Out of the mouth and mind of a 3 year old.

So today we went to Costco to return Cinderella's Easter Dress. Yes, they took it back no questions asked. While we were there we picked up a few items we have been needing, and one of the things I got was a box of strawberries.
Well my children love strawberries. Both of them. I cut up 6 large strawberries for the 3 of us to share with our lunch. Cinderella and Guy were both eating before I started, and so they had all their portion of strawberries eaten, while I still had a large pile on my plate. Cinderella asked for some more, and I told her they were all gone. She pointed to my plate and said, "there's some." So I explained to her that these were my strawberries.
Then Guy finished his strawberries, and pointed to the bowl where the strawberries had been, and started grunting. I held up the bowl to show him they were all gone. He then pointed to my plate and said "num, num, num" indicating that he too thought he should have some of my berries.
Once again I launched into my explanation that these were mama's berries, and that they had already eaten theirs. They seemed to accept this explanation, and then Cinderella turned to me and asked, "what's a family about?" (OK so this isn't the first time she has asked this question, and the last time she was just being silly, because I had the camcorder on. She told me a family was about a cup.) Well I guess this time it got me thinking. My response was, a family is about caring and sharing. Then I realized, I wasn't sharing my strawberries. So I picked up a few pieces and gave some to each of the kids, as she continued to tell me that a family is about a cup.

***

Cinderella has been greatly interested in princesses lately, particularly "Cinderella". Go figure. Anyway, Cinderella has a glass slipper right? Well so does my Cinderella. Only hers aren't really glass. So lately she keeps asking me what different things are made of, and if they are made of glass. "Is the car made of glass?", "is the cup made of glass?" "is the block made of glass?" ..... etc. Well yesterday was the first time I have heard her ask is something was made of something other than glass, and I found it quite funny.

Cinderella: "Mama, are you made of jam?"
Mama, very puzzled as to what is really being asked and where it came from: "Am I made of jam?"
Cinderella: "Yeah, are you made of jam?"
Mama: "No. Are you made of jam?"
Cinderella: "No. Are you made of peanut butter?"
Mama, really puzzled now: "No, are you made of peanut butter?"
Cinderella: "No. Are you made of peanut butter and jam?"
Mama, laughing:"No, and I think you are being silly." Then I started to tickle her and that stopped the conversation.

***

Cinderella is learning how to pray. It is so amazing to me to hear the prayer of a child, when they aren't being prompted. There are a few things she has prayed for that really make me think, and some that have really touched me. Here are a few.

• One night she said she was thankful for the Lamanites. (A group of people talked about in the Book of Mormon, who Latter Day Saints believe resided on the American Continent, and are the ancestors of the Native Americans).
• Another day I was having a challenging morning, and when I asked her to say the prayer for lunch, she prayed "help mama to get some quiet time." That one really touched me.
  
• She also prays quite frequently for our Prophet, President Monson.

It is so amazing to me to hear the things she says, and thinks of. Sometimes I wish I could just take a little peak into her mind, and see what really goes on in there. But it is probably better that I can't.

"Cinderelly, Cinderelly, Night and Day it's Cinderelly"

If you didn't get it, that is a quote from a song that mice sing in Disney's Cinderella. The only difference is in the movie, it is Cinderella who is kept busy. In real life, it is Cinderella who keeps me busy.
Cinderella is the queen in our household. At least she thinks she is. What she says, usually goes. The only catch is now there is a king too. She's not sure she wants to share the power.
Cinderella is very smart. She may be average for an almost 3 year old, but to me, it always amazes me what she comes out with and what she can do. She can count past 10. She knows her colors, even though she sometimes gets tripped up over black, brown, and purple. She knows her shapes. At least the basic ones. Square, triangle, star, heart, rectangle, circle, arrow. She even knows that a square is a rectangle too.
Cinderella, loves to sing. She can sing pretty much any Disney song that is on the "Classic Disney" CD's. She loves to sing Old McDonald or as she calls it "Mickey and Donald". Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Row Row Row your boat, ABC's, Follow the Prophet, Book of Mormon Stories, I am a Child of God, Families Can Be Together Forever, and other countless primary songs are all part of her regular song choices.
Cinderella loves to dress herself. She picks her own clothes. They don't always match, but that is OK. She is become quite independent. Now if only we could get her to use the potty.

The Wonderful World of Sharing. or Guy Smiley vs. Cinderella

So now that I am done with my Alphabet Soup, I can move on to other things. So lately Guy has become a menace. At least in the eyes of Cinderella.

