So this morning, we had round 5 or 6 of the adventures in shampoo land. (For those of you just tuning in... Madax just simply cannot control his intense urge to dump the entire contents of the shampoo bottle on his head, the floor, the toilet, the sink, Beckett, the dog, the towels, his little chicken legs... anywhere imaginable... whenever he gets a few moments of quiet reprieve) This morning it was while I was feeding Beckett and scrambling around the house trying to get ready to go to work at the store. Needless to say, Michael and I were a bit frustrated at the mess AGAIN.
In the midst of wiping the thick, gooey whoberry "Horton hears a who" Shampoo off each object in our guest bathroom, we were wondering why on Earth this kid can't get it straight? Only Mom and Dad are supposed to use the shampoo. How hard is it, right? I mean, seriously, who dumps the entire bottle out at once? C'mon, two-year-old, get with the program!!!
Well... in the midst of our ranting and raving and acting like little kids, Madax looked up at me with a confused look on his little face. "I hewp, Mama." He said, "I hewp sham-pew Beckett."
I couldn't help but laugh. It's a good thing this kid os so darn cute...
Anywho... my more rational and loving side kicked in and I softly explained to Madax that, while he was trying to "help" sham-pew little Beck, it's not a good idea to douse a baby's head with a thick layer of goo. Also not a great idea to saturate every inch of our bathroom.
At this moment I also remembered a little tidbit from a book that I've been reading about discipline. It's called the "No-Cry Discipline Solution" by Elizabeth Pantley. Great book for all you mamas out there. Basically, she explains that as adults, we expect children to behave and obey after being reprimanded once. Our frustrations come, not because they have done something wrong, but because we have told them before not to do something, and they did it anyway. Crazy kids! Why can't they get it right after we tell them how to or not to do something?
In doing this, we naively expect them to live up to standards that we, even as adults, do not live up to. She uses the example of speeding in our cars. We all know that we aren't supposed to speed. We've seen bad examples and accidents that were caused by speeding. We've probably even all gotten a speeding ticket at some point or another. Yet, there are moments in our lives that we all find a way to justify speeding along in our cars. We can't get it right 100% of the time... even with traffic signs, police cars on the shoulder and many other constant reminders that we need to heed the law.
Ok, Madax, even though I'm an insane perfectionist, I won't expect you to live up to a mark that I fall short of... Love you little buddy!
2 comments:
Hi Jesy... You're a nerd.
I'm going to have to get that book! Two little boys can sure keep ya hoppin' huh?! But man, what would we do without them?? They sure are handsome little guys...if you are ever in town give me a call!
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