Per the advice of Jane Nelsen and her Positive Discipline books, I have changed our mealtime routine. Instead of fixing a plate for Teah, I set all of the food out on the table and let her decide what she wants and get her own food. The first night we did it was pasta night, so I set out the plain pasta, a bowl of sauce with a spoon, and some shredded mozarella. I have tried in the past to get her to eat her pasta with cheese on it, but she has always refused. On pasta night, I showed her how I liked to put some white cheese on my pasta and eat it. She ate a few helpings plain and then decided that she wanted to try it too. She did and said she liked it. She's always been very picky and I think this will help her to try new things!
Yesterday at lunchtime I decided on sandwiches, so I put out 2 types of bread, cheese, peanut butter, and turkey. Teah decided to put peanut butter on cinnamon bread. After spreading some peanut butter on one slice, she told me that she wanted a peanut butter and turkey sandwich. I had the immediate impulse to tell her not to, but then I thought, "why does it matter if she eats a peanut butter and turkey sandwich?". So, I told her to go for it. She put on one piece of turkey, some more peanut butter, and her top slice of bread. She ate half the sandwich and said she liked it! I guess we'll see what she decided on next time.
1.31.2009
Hey, That's Funny!
Teah has been trying to tell me jokes for weeks now. Usually she says something like, "Mommy, I want to tell you a joke. How do people walk? On their feet". Her jokes have generally been plain old statements that for some reason she thinks are jokes. So, when she told me that she had a joke to tell me yesterday I was expecting the same thing. Here's what she said:
Mommy, how do chickens learn to fly?
They just wing it!
Hey, that's funny! :) She said that she made it up herself, but I eventually got out of her that she took a joke from Word World that Duck said and changed it to a chicken instead of a duck to make it her own!
Mommy, how do chickens learn to fly?
They just wing it!
Hey, that's funny! :) She said that she made it up herself, but I eventually got out of her that she took a joke from Word World that Duck said and changed it to a chicken instead of a duck to make it her own!
1.28.2009
Our Little Observer
In preparation for selling our townhome, we have been aquiring a few new items to spruce things up a bit. We ditched our disgusting old rug in the living room for a new one and put up a new shower curtain and rod in our bathroom recently. I put down the new rug while Carter was napping and when I brought him down from his room he immediately ran over to the new rug, pointed and stared for a minute, then hopped on and did a little dance. OK, the new rug was pretty obvious, so I wasn't too surprised when he noticed that. Well, I took the kids upstairs for a bath tonight and Carter immediately pointed at the new shower curtain. I was holding him and as I got closer he pointed to the new shower curtain rod! Seriously, this kid is observant.
1.23.2009
Lessons Learned
Recently due to Teah's leaning towards being a perfectionist and my new readings of Jane Nelsen and Positive Discipline, I decided to start turning my mistakes into learning experiences for Teah. Well, yesterday gave us quite a few learning experiences!
First, when I was putting Carter into his carseat (in the middle seat of the van) I put my knee down on the seat next to it and squashed right into an old banana peel. My whole knee was covered in what my mom coined to be "banana guts". It was disgusting. Now I have to describe a book that Teah and I have read in order for her side of the story to make sense. The book is called "Watch out for Banana Peels" and it is Grover giving some safety tips and trying to be goofy at the same time. Most of the safety tips are practical, like don't play with the stove. But the books throws in some sillies like watch out for banana peels. I tried to explain to Teah when we were reading it what they meant by it, but she always seemed confused that they were telling you to watch out for banana peeels. So, as you can guess, she was ecstatic to discover when I squashed into the banana peel that you really should watch out for them! We also discussed the lesson of putting trash where it belongs.
After getting home from the same trip, I went to put the diaper bag on our kitchen cart and as I pushed it back a little I knocked off a glass bowl that was sitting on the back and it broke. This led to a good discussion of how things should be put where they belong. When I told Teah that mommy had made a mistake and we talked about what we had learned from it, she said, "Mommy, it's really important to learn something".
So, the very same day and not long after the bowl incident, I decided to bake a frozen pizza in the oven for lunch. I was preheating and smelled something funny, but of course didn't investigate. When I opened the oven to put the pizza in I discovered that I had melted four magnetic plastic toy letters that Carter and I had put in pretending they were cookies. I have no idea what I was thinking actually encouraging Carter to put something into our actual working oven. Thankfully, I think he has forgotten about it because he hasn't tried it on his own. Lesson learned - don't let Carter put things in the oven and perhaps check it before turning it on! The letter below used to be an F...
First, when I was putting Carter into his carseat (in the middle seat of the van) I put my knee down on the seat next to it and squashed right into an old banana peel. My whole knee was covered in what my mom coined to be "banana guts". It was disgusting. Now I have to describe a book that Teah and I have read in order for her side of the story to make sense. The book is called "Watch out for Banana Peels" and it is Grover giving some safety tips and trying to be goofy at the same time. Most of the safety tips are practical, like don't play with the stove. But the books throws in some sillies like watch out for banana peels. I tried to explain to Teah when we were reading it what they meant by it, but she always seemed confused that they were telling you to watch out for banana peeels. So, as you can guess, she was ecstatic to discover when I squashed into the banana peel that you really should watch out for them! We also discussed the lesson of putting trash where it belongs.
After getting home from the same trip, I went to put the diaper bag on our kitchen cart and as I pushed it back a little I knocked off a glass bowl that was sitting on the back and it broke. This led to a good discussion of how things should be put where they belong. When I told Teah that mommy had made a mistake and we talked about what we had learned from it, she said, "Mommy, it's really important to learn something".
So, the very same day and not long after the bowl incident, I decided to bake a frozen pizza in the oven for lunch. I was preheating and smelled something funny, but of course didn't investigate. When I opened the oven to put the pizza in I discovered that I had melted four magnetic plastic toy letters that Carter and I had put in pretending they were cookies. I have no idea what I was thinking actually encouraging Carter to put something into our actual working oven. Thankfully, I think he has forgotten about it because he hasn't tried it on his own. Lesson learned - don't let Carter put things in the oven and perhaps check it before turning it on! The letter below used to be an F...
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