As RP is getting older, she is becoming more and more aware of how words and actions can impact how someone feels. Okay, so maybe Mommy is helping to drive this, but I have to say that she is a really good listener when it comes to talking about feelings, and today she proved HOW MUCH she has been listening. Today alone, RP "reminded" me of the following "rules:"
1.) While we were eating breakfast I had turned Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on and RP watched intently, even though she had seen the episode at least 50 times. There came a part when Donald Duck got angry about something and said, "Ohhhh phooey!" I laughed and said to RP, "Oh no, Donald is mad. We don't say 'Oh phooey,' do we?" RP very solemnly looked at me and replied, "No Mommy. That is naughty. We don't say, "F---" either." And yes, she said the word, the whole word.
2.) While changing RP's pull-up I remarked that her "diaper was stinky." RP laughed and said, "Mommy stinky!" No, this did NOT make me happy, so I reminded her that we do not say that people are stinky as it can hurt their feelings (clearly we've had this conversation before - I cannot WAIT for her to actually poop on the potty!). RP thought about it for a minute, then told me, "No Mommy, we don't say people are stinky and we don't say, 'Go away!' to them because it will hurt their feelings. We don't hit people. We don't bite. We need to be friends." Pretty much sums it up, don't you think?
3.) While getting ready for bed tonight I told RP that I loved her. She threw her arms around me and told me that she loved me too, then proceeded to ask me when I was going to bed. I let her know that I still had work to do around the house and that I would be going to bed much later than her. She looked sad for a minute then told me that I worked too hard, and that I needed to let her help me so I could go to bed too, because I went to bed entirely too late every night. Even I went, "Awwww...." at that one...
Lilypie Trying to Conceive Event tickers
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
Can't Smile Without You!
Lately RP has become incredibly creative in her attempts to NOT go to bed at night. Sure, she still tries the "Mommy, I have a stinky diaper" (I swear she waits until she is IN the diaper to do this, just so she has a reason to call me upstairs at night!) and the "I need a 'nuggle," but as she has gotten older, and as the sun is out longer at night, she has become very adept at keeping herself entertained, literally for HOURS past her bedtime.
Case in point: Last night I came upstairs about 30 minutes after putting RP to bed to change her night-time pull-up. Five minutes after that, and right before I was headed back downstairs, she needed a snuggle, and I gladly complied. An HOUR later I heard her up in her room, happily "reading" to herself, and I yelled up the stairs that she needed to get to bed... now. After about five minutes of silence, I heard a little voice singing "Little Bo Peep" in her room, which was then followed by "Twinkle, Twinkle" and "ABC's." It was cute and I chuckled quietly, all the while getting ready to come upstairs and let RP know that it was time to get back to bed once and for all, when she appeared at the gate in her doorway and began singing Barry Manilow's "Can't Smile Without You" at the top of her lungs.
Yep - I laughed out loud. I have to say that she got about 75% of the words right and she was singing it with all the emotion her little body could muster at 9:00 at night. I'm a huge Manilow fan and just went with my BFF last weekend out to Vegas to see his show, so the timing of her little concert couldn't have been more perfect. I have been singing this song to her since she came home, and it is actually in one of the montage videos I put together of our first year as a family, so it makes my heart happy that this song is obviously one that brings joy to her little heart as well.
Now, if I could only get that joyful heart to go to bed in the evenings!!!
Case in point: Last night I came upstairs about 30 minutes after putting RP to bed to change her night-time pull-up. Five minutes after that, and right before I was headed back downstairs, she needed a snuggle, and I gladly complied. An HOUR later I heard her up in her room, happily "reading" to herself, and I yelled up the stairs that she needed to get to bed... now. After about five minutes of silence, I heard a little voice singing "Little Bo Peep" in her room, which was then followed by "Twinkle, Twinkle" and "ABC's." It was cute and I chuckled quietly, all the while getting ready to come upstairs and let RP know that it was time to get back to bed once and for all, when she appeared at the gate in her doorway and began singing Barry Manilow's "Can't Smile Without You" at the top of her lungs.
Yep - I laughed out loud. I have to say that she got about 75% of the words right and she was singing it with all the emotion her little body could muster at 9:00 at night. I'm a huge Manilow fan and just went with my BFF last weekend out to Vegas to see his show, so the timing of her little concert couldn't have been more perfect. I have been singing this song to her since she came home, and it is actually in one of the montage videos I put together of our first year as a family, so it makes my heart happy that this song is obviously one that brings joy to her little heart as well.
Now, if I could only get that joyful heart to go to bed in the evenings!!!
