My quick post on MaM’s “punishment stool” from 2006 still gets a lot of hits. Sometimes I can tell it’s a query about toddler discipline, sometimes it’s from something freaky (my favorite query? “diaper discipline for girlfriend).
I look back on the post and laugh-Jr is SUCH a different toddler than MaM was. I go to that post and think, “wow? did she really do that?” And then I think back to all the chairs I had to move into the bathroom (because she was standing on them), I think about the fact that we DID buy a new dishwasher because that knob she liked to turn was going to be the death of me, and that the following spring we had a whole debacle on Spring Break I now dub, “The Spring Break Nap Time Smack Down” (there was no smacking, but there was JUMPING off of dressers!!).
Jr is so different. Now granted, I’m probably different. I’m older. I know there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.
Jr listens when I say “no” the first time. If he doesn’t, he calmly ( and sadly) goes to the time out step. What happened to the stool?? Well, a few weeks after that first post, the stool was thrown. After that, I started putting her on a particular step.
Maybe it’s because we let him watch more TV. Maybe it’s because “the MaM show” distracts him. Maybe it’s because his more challenging time will come closer to age three. Maybe it’s because he still doesn’t sleep through the night and isn’t well rested enough to really put up a fight.
Maybe he’s just a different kid.
I don’t know, but I’m going to enjoy my fairly laid back toddler while I can!
The Santa Dilemma
We are in high-gear here, all ready for Christmas. We’ve been shopping, we’ve been to breakfast with Santa, we’ve driven around and seen the lights. There are only a few more doors left on MaM’s Advent calendar. The fourth candle gets lit tomorrow on the Advent wreath. We are almost there, there to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
Here’s the thing–MaM believes with all her heart that Santa will come to visit and chat on Christmas Eve. That he will come to our house, while she is awake, he will give her a Barbie Mermaid, and she will give him the card she has made.
She does not want to mail the card, “because he is coming to our house on Christmas.”
She does not believe he will come while she is sleeping, “because he wants to visit with me on Christmas.”
She isn’t expecting any other presents, “because I asked Santa for a Barbie girl, so that’s what I’m getting.”
Soooooo here’s my dilemma–do we arrange for Santa to stop by on Christmas Eve while she’s awake? I’m sure we could get a friend to do it. Or do we just stage it like we usually do, and hope that the sight of the Christmas tree with the gifts under it with will distract her from remembering that she wanted Santa to actually visit with her?
We aren’t over the top with Santa, but her blind faith is astounding. We saw Santa in the gas station parking lot Thanksgiving weekend, and he was kind enough to talk to her for a minute, and took her request for a Barbie mermaid. Ever since, she has no desire to go see him, because, “I told him what I wanted in the parking lot”.
I don’t want her to be crushed/sad on Christmas day, but I also don’t want to come up with this elaborate scheme this year–and then have to repeat it for years to come, only to have her find out from a neighbor kid /schoolmate that it was just that–an elaborate scheme.
Thus the Santa Dilemma. Any suggestions on how to keep it magical and fun without going over the top? Anyone? Anyone?
You Are Here
Here we are:
Thea told me that I would love four. She was right. Four is agreeable, four is slightly more detailed conversation, four is slightly less dramatic and exhausting. Four is Fun.
Saturday the kids and I went made it to Conner Prairie, and had the best.day.ever.
We started our visit at the indoor play area, where there was a pioneer kitchen, a play farm (complete with a cow to milk), a general store and a giant train table. I think they would have stayed there forever if there wasn’t the promise of real live animals out in the barns. We saw animals, MAM petted said animals, Jr. roared at all of them. We rode the Tram (very exciting! It’s like a train, Mama, but it’s on the road!), and each time we saw the map, MAM stopped and found where we were, and where we were going. She retraced our entire route, each time she saw a map.
We played in a 19th century school house, walked through a covered bridge, saw a carpenter making the cross-bar of a window frame and played with the wood shavings. We smelled drying herbs, and saw the world’s largest hot air balloon.
We are here. And here is gooood.
