He will wear this hat for hours. HOURS.
I was going to start with a comment about that Spanish woman who gave birth when she was 66 and then died leaving behind 2-year-old twins, but I guess the story speaks for itself...
In other news, the boy is awesome. Still a little hush-hush with the talking but he has added the word "eye" to his repertoire, upping the count to 5. (Although I swear on a cross he said "dinosaur" today. He couldn't have, right? Even though we were reading a dinosaur book?) He's also into some serious boundry pushing, which is probably normal for his age. Not that that makes it less irritating. Today we went 10 rounds over crayons and where they are best used. (Paper: Yes! Walls/legs/floor/office chair: No.) I'm sure you've been there. He knows he's pushing - he gets an excited little grin and starts giggling when I come after him - so I try to stay very stern and "Okay! No more (insert bad behavior here)" when he acts up so he doesn't think it's a cool variation of Chase Me, but I'm not sure how else to inforce rules.
I should probably state that I'm not a very talky mom. I see a lot of parents having long, whispery discussions with their toddlers about why you shouldn't hit or take stuff or have a fit. I find that a very stern "NO" combined with my patented I-Mean-Business face gets pretty solid results. It's not very PC, especially when used on other people's children (whoops!) but when a 3-year-old shoves my 18 monther I feel like I should be able to stop him. Firmly. When my critter is older I'll pull back and let him navigate the choppy waters of childhood his ownself but for now I feel like I have every right to tell my son - or any kid - no if they're behaving poorly. Is that wrong? I get such shitty looks from the playground crowd I can't help but think that some clause in the parenting rulebook has changed. How do you all discipline other people's kids?
Aw shit, I hear someone stirring in the crib. Naps have dwindled sharply which is cause for much weeping and gnashing of teeth. I expected it around age 3 but at 18 months? Gah! (I just got a sudden wave of panic: what will I do when he doesn't nap anymore? How will I get any work done?!) GAH!
5 comments:
Long whispery conversations with toddlers are a very distinct waste of breath. They lost you after the third or fourth word. Seriously.
Keep doing what your doing. Say no. Redirect. If he goes back to the offending activity the object goes away for awhile and you do something else.
So simple. So effective.
Sorry, I will shut up now. But y'know after spending my week watching parents be ineffective, sometimes I just have to rant a bit. Sorry you are the recepticle.
Q: "What will I do when he doesn't nap anymore? How will I get any work done?!"
A: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television
OMG how cute is that hat!? no wonder he wears it alot!
Yay on the saying "eye"! (My son just blinks.)
As for dinosaur, if he didn't mean it then it would be an awfully big coincidence... If he says it again then there's no doubt. How funny if he skips little words and jumps straight to dinosaur LOL clever cookie is just messing with you on this not-talking thing! Next thing you know he'll be using their scientific names (and still not say mom)
Parenting other people's children is OK by me if they're messing with YOUR KID. If their parent can't get up, remove them and apologize, then someone has to step in. It's never OK to let someone else's kid go all hoodlum on other children.
I don't care HOW old they are, either. If the other parents give you the stink eye, just look them right back and give them a BIG smile. If you throw a little crazy eye in there, maybe they'll come and pick up their kid. : )
He'll talk when he's ready, no worries. Nice hat, too.
Maybe you could just loudly yell "Hey, whose kid is this that's shoving my baby?" Maybe that would be more PC?
Seriously - you are doing it correctly. Kids need to be told when they are doing something wrong. That's how they learn. The long drawn out discussions are BS and don't work.
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