Friday, July 8, 2011
Catching up with RP
It's been a while since I've posted, which should be some indication of how busy (or at least crazy!) things have been around here lately. RP is now half-way through her first session in gymnastics and she absolutely loves it. Some days she does better than others in the class, but she always seems to have a ball and is still pretty fearless about tackling new activities. MY heart cringes when she jumps up on the balance beam or tries to do a cartwheel by herself, but she throws her all into each activity and always comes out of class smiling!
Last weekend RP spent the weekend with Nana and Papa so I could make a quick, 36-hour trip to Vegas with her godmother (and my best friend!) to celebrate our 40th birthdays, along with a host of other good news each of us has had over the last two years (RP's adoption for me, and no HD for her - life is GOOD!). I missed her while I was gone but she had a blast with Nana and Papa and was a little chatter bug on the phone each time I called. I came back from Vegas just in time to celebrate Independence Day with RP, Nana, and Papa and we had a great day - squirt gun fights during the day and watching the fireworks that night. Given RP's new-found fear of dinosaurs (and some evenings the dark) I was a little concerned that she wouldn't like the fireworks, but she loved staying up late and being out in the dark, and she "oohhh'd" and "aaahhh'd" like an old pro during the display, falling asleep mid-sentence 7 minutes after getting in the car!
The last few days RP has been out-of-pocket of sorts for a variety of reasons, and I'm not really sure why. Whenever she doesn't get her way she starts to jump up and down, "fake" cry, and flail her arms about, getting louder and louder if you let her. She KNOWS that this behavior is unacceptable, she KNOWS that it isn't going to work, and she KNOWS that the only purpose this display can achieve is to get her into trouble... yet she does it anyway. Luckily these attempts have only been half-hearted, more to get attention than anything else, and she stops when she knows Mommy isn't happy with it, but yet the next time she hears the word "no" she tries it again. Weird... and hopefully a stage we'll soon be through.
Last weekend RP spent the weekend with Nana and Papa so I could make a quick, 36-hour trip to Vegas with her godmother (and my best friend!) to celebrate our 40th birthdays, along with a host of other good news each of us has had over the last two years (RP's adoption for me, and no HD for her - life is GOOD!). I missed her while I was gone but she had a blast with Nana and Papa and was a little chatter bug on the phone each time I called. I came back from Vegas just in time to celebrate Independence Day with RP, Nana, and Papa and we had a great day - squirt gun fights during the day and watching the fireworks that night. Given RP's new-found fear of dinosaurs (and some evenings the dark) I was a little concerned that she wouldn't like the fireworks, but she loved staying up late and being out in the dark, and she "oohhh'd" and "aaahhh'd" like an old pro during the display, falling asleep mid-sentence 7 minutes after getting in the car!
The last few days RP has been out-of-pocket of sorts for a variety of reasons, and I'm not really sure why. Whenever she doesn't get her way she starts to jump up and down, "fake" cry, and flail her arms about, getting louder and louder if you let her. She KNOWS that this behavior is unacceptable, she KNOWS that it isn't going to work, and she KNOWS that the only purpose this display can achieve is to get her into trouble... yet she does it anyway. Luckily these attempts have only been half-hearted, more to get attention than anything else, and she stops when she knows Mommy isn't happy with it, but yet the next time she hears the word "no" she tries it again. Weird... and hopefully a stage we'll soon be through.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Things that make you go, "Hmmm..."
Today was just a typical Wednesday - get up and let the puppies outside to go potty, get RP out of bed and started on her day, then hurry, hurry, hurry to make it to pre-school on time since every road between our house and the pre-school seems to be under summertime construction.
RP had a blast today at pre-school. All summer they are doing day camp activities, and every Wednesday in June is "Water Day" for her class, which is her favorite thing to do. I'm not exactly sure what "Water Day" entails, but what I do know is that every time I go to pick her up after "Water Day," she is the wettest child in the room (they change into bathing suits for water time, then back into their regular clothes for the rest of the day) and she is sporting the biggest grin. Her teacher also is laughing each time, telling me that while RP is the youngest and smallest child in the room, when they pull the bathing suits out for the kids my child practically dives over everyone else to get ready, is the first one out the door, and is the first one who is soaking wet from head to toe - literally. Hmmm... perhaps we should have started with swimming lessons for her and not gymnastics...
After pre-school I took RP to the bank where she had her first interaction with the change counter (which she loved), made her first deposit into her savings account (which I loved!), and got her first sucker from the teller (again, which she loved). After popping her into the van to enjoy her sucker and a brief ride home, she promptly fell asleep right after finishing the sucker, and was sleeping so soundly that she barely budged when I removed her "Minnie's" and replaced them with a pull-up since she still isn't quite potty-trained while she is sleeping. "Water Day" certainly wore her out, because she slept for almost two hours, which these days is almost unheard of for her.
