Can You Say “NO” ?
Posted on August 24, 2007 - Filed Under Kids |
Toddlers are mini teenagers, I swear. I mean, the stuff Dorian is pulling these days is exactly the sort of stuff I´d expect from a 14 year old!
Last night marked his first ordering of his mother. I went into his room and he wanted his bottle. He was laying there and I handed him his bottle (of water) and he yelled, “GIVE NOW!” and snatched it out of my hand.
This morning, I got The Look. I had NOT expected it so soon. That sneering, I-don´t-have-to-listen-to-you look that I am sure I had perfected in high school. My baby boy gave me That Look this morning! Can you believe it? I don´t even know where he learned it. Is this something that comes pre-installed?
We also have the famous gimme thing. Well, in Spanish, anyway. See, in Spanish you say “Dale” for “give him/her”. And “Dame” is “give me”. Dorian hasn´t quite grasped the subtle changes in one letter yet, so he walks up to someone who has something he wants, holds out his hand and yells “DALE!”
This whole “dale” thing comes from my inlaws. See, all of Irving´s siblings still live at home (on the same property as us) and his sister has a 4 year old girl, Zanelle. Zanelle likes to play with Dorian, but she gets frustrated because, like any toddler, he thinks he gets everything. And she has had everything her whole life, being the only baby in the family, until Dorian came along.
So, now when the two kids are playing together, Dorian will grab something and Zanelle will grab it back and he starts screaming. Now, when they play at my house, I tell Dorian he has to share and leave it at that. But my inlaws believe that the littlest kid always has the right. So they will say, “Dale, Zanelle”. Which is why my son now thinks that simply saying “Dale” will get him anything! 
The last (but probably not for long) area that we are finding a struggle is bedtime. Dorian will happily go to bed, but he doesn´t want to stay there. He will call us in, cry, throw fits and more for a good two hours most nights. He wants to get up and go “to the street”, which is totally not happening at 8 pm when it is already dark here!
I´m guessing this is normal and that we will all survive, but if anyone has any advice, I´d be more than happy to hear it! (Come on, I know you want to tell me what to do . . .)
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We are going through the same thing right now. I swear, by the time Grant goes to bed (which we have rigged up so that he can’t escape) I am so tired from fighting him!! He doesn’t do the “mine” thing so much right now, his thing is to DEMAND stuff all the time. He’ll say please, but it’s like this, “MOMMY! NACK (meaning snack)! PEASE! NNNAAAACCCKKK! PEEEAAASSSEE!” So, I have no advice, but definitely sympathy.
Yes, it is pre-loaded. One of the arguments against multilingualism is that it just gives kids more words to use against us…at least that is one of our experiences.
Thanks for leaving a comment on Babylune. I am very excited to get to know your blog.
By the way, would you be interested in entering our Group Writing Project?
http://www.babylune.com/announcing-the-family-vacation-gwp/
Jessica, our lives are practically parallels, don´t you think?
Kate, I really liked your blog, I´ll be back. I hadn´t even considered the idea that my boys will have more verbal ammunition against me! Gulp. I´m heading over right now to check out this cool Group Writing Project, you guys all know I´m up for that.