Its funny how your parenting strategies sometimes unfold by default. The other day Luci starting doing sign language...well sort of. Like Jonas, she's making her own version. We never thought we would teach our toddlers sign language and didnt push the sign language thing until Jonas' constant grunting began to drive us crazy...then it seemed like a good idea. He really only needed a few "words" to get by- one for "more please" and "drink". We knew we would start it with Luci when she started using a high-pitched (almost so high only dogs could hear it) scream to ask for what she wanted. I began with bringing my fingers together for "more please" and her version is a double clap. Its kind of like she's a snob calling for a waiter at a restaurant. Its funny. Now we're on to advanced things like thank-you and drink.
We also never thought putting our kids to bed would turn into a 7 stage episode, but somehow, its turned into that. First it was just a book and a prayer. Then we decided we should probably have our kids brush their teeth. Tooth-brushing, book, prayer. Then along the line another book got added, and a song. But then the song turned into back rubbing and a story before the prayer. Now, its:
tooth-brushing
1-3 books, depending on the attention span
back rub with simultaneous story
prayer
hugs and kiss for mom, dad, sister, dog
drink of water
noise maker on
night light on
Oh my.
We're writing our first parenting book called, "Parenting by default: its our fault"
1 comment:
Watch out, sometimes the bedtime ritual gets unweildy it's so drawn-out, and it can get used as a delaying tactic by the kids. We should know.
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