At first I thought I wouldn't blog much until our stuff is unpacked.
Now I'm realizing that "stuff is unpacked" is going to happen sometime around mid-2014. Maybe. If the kids are good.
Does giving up mean I'll be writing more - probably not. The kids are home, and I'm either with them, or shutting them up by letting them play on the computer. Both of which make blogging quite difficult. But I will try, since it's still so much easier and more fun than actual work.
So D and the gum.
Unsurprisingly, if you give D gum, she'll swallow it. She's 2. Two-year-olds are not particularly bright, at least not when it comes to things like not swallowing gum or drinking paint or whatever other potentially unhealthy nonsense they can think of. (They are sometimes bright when it comes to stealing extra ice treats from the freezer, as it turns out.)
What would happen was this: I would give A and N each a tiny piece of gum after being pestered half to death about it.
So then D would also want gum.
"But D, if I give you gum, you can't swallow it, OK?"
*nods*
"You just chew. You see like Adi is doing? You chew and then you spit it back out. You don't swallow it."
"Right."
"OK. I'm giving you a little piece. Remember, just chew. No swallowing."
*puts gum in mouth* (half a second passes) *swallows*
Today, for whatever reason, D decided that she is no longer going to swallow gum. And she decided to tell me that.
Over. And over. And over.
In the morning, as Viggy scrambled to get the kids ready for a doctor's appointment: "Mommy, I don't swallow the gum! Right?"
In the afternoon, as she ran in crying due to the latest scuffle, "Mommy! Adi pushed me! Right, I don't swallow the gum?"
Later in the afternoon, as I was fishing (clean) toilet paper from her mouth, "I don't swallow the gum! Mommy! I don't swallow the gum!"
Later still, as I had her in the shower and was hosing off the cinnamon, "Right, I don't swallow the gum?"
You can probably guess where this is going. After hearing this for the 50,000th time, as Adi and N dozed off on the couch and S was in her crib and I had 30 minutes of work to go, I offered her a tiny piece of gum.
She actually didn't swallow it! Instead, she chewed it for about half a minute, then took it out and smeared it over the cover of a siddur (prayer book).
The second piece she took, she swallowed. But still. Progress.
It was, in its own weird way, a kind of impressive moment. One of those times when it's like a curtain moving just a tiny bit aside and giving you a peek at the future. What I saw was this: someday, maybe not for many years, but someday, I'll be able to trust D with gum.
I may even be able to leave her in the same house with paint.
Now I'm realizing that "stuff is unpacked" is going to happen sometime around mid-2014. Maybe. If the kids are good.
Does giving up mean I'll be writing more - probably not. The kids are home, and I'm either with them, or shutting them up by letting them play on the computer. Both of which make blogging quite difficult. But I will try, since it's still so much easier and more fun than actual work.
So D and the gum.
Unsurprisingly, if you give D gum, she'll swallow it. She's 2. Two-year-olds are not particularly bright, at least not when it comes to things like not swallowing gum or drinking paint or whatever other potentially unhealthy nonsense they can think of. (They are sometimes bright when it comes to stealing extra ice treats from the freezer, as it turns out.)
What would happen was this: I would give A and N each a tiny piece of gum after being pestered half to death about it.
So then D would also want gum.
"But D, if I give you gum, you can't swallow it, OK?"
*nods*
"You just chew. You see like Adi is doing? You chew and then you spit it back out. You don't swallow it."
"Right."
"OK. I'm giving you a little piece. Remember, just chew. No swallowing."
*puts gum in mouth* (half a second passes) *swallows*
Today, for whatever reason, D decided that she is no longer going to swallow gum. And she decided to tell me that.
Over. And over. And over.
In the morning, as Viggy scrambled to get the kids ready for a doctor's appointment: "Mommy, I don't swallow the gum! Right?"
In the afternoon, as she ran in crying due to the latest scuffle, "Mommy! Adi pushed me! Right, I don't swallow the gum?"
Later in the afternoon, as I was fishing (clean) toilet paper from her mouth, "I don't swallow the gum! Mommy! I don't swallow the gum!"
Later still, as I had her in the shower and was hosing off the cinnamon, "Right, I don't swallow the gum?"
You can probably guess where this is going. After hearing this for the 50,000th time, as Adi and N dozed off on the couch and S was in her crib and I had 30 minutes of work to go, I offered her a tiny piece of gum.
She actually didn't swallow it! Instead, she chewed it for about half a minute, then took it out and smeared it over the cover of a siddur (prayer book).
The second piece she took, she swallowed. But still. Progress.
It was, in its own weird way, a kind of impressive moment. One of those times when it's like a curtain moving just a tiny bit aside and giving you a peek at the future. What I saw was this: someday, maybe not for many years, but someday, I'll be able to trust D with gum.
I may even be able to leave her in the same house with paint.
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