Cinderella loves her Little People toys. We decided that this year, we would invest in a Little People Nativity, to have out with our Christmas stuff. Part of this nativity is a stable that has a spot for an Angel to sit on top. Then you push down on the Angel and it plays "Away in a Manger". Guy loves to hear it play.
So picture this if you will. Cinderella is sitting on the floor. She has her "special" People (what we call the nativity Little People), all organized the way she wants it and is playing. Guy sees her playing and wants to play too. So here he comes crawling over, right through the Wise Men, and animals, knocking them all over, continues crawling, picks up a donkey, and sits down, right in Cinderella's lap. Then he turns to the stable. He pulls himself up on it, pushes down on the Angel, turning the stable over in the process. So do you think Cinderella is as happy as can be that her brother wants to play with her? No! She yells, "Guy, my people!" Or "Guy, play with something else!" or "I don't like you, Guy!" Does she like him, yes, just not what he is doing at the moment.


Guy loves his sister. He wants to do whatever she is doing. The problem: She doesn't always want him to play with her. So she has developed those lovely sibling qualities. Yelling, hitting, kicking, pushing, etc. You get the picture. So my question is: how do I deal with it?

So I want some feedback. How do you deal with sibling love? Or lack thereof? Lately I've been taking away a toy that is being fought over. Well, that is, after time out didn't work.

It isn't fair to expect Cinderella to always have to play with Guy, when she wants to play by herself. But it also shouldn't be expected that Guy never play with Cinderella, just because she doesn't want him wrecking her setup. Anyway I'll accept any suggestions. Let me know.

W is for weaning

So in my family right now there seems to be a lot of weaning going on. And before you get the wrong idea, no I am not weaning my 5 month old from his bottle yet, unless you count the fact that we have started rice cereal.
Most of the weaning involves my toddler. Another way to say it is we are trying to break habits, or one case, she is breaking a habit or routine.
So I will start with what she is doing. She has recently decided that she doesn't need naps anymore. This is difficult for me, because I still need naps, and I can't take one if she doesn't. She is down to about 2 naps a week. And don't get me wrong I totally appreciate those two naps. In fact I couldn't be writing this right now if she wasn't taking one of her two naps for this week, right now.
We are also in the process of weaning her from her "plug" or pacifier. This is one that is hard for me, and I have tried different ways different times and have yet to succeed. However right now we are trying a replacement method. She uses her plug as an item of comfort, so we are trying to displace that affection and comfort to another item. We bought her two stuffed bears that are identical. One is only for when she is taking a nap or going to bed, the times that she is allowed her plug. The other one is for when we are in the car, a time when she seeks comfort in asking for fruit snacks (another habit we are trying to break at the moment.) I'm hoping she will develop an attachment to the bear and then we can gradually remove the plugs and fruit snacks.
The last item that we are trying to wean right now is movies. If you read my "M is for movies" post you noticed that she watches a lot of movies. I decided she watches too many movies. I decided that instead of a movie a day (on weekdays) I would cut it down to one movie per week, plus special occasions. What I didn't count on were withdrawal symptoms. The first day that I tried no movies, I found myself craving TV, and movies. I think my daughter was having similar problems. She told me probably 6-10 times that day that she "needed to watch a movie". I didn't give in, however I decided that going from a movie a day to a movie a week in one shot was maybe too crazy of a move. So I have altered my plan for the moment. Right now I am trying to cut it down to a movie every other day on weekdays and none on weekends unless it was a special occasion. Once we have adapted to that schedule then maybe it will be twice a week, and then down to once a week.
So I don't know if it is my timing is bad, or that I am trying to do too much at one time, but my daughter has also lately become incredibly clingy. She has always been an outgoing independent child, but now if I go somewhere, even somewhere that is familiar and the people are familiar, she doesn't leave my side for very long. And she is clingy at home too. She always seems to need me right there doing what she is doing, and need my very attention. If I am on the floor paying attention to the baby, she will climb on my back, if I am at the computer she comes and pulls at my arm. If I am in the kitchen, she is underfoot constantly.
So what I want to ask all of you is, do you have any advice for a struggling parent in this situation. Am I doing too much at once do I need to cut back on all that is being cut out of her life at one time? Is there some way that I can pay her attention, and have her take some "own" time too?

