Chloe has been quite the little mommy lately. Most days she is very sweet, sincere, and caring. Other days her attitude screams "I'm in charge!" and she is very out of character. We have experienced both lately and she amazes me in each role she plays. Many of the struggles and arguments Royce and I have had with her lately involve getting dressed in the mornings and into PJ's in the evenings. "I need help", "I can't do it", "I'm too tired", "I'M NEVER GONNA GET DRESSED!" are phrases we hear quite regularly from her during these encounters. Royce and I tell her that she's a big girl and we know she can do it. That we care about her and all we ask is that she tries her best. So a lot of the terminology Royce & I use towards her we are now hearing back from her in other situations.
Not very formal stories, but here are some examples:
** Last week she was arguing about getting dressed. She was dragging her feet and stalling in every way, shape, and form she could think of. I was acting like Isaac and I were going to leave without her and although she wasn't buying into it, she was very irritated with my actions. *I'm not going to dress the kid when she's acting like this. She knows that if she tries on her own and then needs help with snaps, buttons, sleeves, etc. then she can ask but she knows she must try on her own first. I refuse to chase her down and clothe her.* So as Isaac and I were yelling, "bye Chloe, see you later!" she screamed at the top of her lungs back to me, "Why do so much people care about me???!!!!! SOO much people care for me ALLLL the time!" Oh, she was angry! Yes, Chloe, it's really tough when everyone cares so much about you.
* This morning it was actually Isaac who was throwing a tantrum and not putting socks & shoes on. Isaac is not exempt from this rule of trying on his own, me not chasing him down to get him dressed, either. I had lowered myself to his level and said that I would help him but he had to sit up. He wouldn't have anything to do with it. Chloe came into the room and calmly said, "Isaac, we're going to leave without you. If you don't get your shoes on then we are going to leave." Then she turned to me and said, "Mom, just ignore him. Let's go. Just ignore him if he's not going to listen."
Who was playing the parent role here?!?
I must say with all of these arguments aside, Royce & I have fantastic kids. They have such big hearts and have really had great behavior lately. Our getting dressed battles will fade and something else will arise, but we have had some great weeks lately and couldn't be more thankful for how wonderful they are. The love they show for each other is just heart-warming.
**Last night they were watching an old cartoon (really old Scooby Doo or something like that) on TV in the basement. I wasn't down there when they started watching it but when I went down to check on them they were lying on the love seat side-by-side. I didn't say anything to them, just watched. There were 'scary' parts on it and Isaac would cover his mouth and gasp. Chloe would calmly tell him, "It's okay, don't be scared." and would keep watching. I smiled and looked at her and she said, "Isaac was scared so I let him lay by me so I could protect him". I told her how nice that was of her and that I was proud of her. Later Royce went down to get them for baths and Chloe had covered both of them up with a blanket. Too sweet.
**And the proudest moments of our week have been them showing their big hearts. While Royce was working in KC for two weeks a few weeks ago, he told them (and they even pinky-swore) that if they were good while he was gone then he would take them individually out for supper for being so good. The kids were fantastic while he was gone and they very much deserved a Daddy-Date. Tuesday night was Isaac's turn and he of course wanted to go to McDonald's. Chloe's turn was Wednesday and she wanted pizza. But the best part--is that both kids invited the whole family to go along on what was supposed to be their Daddy-Date. So all four of us ate out two nights in a row (which is absolutely unheard of for us) and we had two fantastic nights with our kids. We told them how proud we were that they wanted the whole family to go on each of their special nights with Daddy. They didn't even think twice, it was just how they wanted it to be. We still greatly praised each child on their respective nights for being so good while Royce was gone and they got their attention on their night. But we couldn't have been prouder of their big hearts.
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