Davidisms--Feb 24

• David showed an astounding amount of persistence on Monday. Daddy was home for President's Day, and early in the morning David decided he wanted to go to McD's to celebrate. We told him initially that McD's was not in our plans for the day. And once we told him no, we felt it necessary to stick to our answer. (We had lots of other fun plans for the day, some of which played out!) But David sure tried to persuade us otherwise. He asked. He asked again. He rephrased the question. He used the power of positive thinking by saying things like, "Daddy, when we go to McD's . . ." and "Ohhh! I love the slides at McD's!" A very conservative number of how many times he asked us to go to McD's throughout the day would be 100. It would only be a little off the mark if I said it may have even been double that. All of the parenting books say that giving a child a firm but kind answer, being consistent in your answer, and distracting them will help the child move on. They haven't met our David. It was a comical display of a challenge we often run in to in parenting, and I'm glad we were both around to witness it from start to finish. As the 5 o' clock hour approached, and David was once again trying to convince us, we started laughing together. Sam and I agreed that if we both hadn't seen it firsthand, it would be an unbelievable tale of how persistent this little guy can be. I'm glad for the comical perspective it offered us on a place that can easily cause frustration. One of my key phrases I say as a Mom is, "When I say no, I mean no." And now I see why I have to say that so often. Now, there are plenty of times that David has the say or gets to choose our activity, or we use his idea. This just happened to not be one of them--which is good for him, too. And we got a very vivid illustration of the strong spirit inside our little boy, especially once he puts his mind to something.
• I folded David's laundry, then asked him to come put it away. He wasn't too thrilled about the prospect of this small chore, so he delayed. Finally, he came in to the room and this was our conversation. David: "Mommy, you're the goodest mommy. And the rightest mommy. I'm so glad you're part of our family." Me: Oh, thanks, David! David: You're welcome. Now will you please put away my pile of laundry?
• In very exciting news, David is reading!! Just a few short words here and there, but he's attempting to sound out new words wherever we go. We're using the BOB books that came so highly recommended, as well as a book called Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. David likes to push through the lessons as quickly as we can to keep moving forward, but I've put a limit at 2 lessons per day. I can't wait until he really takes off and can read well enough to read stories--not just words. 
• Sam's mom made Samand I some very bright pillow cases with pink flowers all over them. The first time we put them on the pillows, David was excited and complimented me on having such a pretty pillow. I showed him that  Daddy had the same pillow case. And David say, "But boys don't like pink flowers on their pillows!?!" We laughed, and asked him what boys like to have. "Boys need pictures of candy!!"