’t discussed that, but I think his dad was more perplexed about who this ‘lady’ was that we were going to pay.  And a tree house – we don’t have any trees in the back garden, so I’m not sure whether he was getting all excited about it as there’s a tree house in the nursery forest school?

The conversation definitely amused me.  All I can say is that it’ll be an interesting shop if N comes with me.