All Done!

....back to our regularly schedule programming. I've been swamped with work these past two weeks. But that hasn't stopped wee Zander from growing (taller, apparently) and smarter (more words! and signs!) and stronger (climbing!).

Our favorite latest feat of excellence is that I taught him to say "All done." Mostly he enjoys repeating it and being regaled with laughter and clapping. Context is secondary. Last night he prised my hand open, put him empty sippy cup into it and said "All done" - but what he really meant was "Give me more and on the double!" because when I asked him if he wanted more milk (and made the sign, which he is sometimes doing when he's not impatient - imagine how often that happens)... he moaned, snatched the sippy cup away, and ran into the kitchen whining. His tried and true method to get more milk to stand in front of fridge, trying to open it from either end, whining. Whining.

Hence the need for language.

He's been talking lots more lately, though, don't get me wrong. We're hearing snatches of things all the time amidst his earnest babble. The other day, when denied my attention, he cried out "I want my mama!" He has "cat" and "dog" down pretty good. Actually, he likes to go up to cats and dogs and point at them and say "No!" I'm laughing as I write this - can you imagine where he's learned that association? One our cats has been really REALLY bad lately - he's decided he wants to be outside. He's also figured out he can get my attention by leaping and clinging to the screen portion of the door, which is slowly destroying the screen. Ugh. So there's a whole lot of shouting NO at the cat.

Zander is getting pickier about food. It used to be that just because I ate it made it cool enough to try out. Now he just wants to eat bread, cream cheese, fruit, graham crackers, pickles, olives...you get the idea. Bland kid food. Which is fine, because he's a kid and all those items are reasonably nutritious in the right quantities. But I will have no picky eaters in my house and that's where this is heading. So I am making sure he eats something at every meal even if it's not what I wish he would eat and when the meal's over, it's over. He often more hungry at the next meal and more likely to just eat what he's given. The trick here will be the milk. I think he's already trying to substitute milk for food. I know of kids who do this, or try to, so I am prepared to battle it. Zander can have his cup of milk and, after that, just water if he's not eating the meal.

This is the common sense method of parenting. You will find it in no one book. It's so fluid, so circumstantial, so personal that no one can tell you how to do it except you. And damn, I think it works. Pardon my immodesty for a moment but people tell us all the time how happy and well-behaved our child is. But it's not all us. Zander is a loving, fearless, and curious child unto himself.

He is so sure he can fix the sprinkler. So sure.