Leka Nosht!!

I will have to record a few of these bedtime moments because they are too precious.

Mahaela had her first dinner at grandma's last night--lots of people, lots of kids! She did well. Bill was able to take Mahaela home after dinner while I took the kids to church/Awana. He said they had a great time together. There really are so many sweet moments. She will take us by the hand to lead us to something. That helps, although I can understand "iskum salamchi" and don't really need to be led to the fridge...which is exactly what she did with Bill last night. He kept telling her he couldn't find any and he held her up to the opened fridge--she knew right where that wadded up piece of tin foil was that held the last 2-3 pieces of salamchi! So she got her bedtime snack out of the way. She also came up to him as he sat at the computer and leaned over his legs to let him just rub her back. Who doesn't enjoy these kind of moments.

Bill had her ready for bed when I got home and we put her down together. The pleading, puppy dog eyes and sad voice are way too cute and could almost make us change our minds about bedtime,...but no. We put her in her crib, still negotiating with us, offering the blanket which she swiftly refuses and hangs over the end rail. When she realized that we were really going to walk out, the jumping, yelling, crying began. We watched her from the crack in the door. She gave it a loud, but half-hearted effort. Continuing with her loud crying, but taking a moment to itch her face, pick her nose, eat a raisin that was still in her hand?, and then finally laying down on her belly, thumb in mouth--all lasting about 40 seconds! Good night little girl. I will have to get this on video!

I realized something about the being out, around people, away from home. It's not difficult to take her places, and she does not seem to be overwhelmed or overstimulated, really. But it does limit our ability to have "teaching moments" or to correct behavior. At Mom's dinner, I realized she was being ok, but the incidents that she was having (taking a sucker from Ryan, not letting him sit next to her), needed some correction, but I felt unable to correct her as she needed to be--just to avoid the possible cry-fit or tantrum that would follow. It's that way with every kid. How many times have we said, "we just need a day at home."? I call it boot camp. A day to just correct consistently, as needed, regardless of what her response may be. That is the phase we are in and need to stay in for a while.

Something about her behavior that I wanted to mention (Heather, you made me think of this)...Maybe I have said it before, but her behavior doesn't really surprise us and is the behavior of a toddler who has been coddled and undisciplined. I don't consider it institutional behavior at all, except for the fact that she did not always have the same person caring for her at every moment, which could interrupt any progress in discipline. We saw glimpses of this our first trip. She did not want to be carried, wanted down immediately, wanted to do it herself. Bill says we even have video of her hitting/pushing away one of the nurses--and, of course, they let her do it. They even fibbed to her to avoid any tears or tantrums. Her behavior is what you get when there is little discipline. Leave any toddler to their own self-centered desires and they will become very resistant to any teaching/correction. I have worked with 2-3 year olds for a few years in Sunday School and have had a handful of toddlers myself. The defiant ones are usually the ones that have been allowed to be defiant at home. Not rocket science. The ones that consistently don't want to sit at the table and "fall out" on me when I put them in a chair are the same type of little people that Mahaela is. After our first visit in the summer, we said she was a little spoiled princess, and that the transition to our reality would probably be a bit of a shock for her--and that is just what it is. Hauter Boot camp is not always fun, but I hope to have a little one who will sit at the table in Sunday School, without smacking the teacher, in a few months! Seems doable to us and we are hopeful.