I took the kids to Target this morning and, while there, spontaneously bought John four cheap, plastic garden toys (about $1 each!) so he'll stop trying to run in the yard with my potentially injurious metal gardening tools. All the way home he clutched his watering can, trowel, rake, and pail, reminding me over and over that at home we were going to get scissors and cut off the price tags.
We arrived home just as nap time should have been starting. I told him we would play in the back yard after nap. Chris and I tried to transition him into nap time and quickly realized that there was no way, no how that it was going to happen. Rather than ruin our whole morning with tantrums and him not taking a nap anyway, I just sucked it up and took my sweet boy outside to "scoop dirt" (as he kept begging).
John had such a delightful time, digging quietly by himself. I should have taken a book with me because I could have sat on our bench peacefully reading for an hour. Next time I'll do just that!
Speaking of toys, Mary is now starting to show interest in looking at toys. (She might have shown interest earlier, but I haven't really bothered with them. She's usually tagging along with me in the Maya wrap . . .) At one point today she was fussing and I thought I'd grab a toy and see what happened. I dangled the lion in front of her and her crying ceased. So then I put the lion on her chest and walked away to do some more chores. She was fascinated and even managed to grab on to the lion (probably on accident, I don't know). But after a few minutes she wanted to let go of the lion and didn't know how, so she got the saddest little expression on her face and began crying until I rescued her.
There have been days where I just let Emma take the toys to bed with her. :)
ReplyDeleteoh - tantrums! i knew the day would come w/#7 Charlie, but i just hoped that it would by-pass him or something. nope. he screams and will swing at, not only his siblings, but at me too. i just have to keep flicking the back of his chubby little hand. and then he'll say, "mep mam" [yes m'am] it pays to train them early. we didn't start implementing 'yes sir, & m'am' til this last year. What a difference it makes. and i notice that it's said a heck of a lot MORE by the littles... 7 and up - not so much. Except for my almost 13yo - she's very good that way.
ReplyDeletetake care!