After her nap I told RP that we could go outside and play and that I would set up her "big blue whale" sprinkler for her to play in, and with that I changed her back into the swimsuit that she had worn at school that day (which literally had just finished drying on the patio - what great timing!). Despite the fact that she told me that she only wanted to play in the sandbox, she got great use out of the swimsuit as she ran back and forth between the water and the sand. Hmmm... good thing I didn't listen to those protests about putting the swimsuit on.
RP has been doing really well with potty-training lately but had an "accident" today as we were heading outside to play. She told me that she pottied in her swimmie diaper (actually swimmie pull-up, but diaper is much easier to type, hence the reference to "diaper" throughout the rest of this story...) because she was just too busy getting her shoes on to go outside that she didn't feel she needed to go and sit on the potty. Needless to say Mommy wasn't too happy because I discovered that swimmie diapers don't really hold the same as regular pull-ups do and as such RP had to sit inside and wait an extra 10 minutes before heading outside to play. Nope - NOT a happy camper, but she sucked it up and waited (im)patiently for the 10 minutes to lapse, then ran outside like a crazy person.
The relevance of that last part of the story? After RP was soaked head to toe, and covered in sand, she told me she had to go potty. Hmmm... traipse all through the house in that condition? Mommy just cleaned up one mess, and is not feeling like cleaning up another, so I told her to just go ahead and wet the diaper. You would think this child won the lottery - her whole face lit up and she screamed "T'ank you Mommy!" as she patted my cheek and gave me a huge kiss. Now, between standing under the sprinkler for a long time and wetting in the diaper this diaper was now about hanging down to her knees and she was literally waddling through the backyard yelling, "Help me Mommy! Help me!" to the point I was in tears laughing. We had to find a secluded spot in the yard where I could pull her suit back and flip the diaper inside out, then right side in again. The relief on her face was priceless, as was the fact that every 20 minutes or so she told me she had to pee-pee in her diaper as she proceeded to squat in the middle of the yard, laughing the entire time. Considering the child has a bladder of steel and pretty much only sits on the potty 3-4 times a day, this was a lot of drama and fun for her but I'm 99.98% convinced that she wasn't doing anything but pretending - and having a lot of fun at that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know - not the greatest mothering move I could have made, especially since she got in trouble for doing exactly the same thing earlier in the day, but I'm pretty sure that she isn't scarred for life because of it, and she had fun with the drama of it all. The look on her face when told she could go potty in the swimmie diaper was almost as priceless as the look on her face today when I set up the Cinderella tent that she got for her birthday (which I almost forgot that we had) and gave her the baking set for the sandbox that she got for her birthday (which I DID forget that we had - it was still sitting in the garage in the original bag!). Her squeals of delight and the "T'ANKS MOMMY!" screams made my day, probably more than the toys made hers. Hmmm.....
RP had a blast today at pre-school. All summer they are doing day camp activities, and every Wednesday in June is "Water Day" for her class, which is her favorite thing to do. I'm not exactly sure what "Water Day" entails, but what I do know is that every time I go to pick her up after "Water Day," she is the wettest child in the room (they change into bathing suits for water time, then back into their regular clothes for the rest of the day) and she is sporting the biggest grin. Her teacher also is laughing each time, telling me that while RP is the youngest and smallest child in the room, when they pull the bathing suits out for the kids my child practically dives over everyone else to get ready, is the first one out the door, and is the first one who is soaking wet from head to toe - literally. Hmmm... perhaps we should have started with swimming lessons for her and not gymnastics...
After pre-school I took RP to the bank where she had her first interaction with the change counter (which she loved), made her first deposit into her savings account (which I loved!), and got her first sucker from the teller (again, which she loved). After popping her into the van to enjoy her sucker and a brief ride home, she promptly fell asleep right after finishing the sucker, and was sleeping so soundly that she barely budged when I removed her "Minnie's" and replaced them with a pull-up since she still isn't quite potty-trained while she is sleeping. "Water Day" certainly wore her out, because she slept for almost two hours, which these days is almost unheard of for her.
After her nap I told RP that we could go outside and play and that I would set up her "big blue whale" sprinkler for her to play in, and with that I changed her back into the swimsuit that she had worn at school that day (which literally had just finished drying on the patio - what great timing!). Despite the fact that she told me that she only wanted to play in the sandbox, she got great use out of the swimsuit as she ran back and forth between the water and the sand. Hmmm... good thing I didn't listen to those protests about putting the swimsuit on.
