Even though he won't hit terrible two for another eight and a half months, Jack's got the saying "no" thing down. It's just that he uses actions, not words. He starts to do something he knows he shouldn't (throwing his sippy cup off the table, for instance), then stops and shakes his head "no." Then as he's shaking his head, he does exactly what he's telling me he knows he shouldn't do. Or at least what will make me say "no." Ugh.
So now we're working on learning to say "yes." Any time I ask a question and either want him to say yes or know that he would respond affirmatively, I make an exaggerated nod, say "yeeeeesss" very slowly, and move Jack's chin up and down. I think it's a good lesson to learn--say what you mean. He thinks it's hilarious.
For a while now I've firmly held to the conviction that Jack my no longer play with keys. Not just not playing with my keys--not playing with any keys. I know that means I'm being mean Mommy, and I'm glad that he's able to identify them and to attempt to say keys, but he was starting to throw tantrums when someone wouldn't give him keys, and that just won't fly with me. Plus not generally letting him play with keys enables me to give them to him as an incredibly effective incentive to make Jack behave really, really well in certain clutch situations like when I had to take him with me to the eye doctor today. That's double bonus time--no regular tantrums and reliable path to ensuring an extra-good boy.
But last week Jack shocked me yet again with his ingenuity and drive for obtaining keys. We have a mudroom off the garage where we keep all our keys and bags and occasionally keep one
of Jack's strollers when I plan on using it a lot and don't want to mess with carrying it down the stairs to the garage. Generally I keep the door from the mudroom to the living room closed during the day, but I was trying to unload the car from our visit to Nonna and Pops' house last weekend, so I had the door open and the light on yesterday morning. Jack loves, loves, loves to go into
this closet-sized room, close the door behind himself, and play the "Where's Jack?" game wherein I ask, "Where's Jack?," he knocks on the door, I turn the doorknob (which he blessedly can't reach yet), and he opens the door wide and lets out a squeal of excitement that I take to mean, "Here I am, silly mommy!" Add some of him sticking his fingers under the door and me wiggling mine back underneath in response and we've spent a good half hour at play. Ah, the simple things.
At any rate, last Wednesday Jack capitalized on my having left the mudroom door open and light on. He went into the mudroom and closed the door as usual, but when he had spent a minute or so in there without going through the rest of his normal routine, I decided to go in to check on him. Jack greeted me from the seat of his Bugaboo by holding out a set of keys and saying, "Dees!" He had pushed his stoller over to the table where we keep our keys, climbed into the stroller (which I've never seen him do before), and retrieved the keys from their dish. Persistent little boy.
1 comment:
He's a stubborn genius. Who would have guessed with you two as parents? =)
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