Welcome to my Weblog!
Welcome to 1 Mother 2 Another! To read my most recent weblog entries, scroll down. To read entries from one category, click the links at right. To read my journey from the beginning, click here. To find out more about me, click here.
Top 5s
Short on time? Click here to go to my Top 5s Page - links to my top five recommendations in every category from Breastfeeding Sites to Urban Living Solutions.

What A Difference A Day Makes

What child is THIS?


Yes, right after I blogged about my terror of an oldest child,
Madeleine delivered a day so sweet, so obedient and kind, that I
found myself wondering if she’d sneaked into the study and
read my blog, vowing then and there to turn over a new leaf and
make Mommy happy.



Madeleine made it through Tuesday with
absolutely no loss of privileges whatsoever – she kept all
books, all bedtime rituals, all videos, everything completely
intact. She never pushed Cora, never took a toy away from her, and
right up until bedtime I didn’t even have to threaten a
punishment.


What made the difference? I wish I knew. I suspect that Monday,
hard though it was, provided a valuable lesson for Maddie and
defined some strong boundaries for her, and that in a weird way
Maddie felt relief on Tuesday, knowing those boundaries and being
able to relax within them. Does that make any sense? Probably not.


Perhaps there’s more to it: Maddie knew that her beloved gym
day was fast approaching and maybe didn’t want to risk losing
it. It’s possible her teeth weren’t bothering her at
all. Maybe she just got a good night’s sleep. Whatever the
reason, I enjoyed a really wonderful day with her. We visited a
preschool and Maddie was the model of good manners, sitting
patiently while I asked questions, never interrupting, never
getting restless. She ran errands with me and didn’t go crazy
at the store or cry when she had to get back in the car. And when
Cora came over several times and destroyed whatever elaborate game
Maddie had constructed, she simply sighed, resigned, and went to
work building it back up.


After she’d gone to bed I told Brian she’d been so
good, done so well, that I want to give her a present of some kind.
I know it’s bad to do too much of the rewards thing –
that leads to Maddie acting right simply to gain a prize –
but I want to thank her, to show her how much I value the effort
she made yesterday. I’m definitely not interested in giving
her a food treat (see Monday’s chocolate debacle) but perhaps
I’ll dip into my store of “emergency” new books
and give her one, along with a snuggle and a thank you. Unexpected
gifts are often the best kind.


Providing, of course, that Sweet Maddie is the one who gets out of
bed tomorrow. If there’s one thing I know about toddlers,
it’s that nothing is guaranteed.

0 comments:

Post a Comment

House Rules

Here are the rules for posting comments on 1mother2another.com. Posting a comment that violates these rules will result in the comment’s deletion, and you’ll probably be banned from commenting in the future.

1) Register first. If you would like to post a comment, you must create an account with us. Check out the home page to do so.

2) Constructive comments only. If you cannot maintain a respectful tone in your posting, even in disagreement, your comment will be deleted. We’re all trying to find our way in this thing and are struggling to be the best moms we can. If you disagree with something I say, feel free to politely email me. If you disagree with another reader’s posting, you’re welcome to kindly post in reply. Vitriolic diatribes will be deleted. This site is about encouraging and supporting, not tearing down and chastising.

3) Questions welcomed. If an entry raises a question, you’re welcome to email me directly or post it. Keep in mind that postings will result in public replies by strangers and not just me.

4) Don’t steal. All original writings contained within this website are under copyright protection. If you link to us, please credit us as your source and provide a link back to our website. If you're interested in using an excerpt in published material, please contact us.

5) Share your photos! We'd love to have photos from our registered readers to show on our home page under "Maddie's friends". Email us a jpeg of your little one's best photo to photos@1mother2another.com. Please, no photos from professional photographers which fall under copyright protection.