Do you know what that is?

JJ was visiting me at work a few minutes ago, and he kept pushing the button that looks like this and opens the door. I thought I would take a minute and explain to him about differences, handicaps, and the real purpose for that button.

On a side note, it's amazing the things kids say when they don't understand. When JJ was really little he would notice people who were fat, midgets, had physical disabilities and people with mental disabilities. Of course as a young child, all they know to do is point and talk really loud about it.

We have had many experiences with this. He has seen a midget and said, "Wow!! Mom, look, he's really small!!" We were at the movies just last weekend and there was a lady who was his height working at the counter. Jake and I were talking to the manager about something and he kept pulling on us and calling us and starting to point. We knew what he was going to say and we knew he was going to point, so we kept pulling his arm down, and shushing him and telling him to wait.

I eventually just had to bend down and whisper to him that Heavenly Father makes us each special and different and sometimes that can mean different things like being tall or short or sick, and on and on. We've talked about it before, because like I said, this has been going on for years, so this was just a reminder pep talk.

No matter how much we talk about it with him and prepare for it, Jake and I are always aware of who's around and we almost have a radar together when we see possible victims. We both look at each other and know that he is going to say something loud and rude if he notices that person too.

It always makes me worried that they think Jake and I are being rude by looking at them, or if JJ does say something, I hope that they realize he is just little and doesn't know. Anyways, this was a long side story that I wanted to share because we have always struggled with how to teach JJ to at least talk quietly about stuff if we need to.

Have any of you had problems with this too?

Back to the start of the post...I said, "JJ, do you know what picture on the sign is?" I was going to teach him about a wheelchair, because I thought he thought it might be a cool racing device. I had it all planned in my head about how I was going to talk about how some people's legs don't work, some people don't have legs, some people who are sick need to use them...and he quickly replied, "Um, a guy pooping?" Jake and I were trying to keep a straight face and just say that it wasn't, but we were unsuccessful. We couldn't hold it back.

After laughing for a while and explaining that we shouldn't say that again,(because JJ knows that if people laugh once, they will laugh if he does it again, and again, and again) we were able to move on and really talk about the meaning of the sign, who needs it, and why we can't push the button a lot. No matter how serious you try to make life, kids will always make it not so serious.