Here are some snippets of actual conversations today:
Jac: Are you really crying?
Mia: No, I not crying. *snif* *snif* My eyes are just watery.
Jac to Mia: I have to go to the bathroom.
As he tears down the hall: Mommy! Mommy! Have to go potty, I have to go potty and I have to poop! I have to go potty and I have to poop and I pooped in my pants!
Jac to himself when he is done and has inspected his work: That is a huge poop.
After we picked up Mia today, I told the kids we could go to the library.
Mia: Look mommy, we are right by the Liberry! (Which is quite convenient, considering that was our destination.)
Mom: Yum, liberries are good.
Jac: That's funny. (He thinks for a minute.) Do you say it Liberry?
Mom: Jac, is it Library or Liberry?
Jac: Library!
Mia: Lib-, Lib-, I can't say that.
We made macaroni and cheese for lunch.
Mia: Look at the cheese floating up.
Mom: There is no cheese in the water yet, just noodles. You are holding the cheese in your hand.
Jac: Yeah, you put the cheese on after the noodles are done.
Mia: Yeah (She always says YEAH really loud and sort of laughing, like there was a big joke that she just now understood.) When the noodles go in the water they are wipe.
Jac looking at Mia critically: Can you say 'white'? (He emphasizes the 't'.)
Mia looking slightly offended: WhiiiiiTe. I can say it my way too, WiiiiiiPe. (Very proud of herself.)
Jac: Mia what other hard words can you say?
Deep thoughts by both children as they try and figure out what words Mia normally mispronounces, she can only come up with Diego. She normally says Bedego.
Mia: Look at the cheese floating up.
When Mia got up this morning.
Mom: Do you want pancakes for breakfast? That is what Jac and I had.
Mia: YEEEES! I want pancakes with butter, no syrup. And I want biscuits.
In my mind: Okay, I made pancakes and now because my three year old wants biscuits also I will just whip those up and pop them in the oven even though it is 8:30 and this train leaves at 9:05!
Mom: Mia, I will make you biscuits either for dinner or over the weekend. For breakfast we are having pancakes.
Mia: Okay
This really is my fault, I asked her if she wanted them. There should be no negotiation with the menu!
I really am not making this up -
Jac: Sister, hand me that car. (We call Mia 'sister' a lot.)
Mia: no response
Jac: Woman, hand me that car!
Showing posts with label kids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kids. Show all posts
Friday, April 23, 2010
Friday, March 19, 2010
Room to Grow
Our old table was a bit small, you can see it over Jac's shoulder in this picture. It was tough to have any guests, without using the formal dining set.
We are all very pleased with our new dining table. I love the bench for the kids. It has plenty of room. But Mia and Jac actually look kind of lonely over there with that whole bench to themselves, maybe we should do something about that.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
The New Chart
For a couple of years I have been thinking about creating a discipline chart for the kiddos. In my head I always poo-pooed the idea because, well, I don't really know why I did. I resisted this type of super structured, and what I perceive as over the top mommy behavior. Preferring to have house rules that everyone knows.
As little ones grow, certain behaviors come and certain behaviors go. Often I think I won't be able to make it through the "throwing food to the floor phase" or the "reverting to poop in pants" phase or the "biting my big brother because he stole my toy" phase. But each lovely behavior challenge does come and it does go with consistent consequences and plenty of positive reinforcement children grow and learn and move on. However, for some reason we cannot get out of the "whine until mommy freaks out" phase or the "I don't feel like getting dressed phase", two of my least favorites. And maybe that is why we can't seem to get out of them because they truly are terribly annoying to mommy.
In order new attitudes we have enacted a discipline chart. It only has four issues and four consequences, and is pretty simple and straight forward. My true wish is to be able to say bye-bye to the whining, crying and complaining. It is really tough for my oldest to not revert to this whenever he is tired, hungry or just needing some attention. I am glad that he is no longer throwing himself to the ground, however we must put away the whine.
So far I do feel the chart has helped. It is clear and concise and there is no mistaking the consequence of whining. I have caught both kids using it with the other, "if you cry or whine or complain you have to go to your room". This morning Mia put it aptly, "Jac, if you cry, go to your room. If you complain, go to your room. If you whine, go to your room." Maybe a bit repetive but clearly it is sinking in. What I hope does not replace the whining is bossiness or tattling. But at this point, I would welcome those compared to the whining!
As little ones grow, certain behaviors come and certain behaviors go. Often I think I won't be able to make it through the "throwing food to the floor phase" or the "reverting to poop in pants" phase or the "biting my big brother because he stole my toy" phase. But each lovely behavior challenge does come and it does go with consistent consequences and plenty of positive reinforcement children grow and learn and move on. However, for some reason we cannot get out of the "whine until mommy freaks out" phase or the "I don't feel like getting dressed phase", two of my least favorites. And maybe that is why we can't seem to get out of them because they truly are terribly annoying to mommy.
In order new attitudes we have enacted a discipline chart. It only has four issues and four consequences, and is pretty simple and straight forward. My true wish is to be able to say bye-bye to the whining, crying and complaining. It is really tough for my oldest to not revert to this whenever he is tired, hungry or just needing some attention. I am glad that he is no longer throwing himself to the ground, however we must put away the whine.
