Andrew has emptied my pajama drawer every morning this week.
Phew. It's only Tuesday.
I can hear my mother saying, "he's trying to get your attention."
I can see blank looks on my friends-who-are-moms faces. "Our children don't do that."
This motherhood thing would be so much easier if I didn't think so much about what everyone else would be thinking/doing/saying.
Usually he picks up after himself. When pajamas are everywhere, I see the crime scene and say something like, "oh Andrew, these pajamas go in this drawer." and then he would put them in the drawer.
Not today. Today it was soooo funny to run away laughing (meniacally? or was I reading that in?).
What to do? I know this isn't a huge deal. It wasn't like paint all over the place. It didn't physically hurt anyone, and it would take a total of 30 second for me to pick up. But....I asked him and he ran away laughing! That's not cool. So...I got down with him and asked him again, showed him, tried handing him things to put in the drawer and no cooperation. None. I think he acutally said, "Boy mom, you sure are funny this morning."
So, I put him in his crib. Are you cringing? Are you thinking, 'don't teach him to be scared of his crib!' "Don't teach him that crib is punishment!" Well, that is what I was thinking. We've been lucky that he ISN'T scared of his crib. He feels safe and comfortable there. Did I jinx it?
Anyway, I put him there and left the room to go start some muffins. When all else fails, bake.
Then returned every few minutes to show him the jammies he needed to put away before he could go play. He would laugh at me, and then go back into his crib. I would return to my muffins. After maybe four times, he put everything away. And then toddled off to go play with his cars.
I keep thinking: Come on, Robyn. You were a teacher. You know how to do kids. You knew what to do when a kid snapped and went crazy. Why are you so baffled with Andrew? The problem is that Andrew wasn't born 5. I know what to do when a 5 year old ignores me, but a toddler? I can't just hang on for 3 years waiting for him to turn 5.
Or can I?
3 comments:
For us it was the Tupperware cabinet. But my kids never put things back away. You should be amazed that he does usually.
We also went through the "not quite ready for nap, so I strip myself and then the crib" stage.
That's always fun.
Joseph's thing is the basket of winter accessories by the door.
Don't worry--your kid is awesome.
Of course, this is coming from the mom who almost let your son drink toxic chemicals . . .
You have WAY more patience than I did! It's hard to teach the right thing when they are being so cute!
Andrew is off the scale on the "cute meter"
Do you remember the mop bucket incident of 1978?
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