Maybe I'm Doing Something Right

Sometimes with this moody 6 year old who's testing me daily, I really wonder if I'm doing something wrong? Am I really the best role model for this little girl? There are days when I feel utterly defeated and Bartee has to remind me not to let that show. He's right. At least I should act like it's all part of the plan and I've got it all under control.

Just last week she told me that she didn't want to see me for a week... I needed to go away she said. She is constantly pointing out the fact that I need to treat her the way that I want to be treated. Which is a great rule, the golden rule even, but it doesn't always apply to the mother-daughter relationship. Reminding her of this doesn't calm her nerves. According to her, I shouldn't be putting her in timeout, spanking her, taking toys away or yelling at her... because "that doesn't work".

She's probably right about the yelling, but something is working and there's even evidence. In the car the other day, she was bickering with her brother, hit him and told him that she didn't like him, so when we got home she was sent to a timeout in her room. When it was over, she walked out producing this document which she had me read to Sanjay.



Translation: I am so sorry that I said I don't like you Sanjay. I love you Sanjay. From Priya.

He had already forgotten what happened and she was forgiven in his eyes, but this prompted him to say, "I love you too, Priya (now come upstairs and play with me)". He didn't actually say that last part, but I know he was thinking it.

Can we really call this coloring?

I've been sharpening a lot of pencils lately. Wanna know why? Well, Sanjay has created his own style of coloring. He spends lots of time meticulously filling in between the black outlines with, not a brilliantly-named Crayola crayon, but instead a No. 2 lead pencil. He declared, "Look Mom, I colored it grey. Grey is so coooooool".

We now have several coloring books in the house filled with pages like this:



No wonder he was so upset when I re-gifted 5 of the 10 Halloween pencils we were given.

Something Fun

Ever wonder what you would look like had you been born in a different generation? For instance, if you were a teenager in the 50's, 70's or even the 90's? Well, wonder no more! You can Yearbook Yourself in any era. Just upload a recent picture of yourself and plug it into their classic yearbook hair shots and see what you think. Here's what happened to me....



1966 - Man, I look like Weezie.
1976 - My 8th grade school portrait looks like this, but it's in color.
1994 - I'm pretty sure I could dig up a photo of Michele that looks identical to this.

Preschool Love

Today we went to the zoo with Sanjay's class. Although this orangutan had eyes for Sanjay,



Sanjay has eyes only for this little girl.



Very recently, Sanjay has been talking about this little blue-eyed cutie with giddiness in his voice. He said to me tonight, "More than Matthew, I love (little-girl-in-blue-shirt)". And, while flipping through the photos of the day, he announced, "I love these pictures... the ones of me and (little-girl-in-blue-shirt)". Mind you, as always, I had taken a whole slew of photos at the zoo but it was this small set containing the little girl* that he liked best.

* I have others that show them from the front. If you'd like to see them, just ask. Thought it would be best not to post them here out of privacy for the little girl.

You Did What?

Sanjay: "I saw a spider and I flipped him off".

Just one little word used incorrectly can send a Mom into a fit of laughter. I wanted to say "Flicked honey, it's flicked" but I couldn't stop laughing at the image conjured up in my head.

Little Boys

Typically we find Sanjay wandering through the house, looking for something to beat on. It's not out of the ordinary to find him playing drums on the recliner chair, the carpet, our bed or even one of his good friends. Well, this evening I'm getting dressed in the bathroom and I hear the oh-so-familiar muffled beating that assures me Sanjay is somewhere near, followed by Priya's warnings... "Sanjay, don't do that, it's disrespectful". I walk out to find Sanjay with Priya's stuffed cheetah in his hand beating it senseless into the carpet, one blow after the next. Just last week we lost Texas Longhorn to this same treatment, so I threatened him, "If that cheetah gets a hole in it, YOU are buying Priya a new one with your OWN money".

He has an immediate reply. I'm thinking he's about to tell me that he doesn't have any money (which he doesn't) or that he doesn't know how to count money (he doesn't even recognize all the letters of the alphabet, how can I expect him to know difference between a nickel and a dime?) or something along these lines. Instead, he says very seriously, "But Mom, I don't know how to drive!".

Where does he come up with this stuff? I guess the emphasis on YOU threw him off and he thought the responsibility of replacing cheetah was squarely on him, or just maybe he's secretly hoping that I'll let him behind the wheel of something other than a matchbox car.

Overheard in the Bathroom

Recently, I was very worried when I heard this from Sanjay in the bathroom...

"I'm gonna go a dangerous way. Look it, Mom... how dangerous this is."

Dangerous? I gotta see what he's talking about. When I look over at him standing by the potty, I see that he has not lifted the seat. He's attempting to stand up and aim the yellow stream over the seat and down into the water without even a droplet misplaced. I'm nervous, but watching carefully I see that he's well-trained. He manages with no drips.

You gotta give it to him though. Being already sports-minded like his Daddy, he's turning this into a competition. Each time trying to outdo himself. A couple of days later, he wanted me to see the new challenge... "even more dangerous" he called it. This time with the seat down AND no hands to help aim. What do you know... every little drop landed where it was supposed to. Now, if he could only have this kind of control over the water in his cup at the dinner table.