Reesa is a two-year old. I mention this to emphasize the polarities of her age-induced personality: one moment, the embodiment of squeaky voiced china doll cuteness (“I’m going to the ped-a-tician now. I feel yucky.”); and the next moment, having a ninety decibel screaming fit about…well, it’s often hard to figure out, because she refuses to use her words.
“Reesa! You have words. YOU NEED TO USE THEM.” Oh, how many times have I said some variation of that?
Lately, I have fallen into the trap of crossing the line between being firm and being dominating with Reesa. One example is that when she is wearing underwear (she is sometimes in diapers), every couple of hours she needs a reminder to go to the toilet. Sometimes when she refuses, such as when we are about to go out, I place her on the toilet anyway. I am frustrated because I know that even if she does not go potty now, she will need to go very soon and she often does not initiate going to the toilet until it is too late. When we are out, it means that I have to clean up the mess, and is often a lot of extra work. That is an example of a situation that will cause me to attempt to “correct” in a way that I believe is probably not a very good solution. But when I’m in the middle of it, I often feel like I am out of patience. The alternatives are difficult to find when I’m in the middle of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment