I'm sitting at my computer (duh) where I should be writing a speech, the first of not one, not two, but FOURTEEN speeches that need to be written by mid-September (that's two a week, folks, and I'm part-time, plus there's that video script and, and, and...) but I cannot resist mentioning what happened this afternoon.
So.
Sometimes Barak will make a reasonable request that is not grantable right at the moment of its asking. For example, I won't give him granola at dinnertime, or take him to the park at naptime, or change the baby's diaper because I just did it and Barak wants me to do it again. In these instances, I usually say "We'll do it later," or "We'll do it tomorrow." So, for example, it'll be bathtime, and Barak will start talking about what he'd really rather be doing (for example, eating ice cream.) The conversation will go something like this:
Barak: Ikeem?
Me: No, sweetheart. It's not time for ice cream now.
Barak: Ikeem pish potty?
Me: Sure, you can pish on the potty, but you don't get ice cream for that. You get a chocolate chip for pishing on the potty, right?
Barak: Ikeem shabbos?
Me: Right, we have ice cream on shabbos.
Barak (being as winsome as possible): Ikeem shabbos? Ikeem?
Me: No, it's not Shabbos now. It's Shabbos tomorrow.
Barak [considering this acceptable]: Shabbos tomorrow.
Got that? Good. So, today, Barak figured it should work both ways. I picked him up from camp and we were walking home, me holding his hand and with Iyyar in the sling. Barak's lunch (PB on leftover homemade whole-wheat challah, a cheese stick, a banana and juice) had gone over very well, and he was telling me about it. "Sammish! Sammish lunch! Cheese! Cheese juice!" He also told me about his day in general. "Water! Water splash! Water swimming! Water giraffe! Giraffe innair! Sammish! Cheese! Camp fun! Fun house! Sammish juice!" Then, a block from our house, he slowed down. He remembered what was about to happen. What happens every day after camp--the Dreaded Nap.
"No night-night."
"Yes, Barak, it's time for night-night. Then after night-night maybe we'll go play in the sprinkler."
"No night-night."
"Yes, night-night."
"No night-night now. Night-night tomorrow."
8 comments:
But turning your mother's words back against her are a sign of intelligence, right? So that's a GOOD thing. Right?
Oh, that little smarty-pants is going to be a handful ;)
For what it's worth, I love ikeem on shabbos, too.
I don't think he was trying to be smart about it. He just thought it was worth a try. I mean, I say it all the time, why shouldn't he? I laughed, of course, and then he got all hopeful and said it a few more times. Before we got home and he, to his great disappointment, found himself in his crib with a copy of Go Dog Go.
You sound like such a great mother ... you have really lucky kids!
Makes sense to me; if you can make him wait for Shabbos, he can make you wait for his nap, right? :-D
But the negotiating strategies get even better as their speech improves and their life experience grows . . . this is just the beginning - just remember to always enjoy the humor in it!
- My 4.5 YO's latest "no bedtime" strategy is to refuse to go. If I carry him up & put him in pj's (it matters; he isn't regularly dry overnight yet), then he wins, because he *wants* me to baby him and undress him instead of doing it himself. The bed being wet in the morning would only bother *me* - we've had leaky pull-ups, I know.
I'll trade with him and take his nap now, if that's okay with everyone...
I've tried that myself, but it doesn't work...
Oh dear. The negotiation stage has begun...
This can get very interesting.
I think we should all go take naps now.
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