"But I'm NOT touching the swing!" (Just thinking about it...)-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's hard to believe that October is nearly gone already! The end of my maternity leave is looming closer and closer... December 6th... Sigh! I still have over a month and I will enjoy every moment that's for sure. What a gift being able to spend so much time with my two little sweeties and my one big sweetie. Plus, it's been great swinging in to town at random times through the week to visit with my mom and Greta, or Tony's folks. Emerson loves trying to figure out whose house we are going to and she starts miles away trying to guess. "Is it that one? Is it that one? Does Gramma live in a tree? Does Mimi live in a car?" Makes me laugh.
Tony and I are quickly becoming "experienced" parents! I think as every day goes by we become more and more a team. It's "Parents" vs. "Kiddos" and even though team "Parents" doesn't often win, the few times that we obviously make a right choice becomes especially sweet! For example, meal time. No one ever warned us just what it would be like trying to feed a two year old 3 solid and healthy meals each day! Here's how the dinner routine usually goes:
4 pm: Team "Parents" asks half of team "Kiddos" "What would you like for dinner tonight? Chicken or Noodles?" This question is met with a VERY indignant "NO DINNER. I NOT HUNGRY!"
This leads team "Parents" to sigh and roll eyes at each other as chicken is then pulled out of fridge.
4:30 pm: One member of team "Parents" is slaving away in the kitchen while Emmy begins her journey to grouch-ville. This journey could be as quick as 5 minutes or an hour on those remarkable days! One way or the other, food must be served pronto otherwise the Taradactyl WILL land in the Fletcher house and high pitched squealing/screaming/tantrum will ensue.
5 pm: Hopefully dinner is about to be put on the table and this is where team "Parents" begin thinking of all the creative little lies that we will tell our child just to convince her to eat.
We will say "Come on Em! It's time to eat our YUMMY YUMMY dinner! WAHOO!!!" (We think that enthusiasm is the key here...)
This is met with "NO DINNER. I WANT A SNACK!".
So, then we pull out lie number 2 "OK Emmy! Time for our YUMMY YUMMY snack of chicken, green beans, and rice! ALRIGHT! WAHOO!!!" (Again...enthusism...)
Often this gets our child into her seat with bib put on before she realizes that this is in fact NOT the kind of "snack" that she had in mind.
"I NOT HUNGRY. I DON'T LIKE CHICKEN"
So then out comes lie number 3: "But Emerson, you LOVE chicken! It's your favorite! It's mommy and daddy's favorite too! Even baby Elliot loves chicken! HOORAY FOR CHICKEN!"
Our mini drama queen then slowly (but with flair) lets her head fall back against her chair and she rolls her eyes and then sighs. At this point Tony and I can't even look at each other for fear that we will bust out laughing because of how dramatic this experience is to her.
There was a time when team "Parents" would cajole and bribe and promise various treats, TV privileges, park time etc. just to get her to eat even one bite of her "snack" but we have since learned that it just doesn't work so now, we have wised up and no promises are made. If she doesn't want to eat, then we let her get down and we tell her (nicely) to run along and let us eat our delicious dinner. This completely throws her off and then I saran wrap her plate (because in about 15 minutes she will want a snack) and the only food she is getting is her dinner. I am proud to report that this method is actually working! TEAM PARENTS WINS THIS ROUND!
I love that our daughter has so much spunk. I just hope that Tony and I can keep up! It will be so much fun to see what baby Ellie is like! Maybe Emerson is just breaking us in and the rest will be smooth sailing. A girl can hope huh?
Elliot is so sweet and cute and smiles so quickly for anyone that pays attention to her. She is starting to coo and babble a bit and it's so much fun to have a conversation with her! The only hard part with this little one, is that she has colic which Emmy never had so Tony and I are completely out of our element here. We did find some homeopathic drops that do wonders and have helped a lot. I just feel so bad for her that her tummy hurts her so badly!
I'll leave you today with some interesting thoughts from a two year old:
"Sydney goes poop in the grass"
"I like to dance to boogie music"
"I'm so proud of you mama! I'm so proud of you papa!" (this was after we told her we were going out for ice cream)