RP has been doing really well with potty-training lately but had an "accident" today as we were heading outside to play. She told me that she pottied in her swimmie diaper (actually swimmie pull-up, but diaper is much easier to type, hence the reference to "diaper" throughout the rest of this story...) because she was just too busy getting her shoes on to go outside that she didn't feel she needed to go and sit on the potty. Needless to say Mommy wasn't too happy because I discovered that swimmie diapers don't really hold the same as regular pull-ups do and as such RP had to sit inside and wait an extra 10 minutes before heading outside to play. Nope - NOT a happy camper, but she sucked it up and waited (im)patiently for the 10 minutes to lapse, then ran outside like a crazy person.
The relevance of that last part of the story? After RP was soaked head to toe, and covered in sand, she told me she had to go potty. Hmmm... traipse all through the house in that condition? Mommy just cleaned up one mess, and is not feeling like cleaning up another, so I told her to just go ahead and wet the diaper. You would think this child won the lottery - her whole face lit up and she screamed "T'ank you Mommy!" as she patted my cheek and gave me a huge kiss. Now, between standing under the sprinkler for a long time and wetting in the diaper this diaper was now about hanging down to her knees and she was literally waddling through the backyard yelling, "Help me Mommy! Help me!" to the point I was in tears laughing. We had to find a secluded spot in the yard where I could pull her suit back and flip the diaper inside out, then right side in again. The relief on her face was priceless, as was the fact that every 20 minutes or so she told me she had to pee-pee in her diaper as she proceeded to squat in the middle of the yard, laughing the entire time. Considering the child has a bladder of steel and pretty much only sits on the potty 3-4 times a day, this was a lot of drama and fun for her but I'm 99.98% convinced that she wasn't doing anything but pretending - and having a lot of fun at that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know - not the greatest mothering move I could have made, especially since she got in trouble for doing exactly the same thing earlier in the day, but I'm pretty sure that she isn't scarred for life because of it, and she had fun with the drama of it all. The look on her face when told she could go potty in the swimmie diaper was almost as priceless as the look on her face today when I set up the Cinderella tent that she got for her birthday (which I almost forgot that we had) and gave her the baking set for the sandbox that she got for her birthday (which I DID forget that we had - it was still sitting in the garage in the original bag!). Her squeals of delight and the "T'ANKS MOMMY!" screams made my day, probably more than the toys made hers. Hmmm.....
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Hopefully God has a sense of humor
Today I decided to take RP to the 7 p.m. Mass. Yesterday was eventful in that things with my next door neighbors finally came to a head, and I was a basket case, with RP doing everything in her power to stay up late and "help" the situation (which, cutely enough, warranted her "reading" to me from her Big Book of Animals). I have been woefully remiss in attending Mass regularly and knew that RP and I needed to get our butts to church, so this seemed to be the perfect solution.
All in all we had a great day today - a nice long walk through the forest preserve this morning, followed by some highly anticipated fun with Play-Doh, lunch, and a brief nap - which was followed by a great dinner with Nana and Papa, and Mass with Nana. I knew that going to church later in the evening would pose a risk for RP - she is normally in bed at 7 p.m., although most nights she doesn't actually fall asleep until close to 9 - but I was willing to take it.
I have to say that for the most part she was very well behaved in church, especially considering they didn't have the "Crying Room" open and we had to sit in what I affectionately call "General Population." She was fascinated with the Mass books/hymnals and flipped through page after page. She loved saying "Amen" with everyone every time she heard it, and was interested in watching the priest and everything going on during the Mass.
That being said, two things about Mass tonight stand out for me. First, RP also LOVES to sing. It doesn't matter if she knows the words, she just makes up her own and sings her little heart out, no matter what genre the song. The more she likes it, the louder she sings. From the sounds of things tonight, she LOVED "Joyful, Joyful," which was the closing song for Mass. She LOVED that song a LOT, and sang it loudly. VERY loudly. Off-key, wrong words, and all. Have I mentioned how LOUD she was? It wasn't even being naughty for the sake of being naughty loud either - it was a genuine "I want to sing with the rest of you because this is a cool song" type of singing, coming from her heart. I almost bit my tongue off trying not to laugh, and Nana wasn't so lucky - she was shaking and crying from laughing so hard at the poor kid (although I'm not sure others around us felt the same way!).
The second memorable event at Mass tonight was RP insisting that she needed to "eat" in line with everyone else - i.e., take Communion. She tried to run away from me to the priest when she saw him handing out Communion, her little hand up in the air like everyone else's, ready to receive the host. Luckily I grabbed her and folded her arms across her chest for the blessing, then took Communion of my own. When she realized that no host was forthcoming for her, she stopped dead in her tracks, looked up at the Eucharistic Minister, and cried, "HEY!!!" Yep, I hustled her little tushie back down the aisle as fast as our legs would carry us, then tried to explain to a three-year old that she couldn't have Communion yet, and that it would be a very special celebration on the day she finally could. When that didn't work, I gave her some yogurt-melts, which seemed to do the trick. Ahhh...
