Better Than Cleaning
Shhh! Don't tell Adam: I'm supposed to be cleaning but instead I'm blogging. I took today off of work just to make a dent in the mess that is our basement but I'm all sniffly from the dust and my hands are so dry they're papery and I just don't know what to do with all our crap! So, here I am instead....
We've hit a common stage of preschoolers, but I'm still not sure how to handle it. It's the "do something wrong/total honesty" phase. You know, when Doodles does a misdeed but very clearly tells me what he did. On one hand, the misdeed needs to be punished. On the other hand, I want to encourage the honesty. Of course, it generally involves violence to his sister. Here's a standard exchange that is becoming all the more common.
Me: Why is Pie crying?
Doodles: I was running back and forth and she got in my way, so I pushed her.
or
Me: Why is Pie crying?
Doodles: She was playing with the rocket ship and then she put it on my head and I didn't want it on my head so I pushed her.
What I generally do then is pick up Pie, lavish her with attention, and put Doodles in a time out. On getting out of time out, he has to apologize to Pie and ask if she's okay. By then she's generally playing and giggling, and doesn't respond aagain.
It actually, happily, doesn't all the time. But just enough that I suddenly have to be wary of leaving the two of them alone together in a room. And if it were just the pushing, I could live with that. But it's not. Pie has gotten grabby hands. If Doodles has a toy, she wants it, too. And she wants it NOW! And if she doesn't get it--watch out for those sharp little teeth!
Which is bad both because, well, she's biting and because when she nurses, she likes to stick her fingers in my mouth and I lightly chew on them. I love chewing on Pie Parts! But alas I know that must end because how can she tell what's biting and what's a love nip? It also makes it very difficult to tell who the instigator is in any given situation and besides, how do you punish an 18 month old? I'm not one for punishing in general, but when violence is involved, then it's a must. Sigh.
Speaking of nursing, per the book Mothering Your Nursing Toddler, it's a good idea to codename breastfeeding so when your speech-happy toddler wants to feed, she doesn't yell out, "Mommy, give me some boobie!" in public. (And Pie is becoming speech happy; a sampling of her words: Where'd it go? jump [as in on the bed, with lots of glee], ball, balloon, baby, Cheerio [which actually means Kix], shoe, book, choo-choo, doggie.) I was at a loss for a codename that I liked. The ones that people had in the book--num num, nummies, milks--just weren't doing it for me.
One evening, I was nursing Pie (and for the record, we are now up to about six nursings a day; I've completely capitulated and have chained my br*easts to my daughter for the foreseeable future), watching Doodles' show, Wonder Pets, with him, trying to come up with my word. "This is sewious!" I said to Doodles, who laughed. That's when it hit me: Ming-Ming! That's our new codeword. (And if you don't watch the show, never mind. But you should. It's a fun show. And just to annoy those of you who do watch it, get this out of your head: "The phone! The phone is ringing! The phone! We'll be right there!") So if you're in the playground and you hear a little girl demanding, "Mi-Mi!! Mommy, Mi-Mi!" you'll know it's us. I feel so original!
Okay, it's back to spring cleaning. I need to de-toy the playroom of excess toys before the kids get home from school. Which shouldn't be a problem per our conversation last Monday:
Me: Doodles, time to go pick up Pie and head home.
Doodles: I don't want to go home.
Me: But it's time.
Doodles: I want to stay here.
Me: You told me you didn't even want to come to school today.
Doodles: I don't want to go home.
Me: Well, that's where we are headed.
Doodles: I want to go somewhere else. Can we go to Grape's house?
Me: We weren't invited to Grape's house. Let's go.
Doodles: I don't waaaaant to go home. I don't have any toys.
Me: You don't have any toys?
Doodles: Yeah.
Me: You have more toys than some small nations. What are you talking about?
Doodles: No, I don't! I don't have any toys.
Therefore, he shouldn't mind when half of his nonexistent toys head out. Those kids of mine!! Arg!!
