That Word

I'm surprised it took as long as it did for Evie to begin adding the word 'no' to her vocabulary. I say it so often, I would have thought it would be her first and favorite word. Luckily, she waited to say it for the first time a couple of days ago.

The part that disturbs me is not the fact that she has chosen to use this word 'no' for almost every response. What disturbs me is the attitude she throws behind this word. As she says the word aloud to me, she pouts her lips very dramatically and throws her entire body into it.

The mistake I made was laughing the first time she did this. Now she does it just to get a rise out of me and she laughs about it the whole time. So, my goal is to keep a straight face when she does this. I'm having a difficult time deciding whether to point out to her that this attitude is not acceptable or to ignore the repeated no's. The more attention I give her for this act, the more frequent she does it. Kids are brilliant.

To me, this experience is a great example that shows how parenthood is about trial and error... and a whole lot of prayer.