Saturday, October 24, 2009
The sweetest not-sweet thing you could say...
E has been pushing bedtime all night. We've all been there, when everything else seems so much more interesting than sleep. So, she's been pushing the boundaries. She's discovered how many times she can play the "I have to go potty" card before mom and dad catch on. Sadly, not nearly as many times as she'd hoped.
So, she's had to branch out.
"I want another bandaid" (for a small rash that really doesn't need a bandaid -- that one didn't fly.)
"I wanta be in yours arms" -- that one is the kicker. She's been crying it for the last forty five seconds. How can one deny the cry of a toddler shouting and screaming at the top of her lungs that she wants to be in yours arms?
Now it has switched to "I want mamma."
dagger.
I think I'll give my daughter ONE MORE hug and kiss goodnight.
-----------------------------
post script.
It worked. She's now eyes closed, drifting off to dream land. I guess she just needed one last touch of affirmation. Ahh... peace and quiet. Now it's my turn.
Sunday, October 04, 2009
Mind-reader
When you have a toddler at home, you have to be a bit of a mind-reader. Sometimes the sentences that come out, while I understand all the words, just are not comprehensible. Unless you can read minds.
Yesterday I scored one point on this front.
PUZZLE: E kept referencing the fire pit in the ceiling. She was insistent that there were fire pits in the attic.
SOLUTION: It got cold last week. "Day care" started using their furnace. They have a small tin chimney that I've noticed has been working hard. Every time we drop E off, we see little bits of smoke rising from the roof. She can see that roof from their playground.
The only experience she has had with smoke has been from either burning food or the fire pit in our back yard.
The chimney was spouting smoke in a steady fashion, and nothing smelt like burnt toast, so I guess, given her knowledge base, I might have logically made the same conclusion as well.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sometimes I need S to solve the problem. This morning he scored one point.
PUZZLE: E was "just practicing" on the potty. We like to encourage her to do this as long as possible, so we let her read books while she "practices." If she succeeds, she gets to play with a special stuffed bunny all day. "I want to read the book with the bunnies. Lots and lots of bunnies." --- so I brought her the only book I could think we owned where bunnies were the main character. "No, the OTHER book" she said. "WHAT other book?" I asked. "The bunny book. The other bunny book," she said.
SOLUTION: Steve to the rescue. "The book with the little girl, L. The one one where the little girl gets a new sister. 'I'm a Big Sister Now.'" "THAT's the BUNNY book?!" I asked. "Yes, the little girl walks around with a bunny."
Skeptical, I got the book. "Thanks momma!" E exclaimed.
We open the book. The inside of the front and back of the book are papered with pictures of big sister's baby bunny.
I guess S was right.
Saturday, October 03, 2009
A conversation
I'm in an educational policy class.
This morning we were looking forward at what we'd discuss today.
I pointed to the "should we include homework?" part of the future discussion and said to my small group, "My husband wrote his dissertation on this."
"It's pretty much useless, right? Homework?" said my classmate, as if everyone knew the answer already.
"Actually, NO... he found it's extremely effective (at least in math) in decreasing the SES achievement gap."
Hurry up and publish that dissertation of yours, Steve! We all need it.