A is for attitude

Which if any of you have ever had a two year old, I 'm sure you know all about attitude. She thinks she knows everything. She is a born leader, and domineering. She has strong opinions and throws a world class fit if you try to go against them. Whether it is leaving someones house, or some other play place to go home, or saying no to watching a movie, or getting a snack.
I think tantrums are a way that two-year-olds try to remind you that they are only two. They don't understand things on an adult level, or even an older child level, even if they come across as very mature at times.
However, I've found that even five-month-olds can have a strong attitude. And if I forget myself and allow a willful attitude on my part, we just never get anywhere.

However there is another side to attitude too. There is a positive attitude. Looking at the bright side. That is something my children are really good at. My son smiles more than I have ever seen any other 5 month old smile. True there is only one other 5 month old that I have been around as much as I have been around him, and that is his sister. But he is a very happy baby. He seems to be grinning constantly, even if he isn't feeling well. Even if he is tired or hungry quite often he is smiling through his tears. What a wonderful lesson to learn, to be happy through adversity. My daughter has an outgoing attitude, most of the time. She is getting to be more shy lately, when faced with unfamiliar circumstances, but it doesn't take her long to warm up and strive to make friends with any in the group, no matter age or gender. She loves people. She loves to say hi.

I think it is best to try to ignore the negative and focus on the positive and this is something that my children are teaching me daily.
So take some time and ask yourself, what good things have happened to me today, and forget about the bad.

S is for smiles

I have the tendency to be negative. I'm not a grouch, but I can be pessimistic. I also have a hard time reaching out side myself to interact with others, particularly those I don't know.
Somehow I got blessed with two wonderful, happy, social children.
This morning I took my kids to the park. My two year old was having a glorious time on the playground, when a large group of children from some organization showed up. Now most of these kids looked like they were probably between 8-11. My daughter would smile, at them, follow them around, say hi, and such. They completely ignored her. Now I know this is a common way for older kids to treat younger children they do not know. But all the same, my heart went out to my daughter. I knew just how much rejection I would be feeling if I were her.
Then I realized something. Yes they are ignoring her, but SHE isn't getting upset about it. SHE isn't letting it slow her down, or decide how she should act. She is willing to be happy and social still even though things aren't exactly how she would like them to be.
I decided then and there, that I need to learn from my children and not allow myself to allow others actions be what determines how I act. I need to decide to be happy and not let anything deter me from that goal.
Will you all join me? Take a day and say "today I am going to smile all day, I'm not going to let anything anyone else does make this a bad day for me. I am going to be happy."

P is for patience, potty-training, pacifiers, pressure, and perservierence

Have you ever noticed that there are a lot of things in life that you do or want to do, because you are afraid of what everyone else will think?
For me, I have two that are really getting to me right now. Potty-training, and pacifiers or as it is better known at my house "the plug". So my two-year-old is not potty-trained, and she still uses her plug when she takes a nap, goes to bed, or when she manages to find one I didn't put away. So social pressure tells me that those two things need to be fixed. However my daughter doesn't agree.
So I find myself being wishy-washy and trying at times to master these steps, and at other times not really caring if they get mastered or not. Now this is probably a big part of the problem, I'm not consistent.
So we live in the world of diapers coming off by a toddler who wants to "do own" and then we have messes all over the carpet, and bare bottoms running around, yet refusing to sit on the potty. And pacifiers being thrown out constantly, due to holes from chewing, with the vow that I will not buy any more , yet I still find myself picking up some when I go to the store.
So I have decided that I just need to decide that today will be the day, and stick with it until we have truly mastered the situation. But first am I doing it for them or for me?

T stands for two, terrible, and terrific.

Have you ever dealt with a two-year-old? A two year old is kind of like a diamond. They are both multifaceted. You can be dealing with the sweetest kid in the world one minute and then the next your dealing with a major meltdown. They can be so cute that you want to laugh, and then they do something that makes you want to scream. You can go through happy, sad, crazy, mad, calm, and then yelling all in 30 min. time. But you know what? I love it. I wouldn't trade my two-year-old for anything in the world. She is my pride and joy. She is the best anti-depressant that I have ever had. My heart melts when she looks at me and says "thanks, mama" or when in her best two-year-old way she starts singing all of the songs that she has learned at church or that I have sung to her. So yes a two-year-old brings challenges, like potty-training, and independence, and a very messy house at times. (OK a messy house most of the time) But T also stands for temporary, which is what the two-year-old phase is. So you just have to enjoy the good time, and grin and bear the bad times. For when it is done it is done.