Does the battle of the wills really start already?
Jenna loves the bathtub. Really, really, really loves the bathtub. She splashes and she plays, sometimes flips around on her belly and floats like a seal (with close Mommy supervision, of course), sometimes focuses on decorating the bath wall with her Boon toys and sometimes focuses on showing off by naming everything off to Mommy (in double words with full exclamation...as in Duck! Duck!).
Lately she has taken to standing up in the tub. At first, I would ask her nicely to sit down and she would sit down, wanting to please me as young infants do. In all honesty, I wouldn't make a big deal out of it if she wanted to stand holding the side of the tub to put the Boon toys in a decorative pattern on the wall, or to draw water pictures on the side of the tub. It was a part of the creative fun.
Until two nights ago, when she suddenly starting trying to climb out of the tub. This may not sound like a big deal, and if she wasn't soaking wet, dragging water everywhere, making every surface she comes into contact with an instant slip and slide, it wouldn't be a big deal. But because she IS soaking wet, creating an instant slip and slide everywhere she goes, trying to climb over the side of the tub just took on the seriousness of an extreme sport. As result, I have been trying to reinforce having her sit down in the tub.
That worked okay the first night. She would fight me a little, laughing because she thought I was playing with her, and never really pushing it to the point where she realize I was very serious.
Then came last night. Our first all out battle of the wills. As I recounted it later, JP asked, "Well, who won?" "Me, of course!" was my immediate and emphatic reply. "Hmmph. Sure you were," was his reply.
Ok. I think I won. Does it count that, as we were there, locked in the heat of willful batttle - her stiff as a board refusing to sit down and me attempting to make her bend her legs to sit down (please tell me, as parents, some of you relate to this?), I burst out laughing? Does that undermine my belief that I "won"?
Let me back up. It started innocently. Jenna standing up. Me asking her to sit down. Her sitting down. Somewhere in that last process, she decided we were playing a game. So she not only started standing up, but also trying to kick her leg over the side of the tub. This resulted in me moving her leg and making her sit down. This went on and on until we were locked in the position I described above. I kept a straight face the whole time she smiled, laughed and giggled at me - thinking she was funny and somewhere in this I would finally start laughing with her. As I kept my straight face, she started to understand that I was not joking, and she started getting mad. As in the toddler just realizing Mommy isn't always going to let her do what she wants to do kind of mad. Which resulted in the above mentioned standoff - with Jenna screaming like a wild banshee in frustration at not being able to do what she wants to do.
And I'm totally laughing recounting it. The image of her, stiff as a board, refusing to sit down OR stand up, screaming like a wild banshee just makes me laugh out loud. Which is what I did last night. Oh I tried so hard not to...I turned my head away...I thought about baseball...I even tried pep-talking myself about the importance of not undermining what I was trying to teach her and accomplish for myself by laughing...all without success.
In the end, I do think I won. She finally sat down long enough for me to wash her and then get her out of the tub. If you could ask her, she might say she won because I laughed, but to my credit - it was at a point where she didn't think my laughing was funny or a part of the game. Intuitively, she knew I was laughing at her (behavior...I was laughing at her behavior...).
Either way, it brought to my attention another fact of being a parent of a precocious child (and no, MOM & DAD, the irony of that fact is certainly not lost on me)...the battle of the wills has begun.
To which I ask the question...really? Already? I just wanted to be fun and loving Mommy for just a little bit longer before that happened. Now I have to be mean Mommy, too? How unfair is that?!?
Lately she has taken to standing up in the tub. At first, I would ask her nicely to sit down and she would sit down, wanting to please me as young infants do. In all honesty, I wouldn't make a big deal out of it if she wanted to stand holding the side of the tub to put the Boon toys in a decorative pattern on the wall, or to draw water pictures on the side of the tub. It was a part of the creative fun.
Until two nights ago, when she suddenly starting trying to climb out of the tub. This may not sound like a big deal, and if she wasn't soaking wet, dragging water everywhere, making every surface she comes into contact with an instant slip and slide, it wouldn't be a big deal. But because she IS soaking wet, creating an instant slip and slide everywhere she goes, trying to climb over the side of the tub just took on the seriousness of an extreme sport. As result, I have been trying to reinforce having her sit down in the tub.
That worked okay the first night. She would fight me a little, laughing because she thought I was playing with her, and never really pushing it to the point where she realize I was very serious.
Then came last night. Our first all out battle of the wills. As I recounted it later, JP asked, "Well, who won?" "Me, of course!" was my immediate and emphatic reply. "Hmmph. Sure you were," was his reply.
Ok. I think I won. Does it count that, as we were there, locked in the heat of willful batttle - her stiff as a board refusing to sit down and me attempting to make her bend her legs to sit down (please tell me, as parents, some of you relate to this?), I burst out laughing? Does that undermine my belief that I "won"?
Let me back up. It started innocently. Jenna standing up. Me asking her to sit down. Her sitting down. Somewhere in that last process, she decided we were playing a game. So she not only started standing up, but also trying to kick her leg over the side of the tub. This resulted in me moving her leg and making her sit down. This went on and on until we were locked in the position I described above. I kept a straight face the whole time she smiled, laughed and giggled at me - thinking she was funny and somewhere in this I would finally start laughing with her. As I kept my straight face, she started to understand that I was not joking, and she started getting mad. As in the toddler just realizing Mommy isn't always going to let her do what she wants to do kind of mad. Which resulted in the above mentioned standoff - with Jenna screaming like a wild banshee in frustration at not being able to do what she wants to do.
And I'm totally laughing recounting it. The image of her, stiff as a board, refusing to sit down OR stand up, screaming like a wild banshee just makes me laugh out loud. Which is what I did last night. Oh I tried so hard not to...I turned my head away...I thought about baseball...I even tried pep-talking myself about the importance of not undermining what I was trying to teach her and accomplish for myself by laughing...all without success.
In the end, I do think I won. She finally sat down long enough for me to wash her and then get her out of the tub. If you could ask her, she might say she won because I laughed, but to my credit - it was at a point where she didn't think my laughing was funny or a part of the game. Intuitively, she knew I was laughing at her (behavior...I was laughing at her behavior...).
Either way, it brought to my attention another fact of being a parent of a precocious child (and no, MOM & DAD, the irony of that fact is certainly not lost on me)...the battle of the wills has begun.
To which I ask the question...really? Already? I just wanted to be fun and loving Mommy for just a little bit longer before that happened. Now I have to be mean Mommy, too? How unfair is that?!?
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