Amaya came in to wake me up and said, "Momma, you're the best."
I swear I did not train her to say that.
Amaya constantly says "I love you" to me. I know she says it to a few other people too, but I like to think she means it especially much when she says it to me.
After she begged me to open a banana for her, for about 20 minutes of constant nagging. Amaya is the great fruit fake-out queen (oh, it's a title, trust me) and will almost inevitably not eat whatever fruit you willingly give her.
Finally I opened it up. She pulled a chunk off, brought it to her lips, and did not take a bite. Not even a little bite. She put the banana on the counter.
7 time outs later, I'm taking a picture of her miserable self, a hostage at the kitchen table, holding a banana and saying, "I don't WANNA take a bite of banana! I don't Yike it!"
I truly think she believed at that moment that she was having the worst day of her life.
Don't you wish this was your worst day? Being forced to take one bite of a banana?
15 comments:
this is the worst day of my life but if I turn in my thesis at noon it will be the best day of my life.
Tell Amaya to come over here so I can give her lots of kisses and plot fun things against you :)
Yes, yes I do. Bananas are delicious!
hahahaha the joys of being a mother! that is the cutest picture ever!
Ah, poor little tyke! What kind of horrible mother are you? sheez! Forcing the kid to eat a banana! (JK!!)
Hmmmm...she sounds a lot like my almost 3 yr old. Yesterday he came up to me and said, "Mommy, I want to give you a GREAT hug and a GREAT kiss so I can do anything."
Ah. I think he's figured out how to work the system.
I think my worst days are a lot like Amaya's worst day, if you substitute "taking a bit of the banana" for "calling the dentist to make appointments for me and all the kids" or "tackling the pile of bills on the desk" etc., etc.
(Bit, bite, whatev.)
Great photo, Mighty. That silly girl.
I kind of feel like that about bananas too. I start out thinking they're a great idea, then never finish them. I don't eat bananas much anymore.
The food war is the worst. I gave up on that one and have taken on greater battles, like putting shoes in the shoe rack when ready to take them off. Parenting makes me feel so nice.
I, like Amaya, believe that the best part of bananas is peeling them.
It's always a little surprise to see what's inside. (it's usually a banana)
Who can blame her? Bananas are gross...
Anyways, we need to talk. Are you coming to Oregon for Christmas?
Her nagging you for 20 minutes will soon turn into you nagging her for a lifetime....ahhhh the joys of parenthood!
Mariko! Thanks for you post on my blog. I wanted to email you back but don't have your email address, so I hope you don't mind if I use this comment box to respond...
YES! I would be the first person to admit that time-out doesn't work for all kids, and that the system I talked about definitely doesn't cover all of the kiddos that time-out even works for. One parent actually looked at me one day and said, "How long do we try this before we realize that it's not a good fit for my daughter?". Classic question.
Another friend also asked about what to do if the kiddo gets out of time-out, and for kiddos above three or so, we use two stickers, each designated with some sort of privilege, and use them as leverage to keep the kiddo in the chair. For example, the child gets an explanation before they are in trouble that mommy has two stickers: one is for a sweet treat, and one is for watching a favorite cartoon (or whatever, as long as it's a small daily routine thing that is rewarding). Then I tell kiddos that if they do not stay in the chair during time-out (or, in Amaya's case, maybe a "time-out washcloth" on the ground or on top of a nest of pillows!), that the sticker will be taken away and they will lose their sweet treat, or cartoon that day. It's a helper, to shape the behavior of staying in time out instead of getting out. Usually in the hierarchy of what kiddos like, the privilege being revoked is worse than staying in time-out, so it only takes a few times of getting a privilege revoked before kids will choose time-out when given that warning. If kiddos choose to get out again even after the warning, mom says, "You chose not to stay in time-out. I am taking off this sticker, which means that you don't get to *blank* today". That's it. Time out over, because the privilege being revoked is actually a worse punishment.
So. I don't know if that's helpful, but yeah, I agree with you totally that if she comes out and goes back, she doesn't remember what the original reason for being there was, and it's pointless. Maybe try the stickers to shape the behavior of her staying there?
Keep me posted! Let me know if something else works better for you, too. I find this topic very interesting...
Just checking in to make sure you're doing OK!
ha ha ha That was classic!
I do wish that was my worst day. Actually bananas make me gag the older I get. Weird.
I saw Jake and Amaya at BYU the other day. She is sooooo cute. Sooooo adorable. She really shines. Looks just like you.
Hey, how come Kristina P. came to check if you are okay. Are you okay?
Thanks for a wonderful school year for Tatum. She loved it. Sorry you had to take the heat from Miss L. It's almost over.
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