February 2014
SEVEN SIGNS THAT YOUR PRESCHOOLER LOVES YOU
19/02/14 22:35
I thought this was a great article from Babycenter.com.
7 signs that your preschooler loves you:
She acts up: You turn away to chat with a friend on the playground and your preschooler starts grabbing toys and throwing sand. If she doesn't have your positive attention, she'll take negative attention over nothing at all. "I call this the law of the soggy potato chip," says Karp. "In your child's eyes, a soggy potato chip is better than no potato chip." Frustrating as it can be, this behavior is another sign of how important you are to your child.
You're his role model: As in toddlerhood, your child likes to copy exactly what you do – but this modeling has become more advanced. You'll see him "making an important call" while hammering away at his "computer" or even cursing while driving his ride-on car (oops). "To your child, you are a rock star," says Karp.
She makes verbal declarations of love: Finally! At 3 or 4, many children begin to express their love with actual words. You may hear "I love you, Mommy" or "Your skin is so soft" or even "I want to marry you and be together forever." They all mean the same thing.
He comforts you: Your preschooler may surprise you with his empathy. Perhaps he offers you his special blanket when he sees you in tears or gives you a kiss when you hurt yourself. He's aping how you treat him when he gets hurt or upset. This is partly a survival technique, says Acredolo. You are your child's world, and he doesn't like that world disrupted, so he's trying to set things right. But it's also pretty darn loving.
She tries to hurt you with words: Love shouldn't hurt, but when it comes to our kids, sometimes it does. If you disappoint your preschooler or hurt her feelings, she may lash out with an insult like "Mommy's a poophead" or even the dreaded "I hate you!" It's not fun to hear, but – yes, really – it's more evidence of how much your child cares for you. Karp explains: "An insult is a more concise way of saying, You matter so much to me that you can make me more upset than anyone else, so I want to hurt you back."
He gives you gifts: You may receive a flower plucked from the front yard, a sparkly rock, a crayoned self-portrait, or a "chocolate marshmallow sundae" created out of bathwater and bubbles. Your preschooler's funny and touching gifts are a way for him to show you that you're special.
She celebrates your return: After time apart, your preschooler is likely to give you the VIP treatment, hugging you and showing off her accomplishments. Bonus: This will happen even if she was screaming when you left!
Comments
FOUR DAYS SINCE MOM'S BEEN GONE
11/02/14 22:38
Conor and I have been testing the limits of father and son while mom’s been away on vacation to see her sister’s family and new baby. Taking care of the boy on my own has been fun and challenging. He’s been a lot of fun and because he can talk so well, we can have conversations but still, they’re limited.
Just like when mom was home, we play with the wooden Thomas train set every night. We bought some additional knock-off train tracks this weekend at Toys R Us to make more complicated set-ups. Every night we create a new set-up.
Swimming lessons at the Y are on Sunday mornings so we did that and we stayed in the pool for a whole hour. Hallelujuh for the YMCA. An hour. Did I say we got to spend an hour in the pool playing? Because for that hour he wasn’t asking to watch a movie. A movie. Daddy, I want to watch a movie. Which is the same as other kids saying they want to watch TV. Except we don’t watch TV. We have netflix and we watch it on the TV or the iPad. So he just says, ‘movie’.
As an only child so far, Dad is Conor’s best play friend so he wants me to sit with him and play trains. Which is fine for about 15-20 minutes, but 45 minutes is a tad long for dad to sit and play trains.
Conor also doesn’t like going to sleep. I pick him up at 5:15 and we come home and eat immediately. He’s hungry as a horse when we get home and last night he ate 2 hotdogs (with bun), 2 yogurts, 3 strawberries and a bowl of cereal. I know, it’s not nutritional but hey, it’s father and son, so pipe down. After that, we play with trains for 45 minutes. After that, it’s time to get into pjs, brush teeth and read 2 stories and go to bed. Well, that’s the plan. But at 7:30, he’s not ready for bed. at 8:30, we’re still reading stories. at 9:30, I’m over it and Conor is running around wanting milk, water, cereal, etc… anything but bed. By 10pm, I’m ready to chain him to the bed but he’s too cute for that so I just ignore him and mutter, “bed.” Eventually, I fall asleep or he does. Or both of us do.
My wife called last night and said I looked tired. Is the pope Catholic?