Saturday, April 30, 2005

I used to think I was realistic (part 3)

Continuation of part 2 and part 1.



Expectation #8

I will not speak "baby talk" to my children. They will learn the proper words such as "toilet" instead of "potty," "we're going to leave now" instead of "time for bye-bye," etc.

Reality #8

This is one of few expectations that I've pretty much kept to. My biggest issue in this arena is that I have to use the word "potty" to differentiate it from the big toilet. And I inadvertently called Kevin's stomach his "belly" during a tickle fight before he learned "stomach" so he now calls it his belly. I can live with that. For now.



Expectation #9

I will include my children in my daily tasks around the house and during errands so that they learn so many useful things. Most importantly, I will enjoy imparting my knowledge to them and letting them help in their own special way.

Reality #9

I have little patience to put this into practice. I try and hopefully I will get better at it but by then, Kevin will be too old to care about what I'm doing and he'll just want to go off and do his own thing.



Expectation #10

I will watch TV with my children so that we can have helpful and informative discussions during and after the program. They will watch very, very little TV and not every day.

Reality #10

Now that Kevin enjoys watching TV and he will sometimes sit and watch without me, I take full advantage of my "time alone" to get other things done that are easier done without him, like housework (see Expectation #9, above.) Watching TV first thing in the morning also helps me to wake up more "gently" such that I don't always start my day in a huff because the little guy got me out of bed before I was ready to get up.

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