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...