Our adventure at Church tonight ended when we all got in the car, Nana and I still chuckling over RP's rendition of "Joyful, Joyful." As we waited in line with all the other cars to leave the parking lot, a tiny voice perked up from the back seat and cried out, "Let's GO people!" Nana and I busted out laughing, as we both knew all too well exactly where she got THAT from, and Nana remarked, "Yep - she does spend WAY too much time with you!" Yes Nana, that's true - she is truly a chip off the old block!
All in all we had a great day today - a nice long walk through the forest preserve this morning, followed by some highly anticipated fun with Play-Doh, lunch, and a brief nap - which was followed by a great dinner with Nana and Papa, and Mass with Nana. I knew that going to church later in the evening would pose a risk for RP - she is normally in bed at 7 p.m., although most nights she doesn't actually fall asleep until close to 9 - but I was willing to take it.
I have to say that for the most part she was very well behaved in church, especially considering they didn't have the "Crying Room" open and we had to sit in what I affectionately call "General Population." She was fascinated with the Mass books/hymnals and flipped through page after page. She loved saying "Amen" with everyone every time she heard it, and was interested in watching the priest and everything going on during the Mass.
That being said, two things about Mass tonight stand out for me. First, RP also LOVES to sing. It doesn't matter if she knows the words, she just makes up her own and sings her little heart out, no matter what genre the song. The more she likes it, the louder she sings. From the sounds of things tonight, she LOVED "Joyful, Joyful," which was the closing song for Mass. She LOVED that song a LOT, and sang it loudly. VERY loudly. Off-key, wrong words, and all. Have I mentioned how LOUD she was? It wasn't even being naughty for the sake of being naughty loud either - it was a genuine "I want to sing with the rest of you because this is a cool song" type of singing, coming from her heart. I almost bit my tongue off trying not to laugh, and Nana wasn't so lucky - she was shaking and crying from laughing so hard at the poor kid (although I'm not sure others around us felt the same way!).
The second memorable event at Mass tonight was RP insisting that she needed to "eat" in line with everyone else - i.e., take Communion. She tried to run away from me to the priest when she saw him handing out Communion, her little hand up in the air like everyone else's, ready to receive the host. Luckily I grabbed her and folded her arms across her chest for the blessing, then took Communion of my own. When she realized that no host was forthcoming for her, she stopped dead in her tracks, looked up at the Eucharistic Minister, and cried, "HEY!!!" Yep, I hustled her little tushie back down the aisle as fast as our legs would carry us, then tried to explain to a three-year old that she couldn't have Communion yet, and that it would be a very special celebration on the day she finally could. When that didn't work, I gave her some yogurt-melts, which seemed to do the trick. Ahhh...
Our adventure at Church tonight ended when we all got in the car, Nana and I still chuckling over RP's rendition of "Joyful, Joyful." As we waited in line with all the other cars to leave the parking lot, a tiny voice perked up from the back seat and cried out, "Let's GO people!" Nana and I busted out laughing, as we both knew all too well exactly where she got THAT from, and Nana remarked, "Yep - she does spend WAY too much time with you!" Yes Nana, that's true - she is truly a chip off the old block!
Friday, June 24, 2011
Fight or flight...
Today was unseasonably chilly for June in this part of the country, and while we never got any rain today, it looked ominous to say the least all day long. RP let me sleep in this morning, after waking me up at 2:15 a.m. for a random " 'nuggle," and then again at 6 a.m. when she thought the sun should be up (luckily I convinced her that since the sun was still sleeping, and Mickey Mouse wasn't on TV yet, she should go back to bed - she must have been tired too because I didn't see her again, or hear her playing in her room, for another 2 1/2 hours!). Since it was cold and crappy out, I struggled with what we would do today, then decided that after a leisurely morning of cleaning the kitchen I would surprise RP with a trip to the carnival portion of our local "Taste of ---."
I told RP to grab her shoes and sweatshirt and that Mommy had a surprise for her, and after she convinced me that our trip to the gas station was just NOT a surprise meant for her (smart girl!), she was beside herself excited when she saw all the rides and what she thought was a blow-up jumpie as we pulled into the parking lot. She could hardly contain her excitement as she pulled on my hand and practically ran to the gate of the carnival, jammering excitedly on about going on the jumpie (which wasn't there, but hold that thought) and seeing everything else she could.
