"Avey does"

Today was an interesting day. First I took the girls to the chiropractor. Usually all three of us get an adjustment. Almost every time without fail Emerson jumps at the chance to go first for the adjustment. Today however, when Dr Alexa said, "who wants to go first?" Emerson quickly said, "Avey does." And amazingly, Avery did go first and did great.

Oh almost forgot about us actually leaving the house! As we are driving out the drive Avery yells, "Mama! You no put Leni in bathroom!" "That's ok Avery she is in her house during the day now and only stays in her bathroom at night." Then we get down the street a little ways and Avery grabs at her head and exclaims, "MA!! You no do my hair!" "That's ok Avery (as Im giggling) I have your hair in a knot so I dont have to do it today." She looks concerned. I say, "Dont worry, you look cute."

After Chiro I had to take them to the dentist.~JOY~
This was only their second exam ever, and I think I may have done a bad thing. I keep telling the girls when they ask, "why?" to the "we have to brush our teeth." if they do not brush they will get cavities and will have to have dental work done that hurts. So every time I said we were going to the dentist today they would both start cry/whining they didn't want to it was gonna hurt...uhg! So we get there and they refuse to go back by themselves so cleaning is off the agenda. Just a check-up for today. Dr comes into the room the girls are playing with the stuffed animals and pretending the doctor does not exist. He is really great with kids and tries to engage them, but their were not buying what he was wanting to sell. The pretending he does not exist continued.

Finally he says it's time to do the exams and who wants to sit on mommy's lap first. Emerson quick as a bunny says, "Avey does." and shockingly Avery goes first and does an amazing job. No crying, no whining, and complete cooperation. She is finished and it's time for the other one... The doc and I are working all angles to get her on my lap. Offering stickers, showing her the instruments, showing her the tooth brush she gets, Im telling her about how I plan to take them to lunch as soon as we are done...nothing. If she ignores us (her back is literally to us the whole time) we will go away or forget about her. Right? Finally out of desperation I say, "Emerson, if you do not do this willingly I am going to have to physically restrain you." She looks up and excitedly says, "I want you to physiky restain me!" I dont think she knows what this means, based on that response! So I finally just picked her up and put her on my lap. Finally we did get her done with very few tears and no blood shed.

Why Oh Why?

We have entered the "WHY?" stage with Avery. She can ask why until you want to bang your head into a wall. Emerson is still ok with whatever answer you give her and she moves on. Avery was like that too, till just this week.

Here is an example conversation between Avery and I as we were getting out of the shower:
Me, "I'm going to turn off the water now."
Avery, "why?"
Me, "Because we are done with our shower."
Avery, "why?"
Me, "because we are clean."
Avery, "why?"
Me, "We are no longer dirty."
Avery, "Why?"
Me, "Cause we took a shower."
Avery, "Why?"
Me, "Cause we were dirty."
Avery, "Why?"
Me, "Because...(sigh) we had a 24 hr period of non showering."
Avery, "Why?"
I think I lost consciousness at this point cause I really do not remember what I said next.

We have though, found a way to make this a little more amusing for us. At dinner tonight we gave the girls the option of sitting at the table with us or eating at the little table cause Snow White was playing on TV. Avery choose to sit with us and Emerson sat at the little table.

Avery, "Why is Snow White screaming?"
Me, "Because she was scared?"
Avery, "Why?"
Julie, "Because the woodsman tried to kill her."
Avery, "Why?"
Me, "Snow White's mother told him to."
Avery, "Why?"
Julie, "CAUSE GIRLS ARE MEAN!"
Avery, "Why?"
Me, "Cause her step mother was jealous."
Julie, "Girls are mean."
Avery, "Why?"
Me, "I don't know. Why don't you ask your sister."
Avery, "Emerson, why are girls mean?"
Emerson, (we could not see her, but we could hear her.) "I don't know."
Avery, "Why?"
Emerson, "I DON'T know, AVERY." in a deadpan but slightly annoyed voice.

I was almost falling off my chair laughing. Apparently Emerson has been dealing with this too. Poor Emerson. I feel bad for her, but I will be doing that again!

Positive Parenting Rubs Off

So just when you think your kids aren't paying attention to anything you do or say, something happens to make you realize you were sooooo wrong!


Today we went to visit a sick friend of the girls. He isn't contagious so we thought we would give him some entertainment while he is house bound.


While there Emerson and he were playing independently beside each other and Emerson reached over and took something that was in his play area. It really pissed him off so he got a little aggressive and was trying to take it back from her. She was acting as if he did not exist. He mom removed him from the situation and told him to go apologize to Emerson. He promptly walked over to the toys and started winging them at Emerson. She still just sat there playing as if nothing was happening. I assumed she was unaware of what was gong on. His mom picked him up again and made him sit with her for a few moments then told him to go say he was sorry. This time he walked over and said, "Im sorry." and Emerson said, "ok."

She knew the whole time what was going on and she was ignoring his bad behavior. Funny thing is it did not occur to me that that was what she was doing till the other mom pointed out, "she's doing what you do. Ignoring the bad behavior."

She did not lash out at him, she did not even leave the room. He was not hurting her, so she just sat there and acted as if he was not even in the room.