Queen of the Stall

Lucy has been working on many skills lately, mostly trying to improve her parents' patience. Her main tool in this endeavor is stalling. She can stretch out many activities to two or three times their normal length.

Her bedtime routine has been undergoing some revisions, all motivated by her. At first, she added taking a book to bed, which we parents think is really awesome, because we love reading and we want to foster that in our kids. She can't read yet, so it isn't really a problem that she takes a book to bed at night when the lights are out and it's mostly dark in her room. She still happily flips through the pages and chatters to herself as if she is reading.

The challenge is her selection process. At first she would grab anything on her shelf that looked good. Now, however, she will spend a good deal of time trying to choose. If we start counting to ten, she will say,  "No counting! NO COUNTING!" She has also added an element of "I've made the wrong choice, please let me choose again." She'll be in the crib with her book and then decide she wants a different one. So far I have been caving on letting her get a new one, but it's the whole process all over again. Ugh!

Her other tactic is to throw her pacifier out of the crib and then cry out that she doesn't have her pacifier. So far she only does this once per bedtime (and not at every bedtime). As she approaches her second birthday, I suppose it's time to break her of the pacifier habit. That will definitely solve the problem.

Lucy also tries some tricks at meals or snack times. She will eat one or two bites of what we give her and then ask for something else. Usually her go-to options are yogurt or dried cherries. The coup de grace was at one snack time where I started off by offering her what Jacob was eating, namely graham crackers. She said no in her sweet little voice. The conversation continued like this:

Who can say no to such a face?

Daddy: Do you want cheesy crackers instead?
Lucy: No.
Daddy: Do you want Cheerios?
Lucy: No.
Daddy: Do you want peanut butter crackers?
Lucy: No.
Daddy: Do you want animal crackers?
Lucy: No.
Daddy: Do you want cheese?
Lucy: No.
Daddy: Do you want bread?
Lucy: No.
Daddy: Do you want yogurt?
Lucy: No.
Daddy: Do you want cherries?
Lucy: No.
Daddy: Lucy, what do you want?
Lucy: Gra'm crack.
Daddy: But I offered that to you first and you said no. Are you sure?
Lucy, as sweetly as possible: I change mind.

Lucy has also developed some interest in potty training. She's been watching Jacob and wanting to try it out. At first she wanted to stand and pee like her big brother. That wouldn't work, so we convinced her to sit on the little potty. Now she wants to sit on the potty without clothes or diaper. And sit. And sit. And sit.

She'll read a book (ever notice there's two types of people in the world, those who read on the toilet and those who don't? I'm in the "don't" camp and really don't understand the "do" camp). At the Supermarkethas been her favorite, or at least the first four or five pages. By page five, she goes back to the beginning and starts again. Or she'll find another book. When she's finally done, she leaves the bathroom and doesn't want to get her diaper on or her pants. Asking why she doesn't want these, she typically responds, "I want to go potty!" And it starts again.

I know we're supposed to encourage interest in using the potty. So I don't want to discourage her. But waiting around for her to be done (especially when nothing is happening) is tough on the patience. I just need to offer it up for the poor souls in Purgatory. I'm sure they're happy about Lucy being queen of the stall.