That ALL changed about 15 steps into the carnival. RP discovered that the giant gorilla she had seen from the back was just a big blow-up "monkey" - not a jumpie after all, and needless to say she was disappointed. However, nothing could prepare either of us for her reaction when she saw the blow-up that was 20 feet away from the gorilla - a giant, inflatable, red T-Rex dinosaur with huge teeth. My normally fearless child took one look at that balloon and came unhinged. She started screaming and crying that she did NOT like the dinosaur and that she wanted to go home - now. I remembered that a few weeks ago they had a Dino Jump at school and the teacher told me that she was afraid of it until she got closer and got to go IN the Dino Jump, after which time they had a hard time getting her out, so I tried to use the same tactics. I showed her that it was just a "balloon" and that it was tied down - it wasn't going anywhere, it wasn't real, and it wasn't going to get her. She shook her head at me as I carried her closer and closer, and then refused to look at it, crying the whole time.
I tried another tactic. I hid her head in my shoulder as we moved into the carnival area and tried to show her all the rides she could ride - the merry-go-round, the choo-choo train, etc. Everything she normally would have LOVED and begged me to ride over and over and over. Nothing. She kept glancing back toward the dinosaur and begging me to leave. When I put her down so that we could talk it over again, the child literally BOLTED away from me - thank goodness for her monkey harness that I had wisely put on her before we left the van! She was screaming and crying, and literally running for her life, with me in tow not three feet behind her! When we finally got to a fence, I picked her up again and she was shaking and crying, sobbing that the dinosaur was going to get her and that she wanted to go home - now.
Needless to say we left, although I did try to ply her with carnival games where she won her first two stuffed animal prizes ever (we, however, came home with THREE new stuffed animals because one of the carnies felt so sorry for how pitiful she looked crying and carrying on that he threw in an extra one to try to make her feel better - what a nice guy!) but nothing dissuaded her from leaving. We went out to lunch afterward, and all through lunch she kept asking me where the dinosaur was now and was it going to get her. I must have convinced her that the dinosaur wasn't coming anywhere near her, because she finally seemed to relax and stopped asking about the dinosaur, enjoying her lunch and the ice cream that followed.
As "Plan B" for the day we visited the local library for the first time ever, and RP now has her very own library card! She had a BALL in the library (I'm not sure if it was all the books, or her ability to incessantly tell me to "Shhhh" in the library every time I tried to tell her something!) and came home with SIX books, all of which we HAD to read immediately. I am so happy that she has a love of reading already and had such a great time at the library, especially since the day really didn't pan out as I had anticipated, although I now see at least weekly, if not bi-weekly trips, to the library in our near future as she gobbles up all the books she can off those shelves!
I honestly don't know what prompted her recent fear of dinosaurs, or her violent reaction to seeing it today. When I asked her where she was running to when she tried to take off on me, she looked at me like I was an idiot and said simply, "Home, Mommy. I needed to go home." She didn't seem to know, or care, that I was running behind her at the time - all her little body and mind knew was that she needed to get back to the safety of her home and away from that dinosaur, and I anticipate that we will have several more dinosaur-related discussions here in the near future.
Whew - for a slow-starting day, what an eventful Friday it turned out to be!!!
I told RP to grab her shoes and sweatshirt and that Mommy had a surprise for her, and after she convinced me that our trip to the gas station was just NOT a surprise meant for her (smart girl!), she was beside herself excited when she saw all the rides and what she thought was a blow-up jumpie as we pulled into the parking lot. She could hardly contain her excitement as she pulled on my hand and practically ran to the gate of the carnival, jammering excitedly on about going on the jumpie (which wasn't there, but hold that thought) and seeing everything else she could.
That ALL changed about 15 steps into the carnival. RP discovered that the giant gorilla she had seen from the back was just a big blow-up "monkey" - not a jumpie after all, and needless to say she was disappointed. However, nothing could prepare either of us for her reaction when she saw the blow-up that was 20 feet away from the gorilla - a giant, inflatable, red T-Rex dinosaur with huge teeth. My normally fearless child took one look at that balloon and came unhinged. She started screaming and crying that she did NOT like the dinosaur and that she wanted to go home - now. I remembered that a few weeks ago they had a Dino Jump at school and the teacher told me that she was afraid of it until she got closer and got to go IN the Dino Jump, after which time they had a hard time getting her out, so I tried to use the same tactics. I showed her that it was just a "balloon" and that it was tied down - it wasn't going anywhere, it wasn't real, and it wasn't going to get her. She shook her head at me as I carried her closer and closer, and then refused to look at it, crying the whole time.
I tried another tactic. I hid her head in my shoulder as we moved into the carnival area and tried to show her all the rides she could ride - the merry-go-round, the choo-choo train, etc. Everything she normally would have LOVED and begged me to ride over and over and over. Nothing. She kept glancing back toward the dinosaur and begging me to leave. When I put her down so that we could talk it over again, the child literally BOLTED away from me - thank goodness for her monkey harness that I had wisely put on her before we left the van! She was screaming and crying, and literally running for her life, with me in tow not three feet behind her! When we finally got to a fence, I picked her up again and she was shaking and crying, sobbing that the dinosaur was going to get her and that she wanted to go home - now.
