Setting an example - 8/9/07

I've known this day was coming but I buried my head in the sand and pretended it was months off. I thought I was safe for a bit longer. Kyle has been mimicking me for quite some time, but it's always been the good fun stuff. I've wondered several times, "Okay, when is he going to pick up the other stuff?"

Yesterday, he copied me when I chewed my cuticle (gross, I know). I'm not a nail chewer but I can't leave my cuticles alone. He copied me one time a month ago when I was messing with a cuticle with my fingers, but he only did it once. So I suppose things must change. The chewing and the knuckle cracking (something that grosses me out when other people do it, but that doesn't bother me a bit when I do). It's a good thing I'm not a nose picker - we'd be in real trouble.

What I'd rather say is, "Son, you don't get to chew your fingers. You see, mommies are very smart and they have the mental capacity and judgment (why isn't there an e in that word?) to accurately assess when a cuticle needs specific attention. Someday when you're old enough to vote, you too will be able to make such decisions. Until then, don't."

Another double-standard I've realized is playing with food. While we let him experiment with textures and mixing up his food, we try to discourage certain things like picking up food, raising his hands and dropping it to his tray - that's just too close a step to launching it onto the floor. So I don't make a big deal of it but say, "Oh, let's not play with the food." And then two hours later, there I am at snack time with animal crackers, making them gallop across the table to take a flying leap onto his tray or into my mouth; or having two of them run towards each other and kiss. I'm just going to tell him that those antics are not playing with food; they are more along the line of educational play and Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. Of course then I'd have to make them fight.

I have made the goldfish crackers eat each other which Kyle quickly took to. To let you into my messed up brain, I was sitting there thinking, "Is cannibalism only when humans eat each other or does it apply to all animals?"

Enjoy your day. I'm off to ponder cannibalism and to question why judgment isn't spelled judgement.
Mary Jo