Life with Sweet Peaches

We are working hard with Molly to remember her pleases and thank yous and she often remembers with little or no prompting. She gets worked up every once in a while and just screams PLEASE! over and over again, but I don’t know what it is she wants. Monday morning, Molly came up to me, crunching on some Kashi Heart to Heart cereal and said, “Thank you Mommy for combing my hair.”

“Oh, you’re so sweet! What nice manners you have! Did Daddy make you some cereal?”

“Yes!” Then, to herself, “I should go tell Daddy thank you!” And off she ran to tell Jim “Thank you for making my breakfast!”

We’re also working on excuse me when she needs to talk to one of us while we are otherwise engaged. This afternoon, I was on the phone with Beverly and Molly was calling my name. When I got to a place in the conversation where I could take a break, I gently reminded Molly to say “Excuse me” when she needs me. So, then she would let me  talk for about 10 seconds and sweetly say “Excuse me.” When I would say, “Yes, Molly? What great manners you have!” she would go back to her ensuing tantrum until she need to say “Excuse me” again. If she hadn’t been so crabby, it would have been incredibly funny. Or maybe that’s what makes it so funny? She wanted to be sure I was paying attention, so she said “Excuse me” before she escalated the fit!

It’s a good thing she’s so sweet and uses her manners most of the time. Remember that phone call with Beverly earlier today? It took us three tries to have a real conversation and I finally had to let her go because I couldn’t hear her anymore.

Like I said, we are working hard with Molly on her manners.

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I was talking to a mom on the playground at preschool today about the differences between toddler boys and toddler girls. One big difference seems to be the attitude, or more specifically, the sass. Oh, sure, she said, her boy is stubborn and tells her no and refuses to follow directions sometimes, but she said it’s more of a casual kind of disobedience. Not the full-out drama that she sees from some of the girls.

Example #1:

The other night, Jim asked Molly if she wanted to ride to the grocery with him to get the lime I forgot to get when Molly and I were at the store an hour before. {I can’t possibly imagine how I forgot to get that lime…} Molly, without even looking up from her drawing and stickers, responded, “Nope. Already went there.”

Now, “nope” is her favorite way to decline.

As in, “Molly, pick out your shoes. It’s time for school.”

“Nope.”

“Excuse me?” Not only did she not bother with a “no,” or a “no, ma’am,” but she flat out refused to get her shoes. I’d almost rather her pretend like she didn’t hear me…

Example #2:

MK said her son, Nolan, will say “Mama, bye-bye” when he wants her to leave him alone.

Molly, on the other hand, let’s us know she wants some alone time by shouting, “Go away, Mom!” followed by a slamming door. Not even a Mama or Mommy. Mom.

Example #3:

The clothes. Oh, the clothes. Molly likes to select her own outfit each day. On Monday, she wore a pink & orange skirt, brown/blue/purple/green striped tights and a different shade of purple shirt. Tuesday afternoon, we decided to go for a walk and she says, “I need to change.” She comes out of her room with turquoise Puma shorts, white church shoes and a brown pj top. Sure, babe…whatever.

Yesterday, Nana took Molly to the park while I was tutoring. Molly wore a pink and brown Tea Collection dress and her black flats. Which are too small. Nana and I both suggested she’d be more comfortable in shoes that actually *fit* but Molly insisted. But then last night, in the bath, Molly winced when the soap hit the blisters her too-small shoes caused while she was running around the park.

My friends who have boys say that getting dressed is *rarely* a cause for a cage match at their houses.

They say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree…Jim must have really give his parents a run for their money.

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