Shhh! Don’t tell Adam: I’m supposed to be cleaning but instead I’m blogging. I took today off of work just to make a dent in the mess that is our basement but I’m all sniffly from the dust and my hands are so dry they’re papery and I just don’t know what to do with all our crap! So, here I am instead….<\/p>\n
We’ve hit a common stage of preschoolers, but I’m still not sure how to handle it. It’s the “do something wrong\/total honesty” phase. You know, when Doodles does a misdeed but very clearly tells me what he did. On one hand, the misdeed needs to be punished. On the other hand, I want to encourage the honesty. Of course, it generally involves violence to his sister. Here’s a standard exchange that is becoming all the more common.<\/p>\n
Me: Why is Pie crying?
Doodles: I was running back and forth and she got in my way, so I pushed her.<\/p>\n
or<\/p>\n
Me: Why is Pie crying?
Doodles: She was playing with the rocket ship and then she put it on my head and I didn’t want it on my head so I pushed her.<\/p>\n
What I generally do then is pick up Pie, lavish her with attention, and put Doodles in a time out. On getting out of time out, he has to apologize to Pie and ask if she’s okay. By then she’s generally playing and giggling, and doesn’t respond aagain.<\/p>\n
It actually, happily, doesn’t all the time. But just enough that I suddenly have to be wary of leaving the two of them alone together in a room. And if it were just the pushing, I could live with that. But it’s not. Pie has gotten grabby hands. If Doodles has a toy, she wants it, too. And she wants it NOW! And if she doesn’t get it–watch out for those sharp little teeth! <\/p>\n
Which is bad both because, well, she’s biting and because when she nurses, she likes to stick her fingers in my mouth and I lightly chew on them. I love chewing on Pie Parts! But alas I know that must end because how can she tell what’s biting and what’s a love nip? It also makes it very difficult to tell who the instigator is in any given situation and besides, how do you punish an 18 month old? I’m not one for punishing in general, but when violence is involved, then it’s a must. Sigh.<\/p>\n