Young Person In Da House

I looked up and saw a young person looking back at me the other day.  Not a baby, but a full on human being with an opinion (strong opinion), the ability to coerse and communicate with me.  It is exciting, a little unnerving and a reality check.  Especially in the case of her mimicking me accurately.  Uh oh, I need to kick it up a notch in the role model category and down a notch in the sassy always get my way wife mode I've lived in for a few years.

This is Ann's reaction to me not letting her have a jelly bean.  It is confusing to her since she saw me eat a handful of them.  You can see the devastation and the frustration on her face.  Quite the dramatic moment and I was told by my husband that I must remove all candy from our house.  I have been voraciously eating every single bit of it ever since.  I face a challenge here... we are teaching the art of sharing yet I will not share the bright colored candy with her.  How is this child supposed to learn she asks me?  Good question little person... good question...

Another opportunity to learn.  Ann did not want homemade whole wheat blueberry pancakes for breakfast yet that is what the family was having.  You can see John sitting next to her encouraging the consumption.  You can see that she was boycotting food and throwing a fit.  She is consistently refusing to eat in her highchair.  I am trying to break the habit of snacking on the go instead of sitting at mealtime.  Our solution?  Cry in your chair, eat or don't eat and we will sit there and watch it happen.  Last night it ended up working.  She cried, I ate my dinner and decided she would eat if she was hungry and all of a sudden she licked the parmesan cheese off her finger and decided food was good.  One point for me, twelve for Ann.  I'm gearing up for a comeback! 

We are not all tears!!  We do have fun and we do give in to cravings.  I have a severe craving for dippin dots icecream and so does Ann.  I can relate to it and the need to have it in our lives.  Thankfully, the dippin dots stand is by our basketball seats and it keeps Ann happy for at least half the game.  Pop can peacefully watch the game, balance the baby, wrangle the loose icecream pellets and hold on to the passy all at once.  The ice cream of the future saves the day!

Just working on our typing skills.  I'm a fabulous typer and Ann hopes to be as nimble fingered.  Notice Ann rocks the peplum top quite well.  She knows the importance of accenting a waist and hiding the hips. 

   

   

We are having a slight issue with Ann waking up at 1:00 am... jumping up and down in her bed and screaming until we come get her.  Instead of putting her in our bed, which I refuse to do anymore, we take her downstairs and put her on her beanbag.  With cartoons.  She sleeps the rest of the night downstairs.  I realize that some people may have issues with this.... but those people do not live with us, nor do they understand that "crying it out" is not something our child will do.  She'll cry but the next step it not eventually falling asleep.  Another issue someone may have is the fact that we leave her downstairs and we go back to bed.  Our house is tiny, we can hear her rustle on the beanbag and we close the gate to the stairs.  We all sleep and we wake up loving each other.  Judge me when you have a child who won't sleep.  Oh and the cartoons?  Yeah... letting the tv babysit our child... she won't be a worse person for it.  Promise.  

See??  She's happy and normal, cartoons, sleeping alone downstairs and all!!  Hoodies are so. much. fun. 

Pictures are all courtesy of my phone.