Grammy and Poppy collected the kids at daycare. They both had good days. And they both ate large dinners. Henry ate a lot of sausage apparently. Miss R ate some sausage but ate all of her raisins and mandarin oranges.
Jeff had a great time playing golf. I got a couple things done around the house and took the dogs for a walk. We went to dinner before collecting the kids around 7:30PM.
Per usual, Henry saw me, smiled, and proceeded to turn toward the TV. Miss R was excited to see me, squealed with delight, and ran over to me. She told me that she wanted to go "home." I sat with her on the couch while I caught up with my parents.
I asked Henry if he knew what tomorrow was. He said, "Saturday. No school." We were surprised that he knew the days of the week. We've mentioned them a couple times before, but not recently. I didn't expect him to know the order or anything. Perhaps the teachers were talking about "Saturday" at school.
My mom said that Miss R had pooped in her pants at one point in the late afternoon. She asked Miss R, "Do you have a poopy pants?" Miss R said "No. Henry," and then pointed toward him. My mom was sure it wasn't Henry. But she asked him. "Henry, do you have a poopy pants?" Henry said, "No. Grammy have poopy pants?" He was being cheeky.
While talking with my parents, Henry tried to push Miss R off my lap by head butting her. I said, "Henry. No. Timeout." Firm and curt. Miss R was crying b/c he hit her hard enough to hear the sound of two skull colliding. Henry got upset at being put in timeout. I'm of the opinion that we need to nip these actions in the bud before he really hurts someone or himself. Of course he wanted attention, but he isn't allowed to hurt someone else to get it. Period. My feeling is that one should neither act hostilely nor do the pretend sad thing toward toddlers under some delusion that it will induce guilt. Trying to induce guilt in a two year old is about as productive as herding cats. Frankly, I find it nauseating when caregivers do the "Oh honey, I'm sure that you didn't mean to hurt anybody but that was naughty, let's not do it again" in a sugary voice. It is misleading to a child who does not yet rationalize his/her actions. The vocal intonation should be forceful and firm (not yelling of course, unless one wants loud kids) and should match the rhetoric. Jeff agrees. He put Henry in timeout for 2 minutes. Henry was upset but not remorseful. He was reluctant to apologize. Sometimes, he is very good about it. This time, he was not. But when he finally said "I'm sorry, R" and gave her a hug, he did a good job. Miss R wasn't particularly receptive toward the hug. I suspect her head was still aching. As Henry does feel pain like a normal person does b/c of his high pain tolerance, we have to be serious about him learning to control his actions around others lest he hurt someone else or hurt his body but not know it.
We headed home around 8PM. The kids were obviously tired. They didn't fall asleep in the car. Jeff read "Robinhood" and "Bambi Grows Up" to Henry when we got home. While reading "Robinhood," Miss R and I leafed through "Bambi." She pointed out many of the characters in the pictures. She is doing so well with her vocabulary. It is nice to see.
The kids took forever to get to bed. Miss R strugged with teeth brushing before bed as usual. She told me that she wanted to go to bed. She was settled in her bed. Then Henry came into the room and snuggled with me on the floor. That sent Miss R into a tizzy. She cried even after Henry got into his bed. I left the room figuring that she was putting on a little green monster show for my benefit. Ah, the joys of parenthood. Jeff got them settled and fell asleep on their floor. I got him up after awhile so that he could sleep in a real bed. The household is currently quiet. I had wanted to watch a movie but decided that I would just fall asleep during such a thing.
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