We've hit a common stage of preschoolers, but I'm still not sure how to handle it. It's the "do something wrong/total honesty" phase. You know, when Doodles does a misdeed but very clearly tells me what he did. On one hand, the misdeed needs to be punished. On the other hand, I want to encourage the honesty. Of course, it generally involves violence to his sister. Here's a standard exchange that is becoming all the more common.
Me: Why is Pie crying?
Doodles: I was running back and forth and she got in my way, so I pushed her.
or
Me: Why is Pie crying?
Doodles: She was playing with the rocket ship and then she put it on my head and I didn't want it on my head so I pushed her.
What I generally do then is pick up Pie, lavish her with attention, and put Doodles in a time out. On getting out of time out, he has to apologize to Pie and ask if she's okay. By then she's generally playing and giggling, and doesn't respond aagain.
It actually, happily, doesn't all the time. But just enough that I suddenly have to be wary of leaving the two of them alone together in a room. And if it were just the pushing, I could live with that. But it's not. Pie has gotten grabby hands. If Doodles has a toy, she wants it, too. And she wants it NOW! And if she doesn't get it--watch out for those sharp little teeth!
Which is bad both because, well, she's biting and because when she nurses, she likes to stick her fingers in my mouth and I lightly chew on them. I love chewing on Pie Parts! But alas I know that must end because how can she tell what's biting and what's a love nip? It also makes it very difficult to tell who the instigator is in any given situation and besides, how do you punish an 18 month old? I'm not one for punishing in general, but when violence is involved, then it's a must. Sigh.
Speaking of nursing, per the book Mothering Your Nursing Toddler, it's a good idea to codename breastfeeding so when your speech-happy toddler wants to feed, she doesn't yell out, "Mommy, give me some boobie!" in public. (And Pie is becoming speech happy; a sampling of her words: Where'd it go? jump [as in on the bed, with lots of glee], ball, balloon, baby, Cheerio [which actually means Kix], shoe, book, choo-choo, doggie.) I was at a loss for a codename that I liked. The ones that people had in the book--num num, nummies, milks--just weren't doing it for me.
One evening, I was nursing Pie (and for the record, we are now up to about six nursings a day; I've completely capitulated and have chained my br*easts to my daughter for the foreseeable future), watching Doodles' show, Wonder Pets, with him, trying to come up with my word. "This is sewious!" I said to Doodles, who laughed. That's when it hit me: Ming-Ming! That's our new codeword. (And if you don't watch the show, never mind. But you should. It's a fun show. And just to annoy those of you who do watch it, get this out of your head: "The phone! The phone is ringing! The phone! We'll be right there!") So if you're in the playground and you hear a little girl demanding, "Mi-Mi!! Mommy, Mi-Mi!" you'll know it's us. I feel so original!
Okay, it's back to spring cleaning. I need to de-toy the playroom of excess toys before the kids get home from school. Which shouldn't be a problem per our conversation last Monday:
Me: Doodles, time to go pick up Pie and head home.
Doodles: I don't want to go home.
Me: But it's time.
Doodles: I want to stay here.
Me: You told me you didn't even want to come to school today.
Doodles: I don't want to go home.
Me: Well, that's where we are headed.
Doodles: I want to go somewhere else. Can we go to Grape's house?
Me: We weren't invited to Grape's house. Let's go.
Doodles: I don't waaaaant to go home. I don't have any toys.
Me: You don't have any toys?
Doodles: Yeah.
Me: You have more toys than some small nations. What are you talking about?
Doodles: No, I don't! I don't have any toys.
Therefore, he shouldn't mind when half of his nonexistent toys head out. Those kids of mine!! Arg!!
2 Comments:
Just wanted to pop in and say hello. I like your site. My son is on the edge of turning 1 so your site is letting me know what I'm in for.
I found your site while googling for infant shoes. I haven't quite figured that out, so I just go with it. LOL
Sounds eerily familiar....
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