My, My! How Time Flies!

I have sorely neglected my blogging endeavor. Totally with reason, of course, but rather than go into it all I plan to just move forward from here.

I just came back last night from visiting Mom up north. My mom is doing fairly well. She faces a difficult time ahead and still needs plenty of prayer but thank God she is being treated by a doctor in whom she has confidence.

Little Miss T. has her second birthday this week and is getting more fun to work with day by day. I love twos and threes. I love to watch personalities being revealed day by day. As speech develops we get to glimpse bits of what their minds have been working on and pondering. Miss T. is definitely getting funnier. She has a bit of a bossy streak that needs curbing but she is so far very open to correction and is easily refocused to more positive behaviors.

At this age I reserve "No" for serious offenses and prefer to use positive direction. For example, when she goes after my cell phone (or the nice picture frames or remote controls or any of the myriad of forbidden objects) rather than just saying "No" I say "That is not a toy, let's find something to play with." Usually, this refocuses her toward finding something good with which to play. If she persists I physically remove her from the object she can't play with and get her going in the right direction, but at this point this rarely happens since she knows I am firm on what is and is not allowed.

I haven't yet run into any "terrible twos" with the kids that I've worked with but I have run into plenty of parents that don't let their yes mean yes and no mean no. This alone can make this time a trial. Twos, in general, are so eager to please and be seen as "big kids." They need a job to do or they will find ones that parents or caregivers don't necessarily want them doing. They like to work, as they can, by your side and they also need the time and respect to do things on their own undisturbed. I did not say "unsupervised" but undisturbed.

Adults sometimes expect little ones to come on command without considering what they might be engrossed in doing or learning. They are more than extensions of ourselves and need respect as future autonomous individuals. I express this respect by first observing what Miss T. is up to and giving a countdown warning for her to wrap things up when it is necessary to move on to something else. "We will be having lunch in five minutes," for example, precedes the final, "OK, it is time to eat." I also don't bring out activities without adequate time to do them without her feeling rushed. Painting ten minutes before lunch is not an option, but if she asks for it I give her an alternative time for the activity and stick to it. If I tell her we can do an activity after lunch then nap going back on my word is not an option either.

So, it is Happy Birthday to Miss T. this week :D I look forward to what the coming year will bring!