- Huge amount of excitement when I figured out I could cook steel cut oats in my rice cooker. I tried it yesterday (4 cups water/1 cup oats) and it's going to make my mornings 100% better. I'll make a batch on the days I work from home (Monday and Wednesday) and keep the leftovers for bringing to the office!
- I got the Elefun game. And it SUCKS. The butterflies don't even make it out of the elephant part, no matter the trunk. Should I return it? Any tricks that I'm missing, carrie27?
- Maggie isn't a talker. She just modulates her screaming to indicate what she wants. But every once in a while, she pulls out a full word. Last night, I was putting her to bed and I said, 'night night, sweet baby' And she said, clear as day, Night night!
- She does uses baby sign language - she has more, please, all done and thank you down pat.
- Cameron is currently obsessed with play-doh. Which I guess would be annoying to other parents, but I love it! I got him a fun factory (I didn't have one growing up) and it's super fun. I'm considering getting a Mega Fun Factory.... because Cameron isn't big on sharing.
- I was planning on going to a talk at the kids daycare tonight on "Raising Socially Responsible Children'. Instead, I've changed plans and am going out to margaritas and watching Tron in 3D with my girlfriends. Is that wrong?
Ok - and this final question. We had some friends over on Saturday night for make your own pizza and play date. They have an 8 and a 4 year old, and the kids have fun playing together. The son seems to me to be a bit immature, but I'm not all that familiar with 8 year olds. Anyway, the kids had already eaten, and while we had our pizza in the dining room, they were all playing happily in the living room. Aaron got up and walked into the living room quietly only to hear the 8 year old tell his sister 'If you don't stop sniffling, I'm going to knock your head off'. Aaron told him to come with him, and asked him to tell his parents what he just said.
The kids broke into tears, the father tried to calm him down... finally got him to whisper it, and the mother told us that J had very sensitive hearing (meaning that her sniffling was louder to him than us, I guess?), and they were working on it.
Aaron felt really bad afterwards - because he didn't want to get the kid in trouble or make him cry - but when you hear a kid talk like that in front of your kids - what do you do? That family also doesn't say anything when he says someone is 'dumb' or 'stupid'. More than once I'd told J that we don't use those words in our house. I thought maybe Aaron's way of handling things wasn't perfect, but into retrospect, I don't mind being the house where you aren't allowed to threaten your little sister or call someone stupid.
Things were easier when playdates were just us moms sitting around watching our babies lay on their backs and complaining about how many hours they were or were not sleeping. Sigh.
8 comments:
I don't know what I would have done. Probably just said something like "we don't say things like that in this house" because I am non-confrontational. But I do think that you can absolutely expect a certain level of behavior from other people's kids in your house. Like, I let Elizabeth jump on her bed, but obviously she is not allowed to jump on the beds of other people's houses.
We have the Play-Doh Mega Fun Factory and it is not that great. It is a conveyor belt, you press the doh through an extruder, cut it off then impress different images when it comes down the belt and under the roller. It is a bi*ch to clean and sort of one dimensional. We get a lot more fun and entertainment out of the Play Doh Creativity Center (and my son will be 4 and has had it for a year).
As to the other question, the issue was not with his hearing sensitivity it was the "or I will knock your head off" comment which maybe he didn't whisper to his dad. I think Aaron did the right thing. You can never anticipate how another parent will react, though. I'd say no harm, no foul on this one.
Aaron and I are on the same page. I would have told him to repeat it to his parents too. My husband has sensitive hearing; that's no excuse for being mean. If that little boy doesnt learn it now, it's going to be even harder when he's older.
Hmmm...my initial thought when reading that was, 'where did the kid hear that?' Like, does dad talk to his wife and kids like that? Then again, he's 8 so I guess he's out in the world and could pick it up on the bus or something.
I probably would have said something back in the dining room to the parents, like, "whoa...don't mess with Timmy, he just told his sister...blah blah blah." But I don't think Aaron did anything wrong.
I think it was good for Aaron to intervene, the kid feels bad about it, and then maybe at least he won't talk to his sister that way at your house. It's challenging though with siblings, they love each other one minute and want to hit each other the next. As long as they get back to the loving part they'll be okay, mom and dad have to be guides in that area. It is hard, a constant struggle sometimes.
I could see my 6 year old saying something like that, thinking she was being funny and 'older', and then breaking down in the exact same way if she was called on it. Kids that age can have a hard time negotiating what is and is not acceptable (I'm sure if one were to have, say, a sarcastic parent, it may be even more difficult. Not that I know any parent who uses sarcasm as humor....)
Still, I think Aaron handled it well. Kids need to learn what is and isn't ok to say, and I'm all for the correction to come from whichever adult is nearby.
I think Aaron handled it VERY well. I probably would have said something about "we don't say things like that in our house" and maybe "where did you hear something like that" but what he did was great. There was no question of him disciplining without the child's parent there so one less thing to worry about.
Regarding the Elefun game - I think you might have gotten a dud or something. We have one and those silly butterflies shoot up in the air without any problems as long as you hold the trunk up initially to let it fill with air. Sorry yours isn't working!
Can't give much advice on the kiddo thing... I simply yell at the kid and tell him that's not allowed in my house. The parents live with it, or they don't bring their kids over. Simple.
About the Elefun game... Meant to tell you I figured that one out. You have to put it on a hard, non-pourous surface - like a coffee table, flat tile on the floor, or a sturdy flat box - it needs to be able to pull in LOTS of air, and carpet just screws it up. That, and it needs fresh batteries, if they start going down the butterflies stop coming out. Hope that helps!
About playdoh - my kiddo got the best set the other day. It is a set that includes "parts" to make cars/trucks/trains/planes etc. It works kinda like a mr potato head.
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