To see if my creative juices will get going again. I was on a roll and then Aiden refused to nap - LOUDLY - and *poof* the creative spark was gone. We'll see if writing on my blog brings it back!
I'm still working on getting through my Playful Parenting book. It's been good, right up there with Redirecting Children's Behavior. I like that this author gives lots of examples. Sometimes I feel like I know what the outcome should be but I don't know what action to take. For example, if your child cusses, Lawrence instructs readers to say in a calm, playful tone "You can say that word all you want but if you say Bogglildyboop, you're in BIG trouble!" Kids will ALWAYS shout "bogglildyboop" and then you can scoop them up & cuddle or start play wrestling - anything. He says he knows most parents would argue that doesn't address the cussing "problem" but he insists that young children only use bad words to get a parent's attention. The next time they want to drop a verbal bomb, it will be a playfully-said "bogglildyboop" because THAT was the word that got them all the positive attention last time and it is now a fun cue they can use to "ask" for your attention. Nothing happened when they said the cuss word so that drops out of their bag of tricks IF you never react to it. ;)
Which brings me to my next Aiden story.....
CRAP. I have brought all use of the "undesireable" phrases to a screeching hault except for the word crap. It flies out of my mouth and I didn't realize I was saying it. Until I started hearing it echoed! Luckily Aiden cannot pronounce p's so his "crap" sounds identical to "car" (caah) except for the r sound he's learning to slip in (crahh). After a slip-up, and an echo, I usually say "CAR! Yay!" and show him a car. He doesn't seem to be fooled - I hear him in his playroom practicing dropping things, saying "Uh, oh" followed by a short, frustrated "crahh" that sounds exactly like mine. Great.
I have decided it's just easier to change my verbal habits than worry about Aiden using profanity at 15 months. So if you see me drop something and mutter "car", you'll know why!
For the Grandmas: Rest assured crap isn't Aiden's only new word. He shouts out something new every day. Today it is "boat", clear as a bell. Before that it was "water". His signing is getting more reliable, too. He'll sign "hungry" if you say snack, lunch, hungry, food, dinner, breakfast - anything. It's nice to ask him and get a response. Except that his sign for hungry has progressed to a long drawn out "ahhhhh" as he pats his hand over his mouth, making the native american war cry we all learned how to do in Kindergarten. He's hilarious!
Oh, speaking of hilarious, he's learned to point to eyes and noses. Unfortunately he hasn't distinguished between I and eye. So I'll be saying "Aiden, I can't let you run into the street" and he'll proptly poke me in the eye, with a smile big as Texas, waiting for me to celebrate that he correctly located that part of my face. Thanks kiddo! Less problematic is the knows vs. nose confusion. "Aiden, Major knows that's your toy and he won't take it from you. Find his bone." Aiden turns, smiling with his finger half up his nose, and turns back to continue trying to hand the peek-a-block to the dog. LOL!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Have you checked out Mighty Miracle Mist. It's a box water based sprays and one of them is for Kind Voice. So when your child says bogglildyboop, you can tell him that you are spraying the room for Kind voice and then everybody needs to speak properly. It worked great with my daughter. I think it works best for preschoolers as I don't know if a 15 month old will understand, but hey, you never know.
Post a Comment