Moment of the Week - 80: Daddy Reads Madeline

My husband reads the girls a story before bed. With help from the girls, of course.

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Toddler Tricks - 80: Use the Television

Problem:

Twofold...one, your kid continues to do something she's not supposed to do. Two, you're not sure if all your talking at her is sticking. She seems to understand everything you say, down to the very subtle nuances of conversation, but when it comes to "don't do that," she pulls a blank face. Maybe she really doesn't yet understand? Haha, no. Maybe she's reached the age of selective hearing. Time to gear up.

Solution:

Use those mindless TV shows to your advantage. Your child is going to remember little fun details about pieces of the shows, and Lord knows, you'll have memorized them too at this point. These days kids' shows are always trying to teach some lesson (unless it's Max and Ruby, which, don't get me started). In our house, we watch primarily PBS, so those are the shows we all know the best. Use a few lines of the dialogue from the show or one of its songs to get your point across and make it memorable.

In my case, my child did this for me. I told her not to touch my wine glass.

"But, Mama, I have to touch the wine glass, it's in my story, see? Dulce touches the wine glass."

This is Super Why, and luckily for me, the point of that whole bit is to change the story and save the day!

Knowing this, I was able to step right into character, and what would have been tense discipline turned into a fun game in which no wine was spilled.

"Okay, then," I said, "let's change one of the words in the story. Should wine glass be "couch," "oven," or "shelf? Let's try oven. Dulce touches the oven?"

"No!" the girls shout delightedly.

"Dulce touches the couch?"

And they gleefully ran and touched the couch.

"With our power to read, we have changed the story and saved the day!"

And in this manner, not only did I get across to them that they couldn't touch the glass, I was also able to check on other lessons I had taught them throughout their lives.

And they got to play the whole time. Double win.

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Kids Say the Darndest Things

I used to do posts outlining what the girls were saying as they grew up and started grasping the language. Now that they're three and a half, it's not what they say but what they say, if you know what I mean.

Anyway, here are some gems from the past two days alone.

"Mama, do you know any princesses?"
"No, do you?"
"Um, yes, my cousin is a princess."
"Who, Annabelle?"
"No...make me a cousin that's a princess."

"Daddy, you have a pretty watch."
"Oh, thank you."
"And pretty glasses."
"You think my glasses are pretty? Thanks!"
"And your hair is pretty."
"Oh, wow, thanks."
**Then Dulce has a fit of compassion.
"Don't worry, Mama, you're almost pretty."

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
"Why are you crying?"
"My nose is wet!"
**I dry her nose, but she's still crying, which means, you guessed it.**
"WAAAAAAH! It's still wet!"
"Well, it will only dry if you stop crying. The more you cry the more your nose will keep being wet."
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Lilly: "My favorite food is meatballs!"
Dulce: "And my favorite drink is wine!"
Lilly: "Noooo! Your favorite drink is orange juice!"

"That's not Belle's Daddy. Beast is Belle's Daddy."
"No, Beast is going to be Belle's husband."
"No, once he dead, he's Belle's Daddy."
"Well, who's Papa then?"
"Papa can be her Pop Pop."

"Uncle Tommy! You have a beard."
"A little beard, yes, I do."
"Like Mama."

(This was corrected immediately and the girls changed their stance after feeling my chin. I can laugh at a lot. Apparently having a little beard is not one of those things.)

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I Owe My Brother

Can you help me?

My brother is in the car right now headed to a plane to go back to New York City after taking a vacation to come visit the girls and me.

It was the worst visit ever.

First, he flew into Orlando because I told him I'd come pick him up and we'd spend the evening in the city before heading home. Then I realized I had a Civic and we wouldn't all fit. I could go with the girls without my husband, but we all had the stomach flu and I didn't want to drag them that far.

So, he has to rent a car and drive up here. Adding another 3 hours to his trip.

He gets here and the first night is nice.

The next day, the girls are monsters. And still sick. We do little things around the house, like flying kites on the pavement. I can't imagine it was a fun day for him.

The second day, the girls are better, but still iffy. We go to the library and the store, but they start breaking down. They're still acting out all over the place. So we don't go out anywhere else that day. I don't really hang out with my brother too much because I figure we'll have the next day and we'll bang it out of the park. I've been fighting this stomach bug, too, and I was finally feeling like, okay, I wasn't going to get it. I had been quite blah before that day.

The next day, I think we'll go downtown, get yogurt and coffee, shop at a farmer's market and hit the Natural History Museum. Finally, a good day.

Except my brother got so sick that he never got out of bed that day. That was yesterday.

He left this morning at 9:30 a.m. to drive back to Orlando, where he'll board a plane for New York after returning the car he didn't want to rent, thus wrapping up the worst vacation ever recorded in the history of vacations.

I'm sad that he's left. I'm sad that I didn't get to talk to him much. I'm sad we got him sick. I'm pretty bummed all around.

What can I do to make this up to him? I want to make things and send things and just generally say, I'm so sorry, thank you so much for coming, I wish we were better.

Day in the Life - February 2012

Last year I did a Day in the Life on Valentine's Day. I invited a lot of bloggers to take part and got a really good response. This year my three year olds have sapped away my soul and I didn't have the energy to organize something like that. Thankfully for me, Navigating the Mothership does something like this quarterly, so I did another ditl, exactly a year later, and I'll link it to her.

Anyway, here's last year's.

And here's this year's.

We're already starting the day out well. It is rare that I get to wake up and shower without having to tend to toddlers. So, banner day!














Then I go downstairs to meet my bundles of joy and happiness.

Next stop: Breakfast.

Then I start tidying up, and the girls see me taking pictures with the camera. They kindly agree to document me. By which I mean they grab the camera and demand a turn. At least they were kind enough to use soft focus.

My brother's visiting this week! They weren't as kind to him.

Time for Daddy to go to work.

Then some computer time with Tommy while I tidy up.

We're off to the library!

We're hungry, and I don't feel like cooking, so to the Waffle House!

We need to pick up some bread for me and some beer (for my brother) at the Publix. I forgot to take pictures because the girls were being major pills by this point. So here's a shot of my brother's back and his beer as we wrangle them back in the car.

Nap time! No pictures of them because I don't want to disturb the beasts. I used the time to do some editing and some chores.







They wake up from their nap all beauty and grace, of course, and to keep from killing them, I plop them in front of the TV while I set to work cleaning the living room.

That only holds their attention for long enough for them to get over their bad selves, and soon they're using pencils as wands and turning me into a juicebox. Which is really what I deserve for trying to check my email while they're awake.

Next on the list...more cleaning! We tackle the bathroom. The girls love to help.

I have more editing to do, and I realize I'm not going to get an article done that needs to be written by today. Guess I'll be doing that sometime today. I set the girls up with coloring.

Then they play with Uncle Tommy's feet while I make dinner.

Daddy is home...time for cuddles before bed.

Then we fly into sleep!

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