Ava has discovered that she can move....and move fast. I spent pretty much all day Tuesday saying "No Ava, don't pull that speaker cord", or "No Ava, daddy's shoes are nasty, don't eat them". I was exhausted by the end of the day. So I decided it was time to make some changes in the house. I know a lot of people say don't move things just teach them not to touch them. Well thats fine and dandy if it works for your kid but mine it doesn't :) I think she understands "NO" to an extent. Me and Adam realized this last night while I was feeding her. She was in her highchair and it was near a cabinet. She started leaning over and pulling the knob. I told her a firm no and moved her hand. We probably repeated this 20 times....no joke. I even spat her hand (that was hard and I hated every minute of it) but she just got her feelings hurt. Once she stopped crying she immediately reached for the cabinet again. Adam said I think she is too young to understand or remember. But I guess the only way they learn is for us to be consistent.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated....LOL
BTW...I had my yard sale last weekend. I did ok. I made $67 plus $15 from stuff dad took to the pawn shop. Its a little extra spending money for our vacation next week to Gatlinburg.
Advice??? Pray hard. :-) And yes, being consistent is an absolute necessity. Since it is, CAREFULLY choose your battles. Some aren't worth fighting. And you certainly don't want to be fighting battles all the time. Spoken like a Mimi, right????
ReplyDeleteI think she is old enough to understand. You are introducing a concept that is completely new to her, so this is where training comes in. You don't want to teach her that "no" means "a temporary no and then i'll just move the stuff". If you are going to use the word no, I would definetly be consistent with it. This is called training. No, she doesn't know what no means, and that is why you are teaching it to her. But yes, I think she can understand.
ReplyDeleteI mean my almost 2 year old and almost 3 year old still don't always listen when I say no...a thousand times. But this is the age when they try to push the limits. Setting the ground rules of consistency is soooo important. It's tiring, but them growing up to be rotten would be more tiring to me. The Bible says to train up a child the way they should go and when they get old they will not depart from it. To me, worrying about them as teens and adults would be so much worse than having to deal with them now.
And punishment DOES hurt our feelings! Haha. Who ever said it was fun?? :)
You are a great Momma. She is BLESSED to have you as her Mommy.
You have to find what works for her AND for you. Every kid is different or else we could all read "Kids for Dummies" and life would be peaches and roses. My motto that I repeat almost daily is "Whatever gets you through the day" if you need a minute and a piece of paper is entertaining to her at that moment- as long as she isn't eating it- let her have it! You are a great mom- that is what matters most :)
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone!
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