from Ben's mom
Last night as Mike was trying to calm Ben down from some weird allergic reaction at Bible study, the leader told us he wished someone had told him what he'd heard recently when he had young kids. He said someone offered up "Having a 2-yr old is just like going through boot camp."
It has been a boot camp week. Everything has had to be repeated REPEATEDLY. There have been physical consequences when even that didn't work. (And yes, I know all about the parenting books that say a child shouldn't get a "second chance." God gives me them all the time and that's all I have to say about that.) We're going over the same basic instructions every day and having the same crying fits. I am tempted to say "Drop and give me 20!" but I don't want to have to demonstrate.
The good news is that this morning I handed a little boy his bowl of cereal and heard "Tank you." Not only is talking something he avoids (though he has picked up the babble in recent weeks) but I've tried teaching him to sign "thank you," say "thank you," anything. Just so I don't get a child who shows no gratefulness. So maybe boot camp is paying off.
4 comments:
That is wonderful!
Nice seeing you two today!
I thought boot camp only lasted six weeks or so. Maybe it's more like becoming a SEAL.
Aw, I love it when little kids say "thank you". It makes me want to just squeeze them and kiss them all over!
Kids always do that after a trip: "Oh, I'm back home. Let's see if all the old rules apply." Stick it out. He'll settle down again. He used up a lot of Good on his trip. :)
-- SJ
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