Of Tatum sitting on my lap as I read to her.
It’s a stormy day in Scottsdale; pouring rain and cold air. We just love it. More importantly, it’s been a bit torrential in the world of Tatum and mommy. Her will sometimes gets the best of her, and she sees who is going to win. “I love you too much to argue,” is what I say, and she realizes it is not worth the effort.
However, lunch today was stormy. The black cloud entered the kitchen and sat over our heads as we ate our lunch. She wanted help eating, but I refused for a short time while I ate my lunch. Yes, I usually help her, but she eats by herself with ease ALL OF THE TIME. She just wanted to try me. So out of frustration she tossed her bowl on the floor. I calmly cleaned it up as she cried asking for more lunch. After many somber refusals (I felt bad for her), she decided to sit on my lap and cry on me. I cuddled her and tried to comfort her with the discussion about the lesson learned here. She understood, still wanted lunch, but got the fact that she erred and needed to live with the consequence. It was HARD for me, but I knew I had to teach her that she just can’t act out like that; there are more fruitful ways to show disappointment and that is what we are working on. Deep breaths, saying, “OK, I understand, mommy,” and so on.
After we got upstairs she wanted to sit on my lap and we cuddled on the rocking chair, listened to the rain, and read books for one hour.
One full hour. 🙂