Prosaic Poppy 2005-2006

Telephone Negotiations

A few days ago I decided that I would get one of those "pay as you go" phones. I am not a big fan of cell phones, or any phone for that matter, I like my ability to be under the radar, unreachable, unfindable. That way, when I am out...I am O-U-T..out...

However, I also know the convenience of having a cell phone, say when the tire goes flat and I am stranded with a screaming child alongside a highway. Said cell phone would come in handy.

That isn't the reason I bought a cell phone though. I bought one for professional reasons. That is neither here nor there. The actual complication of buying a cell phone is the three year old.

Being as astute as she is realized that mommy is buying a phone. Therefore she must have one as well. When the three year old must have something, she MUST have something. Kimi has perfected the art of 'pre store' negotiations and 'in-store' manipulation.

I am also not a big fan of buying toys for non-occasions. So, you see my dilemma. I am not just going to buy the kid a phone for no reason. She has to 'earn' it. Therefore I stipulated that I would buy her a phone if she would keep her pull-ups dry. [This is all irrelevant of course, we already know who is in control..the fact that she lets me feel that I am is an indication of her superiority]

She has been doing great with the other bodily function [mainly because she hates diaper rash], and I believe that we will be going to get her ears pierced this weekend. But, she has trouble keeping dry. [More like, the frikkin pull-ups do too well a job]

So I made an agreement with the three year old. [The three year old made an agreement with me that she will later reneg on]

We went to Target to check out our respective phones. We had choices so it took a little time to figure out what we were going to walk away with. I bought the cheapest 'go phone' I could get my hands on, and Kimi picked out the dark gray 'record a voice' cell phone in the children's section.

Both of our phones together cost less than $25.00. As I said, not a fan, not spending the big bucks for it. [The fact that her phone was more than half the cost of mine should have been an indication to me that I should have just bought myself a 'record a voice' phone as well]

Anyway...She has been happily playing with her phone for the past 24 hours. I believe that she slept with it last night. Mine isn't even out of the package.

I am considering taking it back.

I'm not even sure why. I should probably keep it and if nothing else, give it to my son. [HAHAHAHA]

I suppose this ties into why I don't have cordless phones in my house. If the phone rings in the other room, and I'm busy...I don't feel very obligated to run and pick it up...and when I am on the phone I can always employ the excuse "Kimi is getting into something in the next room, gotta go".

I know that I never was this way with phones before email. I used to spend hours on the phone chatting. Not any more. I am not alone though, I know that many other people have 'phone aversion', preferring the efficiency of email. Perhaps that is why it takes me so long to get around to making business calls.

My daughter, however doesn't have phone aversion. She is fascinated by the telephone. She hasn't been keeping to our agreement very well...but prying the phone from her hands is more of a chore than one would first suspect. I mean she is only three...who could have guessed that she has perfected the maneuver "Kung-Fu grip"?

In order to compromise...because we are not experiencing a break down in negotiations...she sits on the toilet with her phone.

I hope that this, among many other things, will be something she grows out of.

posted by Kassi Gilbert @ 10:09 AM