Thursday, April 15, 2010

More of the World According to Josie

I was thinking it was time to update some of the little things that Josie is doing/saying . . .

1.  She really believes in the power of positive thinking and positive speech.  I was sick earlier this week and she asked me if I was all better.
"No, honey, I'm still sick."  
 "No you're not!  You're not sick.  You're all better." 
"Sorry-I'm still sick."
"You're still sick?"
"Yes."
(pause)
"You all better now?"

Repeat every 15 minutes until I agree I'm not sick anymore.

Also-if she's being naughty and I'm getting upset, she'll ask "You happy, Mom?"  and I'll tell her "No-I'm not. You're not minding me."

"Yes you are!  You're happy!"

Same type of thing at bedtime "It's not bedtime!"


2. Along the same lines, I swear she's going to be a lawyer.   This child will argue that the sky is not blue just to argue.  Sometimes she argues with me when I'm agreeing with her.  No joke.

3.  I could use some advice about how to teach children not to lie-because she's dipping her feet into the lake of deceit.  She's been potty-trained since September but has still been wearing pull-ups at night at my house.  She doesn't wear them at my mom's or my brother's house-but I'm guessing that's because she either sleeps in the same bed or in the same room as them?  Go figure.  Since I know she can stay dry but is either to lazy or too scared to get up and go to the bathroom when she does need to go I decided to reward her with fun-size M&Ms when she wakes up dry.  It was working well, maybe one wet pull-up a week,  until one morning (after she'd gotten her M&Ms) I went into her room to get her clothes and i found a wet pull-up on her floor.  I called her upstairs and showed her and asked if she changed into a dry pull-up that morning.  She told me yes.  I could see on her face that she knew it was wrong.  Then she started smiling-sorta like she knew she pulled one over on me.  That's what makes me nervous. I told her not to lie to me and not to do it again.

Anyway-she tried it again a few days later-I heard rustling over the monitor and I opened her door to a wide-eyed little girl with her hand in the pull-ups.  I got a little angry with her this time-which didn't phase her much until she realized she wasn't getting any M&Ms. 

She tried it one more time and I took the package of pull-ups out of her room.  When this pack is empty-I'm not buying any more and I'm hoping it will help to have her in underwear. 

Seriously though-how did you talk to your child about lying?

4.  She's always play-acting anymore.  Fake crying.  Loud conversations between stuffed animals.  Often she'll yell "Mom!" and I'm all "What?" 

"No-not you!  Her mom . . ."   Okaaaay . . ..

Or she'll say something strange in the car or while she's sitting right next to me and when I ask her to repeat it she's all "I'm just talking to myself."

I'm just waiting for the invisible friend.

And to finish, here's a couple of pics from Easter.

5 comments:

taylorchloejake said...

no idea about the lying but I love the photos of you two together!

Laura said...

I love it! I hate the be the bearer of bad news, but she might just end up a lawyer! My mom said I did that exact same thing for as long as she could remember. I'd keep her up for hours at night "debating" anything and everthing. I was actually a really easy kid, but I had a thing for debating.

I don't know what to tell you about the fibbing. Only that I'm not looking forward to it when it's my turn, b/c don't all kids go through that?

I love the photos of the two of you. Love them. Beautiful!

Suburban Turmoil said...

Your daughter is adorable. And all of these things sound so familiar. My three-year-old son has started in with the white lies- and my daughter has a very active imagination and often "talks to herself" while she's playing. Sometimes I'll say something to her in the car and she'll say, "MOM. I'm imaginating right now!" LOL

Julie and Dean said...

love the stories and your pictures looks great! There is an article in Working Mother about getting your child to stop lying. I will scan it an send it to you!

Gravity said...

She's testing you mom. We can talk about it more on Monday (at Nat's). We're going through lying right now too but on a more serious level.
The pics are totally cute!