Is It Naptime Yet

Lilah’s been picking up words.
Last week it was stupid. I know she heard it on Aurthur, a PBS show, and she used it while describing the toilet or something.
I told her it wasn’t a nice word and she responded that she was just joking. A response she uses often lately when she’s told not to say something, or do something or when we say no to a request. We think it’s her way of not being emotionally invested in something.
Like tonight it was “Daddy can you tell stories?”
“Not tonight it’s also my bedtime right now.”
“I was just joking.”

Back to the stupid comment. I explained it wasn’t a nice word and she got a little upset by it. (Upset in the got her feelings hurt or felt really bad for doing something the wrong way and began crying.) I tried to explain it just wasn’t a nice word and to not use it again. I knew she was just repeating what she heard and I tried to not be harsh. Today I heard.
“blah blah blah, you idiot.”
(It was said in the same tone she says “you silly mommy.”)
I wasn’t sure at first what she said. So I asked her what she said and she sensed that it was something she shouldn’t have said and replied nothing, or I was “just joking”.
I asked her if she said idiot and after a couple exchanges said yes she said idiot.
I was a little firm at first. Mostly just “Lilah that’s not a nice word and you don’t say idiot.”
She again responded she was just joking.
I tried to explain to her that it was okay that she used that word because she didn’t know it was a mean word and that it’s fine to make mistakes.
She again got upset after I corrected her on using the word idiot and I tried to comfort her once more.

I’m pretty sure, she’s just hearing words, not always knowing what they mean and not always knowing they’re bad, though she might know it’s a rude or mean word, hence the denial of using idiot, and is saying them to figure out what’s acceptable and what’s not.
At least that’s what I think about her new vocabulary.

But I’m just not sure how to react to her “I’m just joking” comment.
It bothers me that she uses it all the time.

I also don’t know how to react to her sensitivity to making a mistake.
She’s always had a hard time with making mistakes.
Like now, I’m teaching her how to recognize words and sometimes she’d rather not try to read a new, yet familiar word, than make a mistake and I’m afraid she’ll eventually be turned off of reading. (We’ve bought some phonics book and I plan on using them so she can learn the letters and what sounds and start figuring out what the word might be rather then relying on sight recognition like we are now.)

How does a parent delicately deal with a sensitive child?

Yes, I was the mom with the very loud and annoying cart.
I understand it made a terrible squeak that could entice even a sane person to want to throw it across the store in rage.
Just think how bad it would have been if you were pushing it around with a 4 year old in it and had a 2 year old slowly trailing behind?
Just be happy that I found a less annoying cart near a check out line and left the squeaky cart for the next desperate mother.
Wait, you’re the mother who got the annoyingly squeaky cart? I apologize.

Yes, I was the mom playing Marco Polo with my 2 year old who loved to hide in the clothes racks.
You see her older sister complains to no end if I have her out and walking and the younger one who knows no fear, hides in the clothes rack making each one her home if she is walking. Also if I hold the 2 year old’s hand she whines and pulls until she wiggles free.
It’s just easier to play Marco polo than to argue with them.

Yes, I was the mom who left the cart in the middle of the isle after she checked out.
You see the sea of people in line made it difficult to maneuver the cart towards a more respectable place, like the entrance, so the next costumer would be able to use it.
I usually return my cart, or in this case child stroller with a bag to put things in, to the cart area, but there are none in Mervyn’s and like I said I was just too lazy to push it through all you people waiting in line.

To an employee of Mervyn’s: My 4 year old had a stuffed puppy that she took with her under a table while I was talking with a friend. It never made it out and is still hiding in it’s new home beneath the table.
At this point I was just too tired to care about restoring it to a place within the pajamas where she found it that was also obviously not where it belonged.

My dad gave me a couple cards for Mervyn’s that gave me $10 off every $20 I spent and they expired today so I thought I’d go and get some good use out of them.
I bought a couple things for myself, clothes to give for the ward’s angel tree child I chose, a shirt for my SIL Dara and a gift card for my nieces in Utah. I also found a jumper in size 5 for Lilah next year at $5, down from $22.
I spent $45 or so and saved around $90.
It was nice.
I then went to Payless because it looked like they were having a sale and they were so I bought some cute shoes for Eden, since I couldn’t find any in her size at Mervyn’s. They are adorable. In the picture they’re not as cute as they are on her foot.

We then went to Mc Donald’s for some good ole fun and food that’s bad for you.
My girls drank all their chocolate milk, ate about three fries each and some of their chicken nuggets before they went off to play.
While I watched them play this couple came and sat in the booth next to the table I was at.
He was very friendly and when I was getting Eden’s jacket on to leave he asked what color my eyes were and to see them.
I said hazel green and he complemented me on the color and then said how beautiful Eden’s eyes were.
He was African American, though I admit I just say black cause I’m not politically correct, and he said how he always wanted a blue eyed child. We debated whether that’s possible since he’s black, even with a blue eyed partner. Though my parents have brown and green eyes and two of my sisters have blue. I said how I want a green eyed girl like myself but I so far I’ve gotten two blue eyed girls.
He tried to get the girls to smile and kinda succeeded with Eden and I had the girls wave goodbye as we left.

I got home to my loot and realized that somehow I didn’t purchase the two pairs of pants I intended to for Eden. I must have carried them around, but somehow they didn’t make it into my basket or I set them down. I’m not sure. Maybe I just looked at them as I was debating which size to buy.
I thought maybe I was charged for them and they never made it into the bag, but according to the receipt I just didn’t buy them.

Knowing my mother had two more coupons for the spend $20 get $10 off I called her to see if she had used them, since they expired today. She said no so I figured I could go pick them up and use them to buy a few things and get us out of the house so Jon could study this evening.
Have I mentioned tomorrow is his final and I will be so happy to be over with this class? It’s taken more concentration for him and thus made it harder on me because I either have to keep the girls from bothering him, or myself, while he’s studying at home or go somewhere. I think we’ll save some money on gas once he’s done.
Anyways I went and truely spent about $13 for the two pants, but I bought Christmas gifts for the grand kids from my mom. Like Pajama’s and dresses for my two girls. She reimbursed me to where I spent $15, I guess tax factors in. So in reality had I just waited until tomorrow I would have saved money in gas and even spent less because everything is suppose to be 50% of tomorrow, where as the pants were 40% off today. But I think my time in shopping for my mom helped and it’s sometimes a hit and miss with what dresses she gets the girls. Most have been very cute, but some have been my mom’s taste and not mine. 😉

I got the girls home around 9, their bedtime is 8. We got them into bed about 9:45 pm because we were all fascinated with the PBS show. It was a self made documentary made in the 70’s of a man in Alaska building his log cabin by himself with hand tools. Totally cool. Totally time and labor intensive, though if you know what you’re doing things go smoothly I’m sure.

It’s now very late and I still have one more post to write.

Maybe I’ll get some cleaning done tomorrow.