I don't know about you, but I swear talking to my toddler is like talking to a brick wall.
"E, we don't put our feet on the table."
"E, two hands on your cup"
"E, we use soft hands on puppy"
"E, we don't hit!"
"E, can you put your blocks in the bag? No we aren't playing w/ puzzles now, please help Mommy put blocks away"
"E, don't lick the dogs foot, eww"
I sound like a broken record and I want to smack my head against the wall at times. Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut, they can be taught!
We don't have a set play area, so our living room typically looks like a bomb went off. And since our house is a somewhat open floor plan, the toys spill into other rooms and into E's bedroom. Case in point, one of the most obnoxious toys in the world, Vtech Ladybug Crazy Legs
was left in the kitchen last night and I kicked it at 5a this morning! Thankfully, it didn't go off, even though it was still turned on (it does NOT have a valume control button! A toy purchased by a grandparent that is not subjected to it's obnoxiness!) E loves it, of course...
Back to my point...
I'm constantly trying to teach E that we need to pick up and clean up after we are done playing w/ something. Puzzles, blocks, Little People have been known to be under couches, in couches, inside decorative pitchers or baskets...pretty much wherever those things will fit they have been FOUND! E currently has a fascination w/ piggies. She picked a stuffed piggy at the fair after my DH put our life savings on the line (not really, but seemed like it!). We now hear joyous shouts of "Pitty, pitty!" through the house, there is almost always a pig in her hand, either her Little People pig, her new stuffed pig, her piggy bank (real) or one of the best toys ever, her Fisher Price Piggy Bank.
Before bed last night, in the midst of the fruitless "E, it's bedtime, let's pick up our toys!", I hear "Pitty, pitty!". She joyously runs over and grabs piggy from his shelf and sits in the middle of floor, dragging me down w/ her saying "Mommy, pitty, too!". So for 10 minutes give or take, we counted and put coins in the piggy, sang and danced. Time for bed! I left the room to get E's bed ready, turn her music on, so and so forth. I come back to the living room and retrieve the reluctant E and off to bed.
I get her settled in and return to the living room and start picking up the rest of the toys.
Wait a minute...where is piggy? We were playing w/ it in the middle of the floor, where could it have gone? I start looking around, figuring she hid it in her "house"...nope...behind the couch? Nope...what is that? Over on the shelf? OMG, IT'S PIGGY! Evie had put all the coins back in, picked it up and put it back on the shelf, all by herself and WITHOUT being asked!!!!!!
Talk about a proud mommy! One less thing to pick up and omg, she's learning! SQUEEEEEEEE! *insert happy dance*
Yay for E :) Maybe she'll have to come give C-Man and Mar-Mar some lessons on picking up after themselves :)
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