Needless to say we left, although I did try to ply her with carnival games where she won her first two stuffed animal prizes ever (we, however, came home with THREE new stuffed animals because one of the carnies felt so sorry for how pitiful she looked crying and carrying on that he threw in an extra one to try to make her feel better - what a nice guy!) but nothing dissuaded her from leaving. We went out to lunch afterward, and all through lunch she kept asking me where the dinosaur was now and was it going to get her. I must have convinced her that the dinosaur wasn't coming anywhere near her, because she finally seemed to relax and stopped asking about the dinosaur, enjoying her lunch and the ice cream that followed.
As "Plan B" for the day we visited the local library for the first time ever, and RP now has her very own library card! She had a BALL in the library (I'm not sure if it was all the books, or her ability to incessantly tell me to "Shhhh" in the library every time I tried to tell her something!) and came home with SIX books, all of which we HAD to read immediately. I am so happy that she has a love of reading already and had such a great time at the library, especially since the day really didn't pan out as I had anticipated, although I now see at least weekly, if not bi-weekly trips, to the library in our near future as she gobbles up all the books she can off those shelves!
I honestly don't know what prompted her recent fear of dinosaurs, or her violent reaction to seeing it today. When I asked her where she was running to when she tried to take off on me, she looked at me like I was an idiot and said simply, "Home, Mommy. I needed to go home." She didn't seem to know, or care, that I was running behind her at the time - all her little body and mind knew was that she needed to get back to the safety of her home and away from that dinosaur, and I anticipate that we will have several more dinosaur-related discussions here in the near future.
Whew - for a slow-starting day, what an eventful Friday it turned out to be!!!
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Sassy pants
I have to say that overall today RP was in a great mood, and was fairly well behaved. She showed up in my room before the crack of dawn this morning, and considering I was up until 2 a.m. starting to clean out drawers in my bedroom dressers (I have been watching too many episodes of "Hoarders" lately and feel compelled to get rid of crap around here and decided to go with some "low-hanging fruit" if you will...) I was none to thrilled with this, and sent her back to her room to go back to bed. She re-appeared a couple of hours later, big grin on her face, letting me know that the sun was now out and that she NEEDED to watch Mickey Mouse (who knew he was on at 8 a.m.? Not this chick!), so I flipped my TV on to the Disney Channel and got about 45 more minutes of sleep while she was in her Disney-coma.
She fell asleep around 11:30 a.m., which was only a problem because we were on our way to get her hair cut - with an 11:45 a.m. appointment - so I had to wake her up once we got to the salon, but once again she woke with a huge grin and was very good for Miss H to trim her hair. After being such a good girl, I decided that we should go and get pizza for lunch, and again - well behaved in the restaurant and listened very well to Mommy. This should have all clued me in...
... that things were NOT going to stay the same. Fast forward to nap time, when I had to YELL up the stairs not once but twice that she needed to lay down and take her nap. Two hours later she emerged from her room, telling me she REALLY needed that nap (and yes, Mommy did too!). At dinner, however, RP decided that she was "large and in-charge" and became all sorts of sassy for reasons unknown to anyone but her. After several requests from me to stop kicking the table, and a final ultimatum that if she continued she was DONE with dinner, she looked right at me and kicked away - again. I grabbed her plate, dumped the food in the garbage, and wiped her hands and face up, telling her she was done with her meal. She started in on a "mini-tantrum" - sitting on the floor crying (noise that got progressively louder, but no tears) and stomping her feet, especially when she learned that no dinner meant no dessert. I told her that if she kept getting louder and stomping she was going to spend some time in the "Naughty Corner" but to no avail, so she got to spend the longest three minutes of MY life in the "Naughty Corner" while I tried to finish my dinner and not bust out laughing at the drama (it was laugh or be ridiculously mad - I chose to find the drama funny, which is not always the case. Go figure.). After her "release" from the naughty corner she came up to me, apologized, and then merrily went on her way, playing with a small beach ball she got at daycare.
Playing with the beach ball was fun UNTIL she whipped it at the dog's head. Yes, on purpose. Yes, after I told her several times to be careful with the ball in the house and absolutely NOT to throw it at either of the dogs, Mommy, OR the TV. You guessed it - the ball went into a 10-minute time out, so more drama. Ugh. This is turning out to be one long day.