So far I do feel the chart has helped. It is clear and concise and there is no mistaking the consequence of whining. I have caught both kids using it with the other, "if you cry or whine or complain you have to go to your room". This morning Mia put it aptly, "Jac, if you cry, go to your room. If you complain, go to your room. If you whine, go to your room." Maybe a bit repetive but clearly it is sinking in. What I hope does not replace the whining is bossiness or tattling. But at this point, I would welcome those compared to the whining!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
The next thing on the endangered list - PLAY
As a child I remember hours upon hours of free time devoted to nothing but make believe and play. Some of this play would happen with other kids, mostly my siblings as we lived quite a distance from our nearest neighbor. But a lot of this play would happen in my own brain by myself in the yard and the woods surrounding my parent’s house. This is where I would pretend I had magical powers, pretend I was a princess, pretend I was a mom and of course I would don much more outrageous personas in order to “try” them on also. I would be the mean girl at school, I would be the mean mom, I would be the evil sorceress from a different planet. All of these good and bad personas helped me figure out the world, right and wrong, good and bad.
I look at kids who are in their elementary years and moving into junior high and I wonder, do they have time to play? With soccer, dance, Spanish class, religion class, homework and of course the chores that every parent is lining up for their kids, when do they play. All of these things are great pursuits, but when do kids have time to just be kids and run in the great outdoors? A lot of my play happened when I was tiny, but a huge majority of my pretend play happened when I was in third, fourth and fifth grade and even upwards to middle school. I remember very distinctly talking to myself when I was in high school as a way to work through a conversation that I was going to have when I got to school. With a teacher, with a friend and with boys who wanted to be more than friends – in a way this was play also.
According to the February 2009 Scientific American cover story “The Serious Need for Play”, “kids who enrolled in play-oriented preschools are more socially adjusted later in life than are kids who attended play-free preschools where they were constantly instructed by teachers. By age 23, more than one third of kids who had attended instruction-oriented preschools had been arrested for a felony as compared with fewer than one tenth of the kids who had been in play-oriented preschools.” Wow, I mean that is serious business. 33% of kids who attended a non-play oriented preschool were arrested for felonies by age 23, I repeat that because it seems huge. My immediate reaction is perhaps, play makes children smarter and more creative. This creativity may be what is keeping some kids from getting arrested for those felonies and other from getting caught with their hand in the cookie jar! By all means, let your kids play so that they too can be creative rule breakers! Just kidding, I truly believe that play with other kids helps children understand societal rules and norms as well as so many other benefits of learning self control, relieving stress, fighting obesity and the list goes on.
And all of this play isn’t supposed to involve an adult. Who knew, I get more time for Oprah, I mean for cleaning those floors of course!? Kids actually learn more when they play by themselves or with other kids. They have to use more verbal skills to communicate with their three year old sister than they have to when they communicate with their parents who can at the ripe old age of 35 fill in all of the blanks and understand when they mispronounce “white” and say “wipe”. (One of the cutest words Mia still mispronounces, use it in a sentence, trust me it is cute.) They are more creative with rules when adult rules aren’t being forced down on them and they feel less inhibited to be different pretend characters.
Happy Wednesday – and try it out today, send your kids out and tell them to PLAY!
I look at kids who are in their elementary years and moving into junior high and I wonder, do they have time to play? With soccer, dance, Spanish class, religion class, homework and of course the chores that every parent is lining up for their kids, when do they play. All of these things are great pursuits, but when do kids have time to just be kids and run in the great outdoors? A lot of my play happened when I was tiny, but a huge majority of my pretend play happened when I was in third, fourth and fifth grade and even upwards to middle school. I remember very distinctly talking to myself when I was in high school as a way to work through a conversation that I was going to have when I got to school. With a teacher, with a friend and with boys who wanted to be more than friends – in a way this was play also.
According to the February 2009 Scientific American cover story “The Serious Need for Play”, “kids who enrolled in play-oriented preschools are more socially adjusted later in life than are kids who attended play-free preschools where they were constantly instructed by teachers. By age 23, more than one third of kids who had attended instruction-oriented preschools had been arrested for a felony as compared with fewer than one tenth of the kids who had been in play-oriented preschools.” Wow, I mean that is serious business. 33% of kids who attended a non-play oriented preschool were arrested for felonies by age 23, I repeat that because it seems huge. My immediate reaction is perhaps, play makes children smarter and more creative. This creativity may be what is keeping some kids from getting arrested for those felonies and other from getting caught with their hand in the cookie jar! By all means, let your kids play so that they too can be creative rule breakers! Just kidding, I truly believe that play with other kids helps children understand societal rules and norms as well as so many other benefits of learning self control, relieving stress, fighting obesity and the list goes on.
And all of this play isn’t supposed to involve an adult. Who knew, I get more time for Oprah, I mean for cleaning those floors of course!? Kids actually learn more when they play by themselves or with other kids. They have to use more verbal skills to communicate with their three year old sister than they have to when they communicate with their parents who can at the ripe old age of 35 fill in all of the blanks and understand when they mispronounce “white” and say “wipe”. (One of the cutest words Mia still mispronounces, use it in a sentence, trust me it is cute.) They are more creative with rules when adult rules aren’t being forced down on them and they feel less inhibited to be different pretend characters.
Happy Wednesday – and try it out today, send your kids out and tell them to PLAY!
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