Red Means STOP

I have the world's youngest backseat driver. It's my own fault... Emily asked why I was stopping and I explained that the light was red. This rolled into a discussion about traffic lights, signs, and later pedestrian crosswalk signals. That part was a little awkward when she said, "The white man says, 'walk!'" while standing beside two African American women. Lovely.

We spent the day at the beach yesterday and enjoyed Emily's backseat driving throughout the trip. She was in awe of the bright lights and dark sky on our way home (something she rarely sees with her 7 p.m. bedtime) and feeling super chatty...

"Mommy, Go! Why are you slowing down?"
"It's really, REALLY dark... There's Chuck E Cheese! It's dark at Chuck E Cheese."
"The sun is sleeping and the moon and stars are awake."
"Those were big waves. The little waves are friendly and the big waves are scary. No, They're not scary. They're friendly."
"Red means 'Stop.' It's green! Go, Mommy! Green means 'Go.'"
"I see the moon! My, my, my, my, my... It is SOOOO dark outside!"

The wave bit is my fault, too. She was running toward the ocean and I yelled, "STOP!" I may have then said something about the big waves being so strong they could pull you under. I totally botched that one, right? The tiniest little ripple came toward us and I've never seen her run faster! She was hysterical when we caught up to her. Apparently I created a little ocean phobia with my little "waves will pull you under" comment. Oops. I tried to backpedal by telling her ALL waves are friendly and the big ones are only scary to Mommy when she goes too far out without us. Too little, too late. She was still talking about the big waves today. Nice work, Mommy. Where was my traffic signal on that one?? Red means "Stop before you traumatize your kid!"