After the ball drama, I asked RP if she wanted to talk to Nana. She was upset the night before that she didn't get to talk to her, and I had promised her that she could, and she was excited to talk on the land line, because for some reason she felt that this required standing on her princess step stool to do so, which is always great fun! I called Nana and Papa, and she talked to Papa first. I ignored her the first time she turned around to me and said, "Quiet - I am on the phone," and she proceeded to tell Papa all about not getting to finish her dinner because she was naughty. I ignored her when she got on the phone with Nana and proceeded to turn around and say, "Shhh - I am ON the phone," but I was more annoyed than the first time she said it (and, if I were to need a defense, I hadn't uttered a peep during either of her conversations at this point - she was totally mimicking me when I am on the phone and she feels the need to interrupt). When Mommy finally lost her patience was when I told her she needed to say good-byes and "I love you's" to Nana and she whipped her little head around, looked me dead in the eye with a completely annoyed look on her face, and shouted in MY face, "I AM ON THE PHONE - BE. QUIET!!!!!!!" Yeah, that didn't go so well... for her. Back to the "Naughty Corner" and I got to explain to Nana what that was all about.
After RP spent her time in the "Naughty Corner" for being sassy we discussed her sassiness and tone of voice. Hopefully she now has a more "full" understanding of why she got in trouble and how she is NOT to talk to me any more. If not, she is going to be spending lots more time in that "Naughty Corner," and Mommy is going to need to invest in more Advil...
She fell asleep around 11:30 a.m., which was only a problem because we were on our way to get her hair cut - with an 11:45 a.m. appointment - so I had to wake her up once we got to the salon, but once again she woke with a huge grin and was very good for Miss H to trim her hair. After being such a good girl, I decided that we should go and get pizza for lunch, and again - well behaved in the restaurant and listened very well to Mommy. This should have all clued me in...
... that things were NOT going to stay the same. Fast forward to nap time, when I had to YELL up the stairs not once but twice that she needed to lay down and take her nap. Two hours later she emerged from her room, telling me she REALLY needed that nap (and yes, Mommy did too!). At dinner, however, RP decided that she was "large and in-charge" and became all sorts of sassy for reasons unknown to anyone but her. After several requests from me to stop kicking the table, and a final ultimatum that if she continued she was DONE with dinner, she looked right at me and kicked away - again. I grabbed her plate, dumped the food in the garbage, and wiped her hands and face up, telling her she was done with her meal. She started in on a "mini-tantrum" - sitting on the floor crying (noise that got progressively louder, but no tears) and stomping her feet, especially when she learned that no dinner meant no dessert. I told her that if she kept getting louder and stomping she was going to spend some time in the "Naughty Corner" but to no avail, so she got to spend the longest three minutes of MY life in the "Naughty Corner" while I tried to finish my dinner and not bust out laughing at the drama (it was laugh or be ridiculously mad - I chose to find the drama funny, which is not always the case. Go figure.). After her "release" from the naughty corner she came up to me, apologized, and then merrily went on her way, playing with a small beach ball she got at daycare.
Playing with the beach ball was fun UNTIL she whipped it at the dog's head. Yes, on purpose. Yes, after I told her several times to be careful with the ball in the house and absolutely NOT to throw it at either of the dogs, Mommy, OR the TV. You guessed it - the ball went into a 10-minute time out, so more drama. Ugh. This is turning out to be one long day.
After the ball drama, I asked RP if she wanted to talk to Nana. She was upset the night before that she didn't get to talk to her, and I had promised her that she could, and she was excited to talk on the land line, because for some reason she felt that this required standing on her princess step stool to do so, which is always great fun! I called Nana and Papa, and she talked to Papa first. I ignored her the first time she turned around to me and said, "Quiet - I am on the phone," and she proceeded to tell Papa all about not getting to finish her dinner because she was naughty. I ignored her when she got on the phone with Nana and proceeded to turn around and say, "Shhh - I am ON the phone," but I was more annoyed than the first time she said it (and, if I were to need a defense, I hadn't uttered a peep during either of her conversations at this point - she was totally mimicking me when I am on the phone and she feels the need to interrupt). When Mommy finally lost her patience was when I told her she needed to say good-byes and "I love you's" to Nana and she whipped her little head around, looked me dead in the eye with a completely annoyed look on her face, and shouted in MY face, "I AM ON THE PHONE - BE. QUIET!!!!!!!" Yeah, that didn't go so well... for her. Back to the "Naughty Corner" and I got to explain to Nana what that was all about.
After RP spent her time in the "Naughty Corner" for being sassy we discussed her sassiness and tone of voice. Hopefully she now has a more "full" understanding of why she got in trouble and how she is NOT to talk to me any more. If not, she is going to be spending lots more time in that "Naughty Corner," and Mommy is going to need to invest in more Advil...
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