When you're not looking

After reading Kelly's Korner blog, she has a funny photo of her little girl breaking into the Oreo's from the pantry when Kelly was just putting the washing in the dryer. It reminded me of my own experience.
This young lady was meant to be asleep in her room but she decided to explore other things in her room instead. So funny and I am so glad I got the photo too. Although when I took the photo she was quite fearful of what trouble she was in. It turned out not much in the end as Mummy failed to keep a straight face.

She stopped taking her day time naps not long after this.

The second is Sweetness from just Sunday. It was pouring outside and I was having a rest in the bedroom and I came out to see GH and Princess colouring in together. My question was short- "Where's Sweetness?" And nearly before I had finished the question I had the instinct to look outside where the rain was pouring down as hard as could be. And this is what I was greeted with. She was in play clothes since church because she ran out into the rain there as well.


We checked that the lightning had all gone and then let Princess join her for a while. Afterall since the two of them have been born we have had little rain so for them its still quite the novelty.

Funny things she has said

This happened quite a while ago but I really wanted to record it so that I would be able to remember and laugh at the funny things Princess has said.

One evening while GH and I were sitting on the couch Princess was climbing up on the arm rest and jumping onto the couch and in the process sometimes hitting sometimes narrowly avoiding us. After a hit to the lower abdomen GH tells Princess that she is no longer allowed to 'jump' on the couches.

So obedient as she can be she stops and starts to read some books which lasts for about 5 minutes. She then decides there is more fun things to be doing. Very subtly she climbs the back of the arm rest and stands up. Before either of us can stop her she has jumped off and onto the couch.

GH says "Princess we told you that you are not to 'jump' on the couches"

And as quick as can be her response was-
"I wasn't jumping Daddy, I was 'leaping'.

Such a quick wit. Gosh I love her.

Winner

I haven't used this blog in a while so I thought I might try to remember to use it for funny stories that has happened in our house.

Of course Princess by the age of four has a good idea about winning and losing, enough that she brags to everyone about being the "Winner'.

But what was a shock was when the other day my Sweetness at 23 months was in a race with her big sister walking along the rocks in the back yard. Well Sweetness realised that she wasn't winning the race on the rocks so she jumped onto the grass and proceeded to run past her big sister to the winning platform. She was hardly past her big sister when I heard the words coming from her mouth- "I win, I win, I win".

Princess was not impressed, but I must admit I kind of was. Of course it was cheating and bad sportsmanship but I couldn't help but be impressed by her creativeness and of course her desire to 'win'. Gorgeous Husband laughed and believes it only the beginning.

This is Sweetness on said rocks one year ago. How time flies

Reasons not to yell or scream

Following on from my last post this is an issue still at front of mind for me. So to remind us (me) why it isn't a good technique to yell.

1. It is going to allow children to think that it is acceptable behavior.

2. If a crisis situation arises and you yell at you child to stop them from being in danger that won't respond because they are too used to hearing you yell.

3. Think about your poor neighbours listening to your family have regular conversations about where the clean socks can be found.

4. How do you come across when you are yelling, is this the type of person you wish to be remembered as?
5. Yelling can be quite ineffective compared to a soft voice. My teaching days taught me that if you whispered to a student the whole classroom would go silent in order to hear what you were saying.

Well these are all excellent reasons to stop screaming, the best reason would have to be for me though is the fact that i am Christ's ambassador on this earth and this was not the way Jesus acted. If I am living my life trying to become Christ-like then I should stop, think about the level of my voice, the tone I am about to use and most importantly the words about to come out.

AHHHHHHH- STOP SCREAMING!

My idea for this blog this year is that it will my parenting issues, realisations and general stuff about my life as a mum and my other blog will stick to more general issues although being a SAHM (see now I have labelled myself after 3 years)alot of my issues are parenting ones.
Anyhow as you can see from the title it has only taken me three whole years well really 29 years to realise that it is not a good idea to yell back at your child for yelling.

You know what I am talking about, sadly I guess I have been one of those mums you see in the shopping centres that have the child running around being generally noisy, Princess doesn't screaming horribly (unless its a meltdown) but she does sing at the top of her voice but rather than quietly telling her to quieten down I am the mum who will say in a rather LOUD voice "YoU nEeD tO bE qUiEt". But you know what it is even worse at home. I will hear my Princess yelling at her Sweet sister or squealing in a pitch almost only heard by dogs, and what I should do is get up and move in a close proximity to her and tell her in a gentle voice that she should speak in hushed tones. But, you know what's coming, from the other side of the house I will yell out "QUIT THAT SCREAMING..."

Very effective parenting, what is sad is that I have always known this to be a bad idea, I even understand that Princess has learnt this darling trait through her banshee like mother but it some how didn't go in.

What really is funny is that I was listening to a children's cd just this morning and it is talking about all of 'mum's' lovely characteristics and one of them was "She only whispers and never yells" and I thought that's not my girls' mum.

And so ladies and gentlemen I have decided that this
is something that must change, unless I want Sweetness to also learn this delightful trait, and that I need to re-calibrate my way of responding- wish me luck.

For future reference

There are times when I think 'I must remember to teach my Princess that when she is older. These things are a bit complex for a three year old mind but I think about how important it is to teach life lessons to my young ones.
For example: Advertising- I feel I need to talk to my daughters about the tricks of the ad agencies. We were listening to a song the other day and I thought 'when I hear this song it makes me feel sad. I must remember to talk to Princess about how music can effect the way we feel'.

Or another example is the way shop entice you to buy they products by the way they present their products. I remember walking into a petrol station having to buy my petrol and first I had to walk pass the magazine rack, then an ice-cream display (when on a hot day how easy would it be just to simply reach in and grab one without losing my place in the line) and then there is the ultimate test- all the chocolates and lollies. If I find this difficult to walk pass all these things how difficult in turn is it for a three year old to understand when all of these things are put WITHIN her reach then why can't she have them.

Life is full of trials and tests, I just pray that I can help to prepare my girls for these.

Life at 3

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/life/

This is a very interesting series. I remember catching it when the life at 1 was first done. It follows 11 kiddies and their families discussing different issues. I remember watching the stress issue for the 1 year old. Last night they spoke about childhood obesity and its factors.
They were:
1. Genetics- obviously if mum and/or dad are over weight then there is a great chance that a child could be challenged with this trait.

2. The socio-economic area which the child lives. This was for different factors, availability to healthy food, safe environment to play outside, what peers would be eating and doing.

3. The influence of the father. It mentions that even though mum might be an excellent example of getting plenty of exercise it is dad that is a major influence.


The one next week is about behaviour, which I look forward to. It sounds terrible but sometimes I need to know that my three year old behaviour is acceptable, no, maybe I should aim higher and hope that her behaviour is considered well behaved (fingers crossed). It is funny that in most social circles we always try to 'out do' others stories. If your child is good for doing abc then my child one ups it by doing xyz. But it happens the same with bad behaviour, I think in this case we look for the sympathy vote, who has the most embarrassing, naughty tantrum throwing toddler. Of course I (like most parents) feel like my child could win both.

Anyway enjoy the show or at least the website.