Friday, February 5, 2010

"I Love You" as a weapon

Xander loves to tell me he loves me. Most of the time this is great. I love to hear him say it. But lately he's been using it as a weapon. He'll be laying down in bed and instead of closing his eyes and going to sleep, he says, "Mommy, I love you" a dozen times. If I ignore him, then his tone gets more insistent: "MOMMY I LOVE YOU" with a bit of a whine to it. I feel like the worst mommy ever when I have to respond, "I know. Stop saying that and go to sleep." But I only say that after he's said it at least 20 times.

(He just ran up to me and said "Mommy, I love you" while I was typing this.)

Fool me once, shame on you....

As anyone with a small child knows, band-aids are the best thing ever. Regardless of whether or not there's actually a boo-boo.

One night last week, as I was trying to get Xander to sleep, he complained he had a boo-boo and needed a band-aid. He pointed out the boo-boo but in the semi-darkness of the room I didn't see anything. I tried to ignore his request but sooner rather than later, I gave in. When I brought the band-aid into the room and asked him to show me the boo-boo again so I knew where to put it, he gave me a completely different finger to put it in than he'd shown me before.

With this incident in mind, last night he started complaining again. He showed me the boo-boo and again I didn't see anything. I told him if the boo-boo was still there in the morning, I'd give him a band-aid. He got very insistent and eventually produced real tears. I thought, okay, maybe it is a real boo-boo; after all, he's crying. I got up and got a band-aid.

He gave me a different finger to put it on.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Squirrel!

I've been working on quilts for the kids. I'm a very slow quilt maker. I bought the fabric a couple of months ago, and immediately washed it. Then eventually I ironed and now am in the process of cutting it. The kids have been bugging me incessantly about it lately.

This morning, Xander started up. "Will you work on my quilt today?" This immediately got Jessica's attention. "No! Work on my quilt!" Then I couldn't hear what either of them were saying because they were both saying something to the effect of "Work on my quilt" loudly and at the same time.

Then Hari, genius that he is, pointed out the window. "Look! There goes a squirrel!"

Both kids stopped shouting and ran over to look out the window. It was just like "Up."

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Quotes

"You guys are so busted!" I think perhaps he's been watching too much Phineas and Ferb.

"I can't sleep in the dark." Um....okay. I recently put their "night light" (a string of LED lit butterflies that make the room bright enough to read in) on a timer, thinking they would sleep better in the dark. The verdict is still out on that.

Cat recycling
I recently made the mistake of saying we could probably get a kitten (or two) when Cassie passes away. She's 13 1/2 so this could be soon or it could be 5 or more years. In hindsight, saying that may have been a mistake. Xander recently suggested that we should "throw Cassie away cause she's dead."

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Sun protection

Xander likes to wear sunglasses "so the sun don't see me." = )

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Baby's got a new pair of shoes

The last 3 pairs of sneakers I've bought for Xander were Thomas the Tank Engine sneakers. That's all he wanted to wear. "Want Thomas shoes." I noticed he's starting to outgrow his current pair, so I went to Walmart, the only place that sells the ones he likes, to look for a new pair. While I was there, I saw the Cars shoes.

Cars is his newer obsession. I wasn't sure what to do. I decided to hold off on a purchase till I could take him with me and let him choose.

We went yesterday. I told him he could choose between Cars and Thomas shoes. It was no contest. Cars by a landslide. However, the particular Walmart we were in didn't have the right size. I swore up and down to him that the next time I was in a different Walmart, I would try to get the right size.

That wasn't good enough for him. He proceeded to whine for the rest of time in the store, in the check-out line and in the car. I foresaw a future where all he did was beg and whine for these shoes. I decided to divert slightly and go to a different nearby Walmart.

Fortunately they had the shoes. He insisted I put them on him even before we left the store. I did. He wore them all day, even though we don't usually wear shoes in the house. He took them off for his bath, and then wanted them back on.

He slept in them. Really. I thought for sure he'd get uncomfortable during the night and kick them off, but no, he wore them all night.

He's wearing them now.

Friday, January 8, 2010

But is he smarter than a cat?

(another potty post)
Xander prefers to use the little potty. For reasons that I probably don't need to get into, I prefer him to use the big potty. Now, the little potty is conveniently located in the living room, where he can stop playing, walk a few feet and use it. The bathroom, on the other hand, is at least 15 feet away.

I thought about moving the little potty into the bathroom next to the big potty. But then I thought about what I did when I moved the cats' litterbox in our condo. I was afraid they (and by "they" I meant "Chelsea") wouldn't be able find it if I moved it and would just do their business in the space where the litterbox used to be. So I moved it a few feet each day until I got it to the new location.

I'm wondering if I would need to use this tactic with my child.