Daddy's Sunshine
One of the songs that I sing to Ava is, "You Are My Sunshine". I have sung it to her since she was a baby and sing it because she truly is my sunshine and makes me happy. I sing it to her during lunch, while waiting for her to go potty, while we snuggle, or just whenever. Sometimes Ava sings along and usually when Rich sings she tells him, "no, that's mama's song."
The other day after I sang I got an unusual response. After I sang I said, "Ava you are my sunshine and I love you." She looked at me and replied, "No. I'm daddy's sunshine." I was surprised and didn't know what to say. I just looked at her, laughed, and told her, "I love you", again.
Pee Races
We have slowly been working with Ava on potty training. We have had some successful days and some trying days too. We have tried different things to encourage her to use the potty. Some have worked and others have failed. One of the successful tools has been "Pee Races". Ava likes racing and beating us, so if we are having a hard time getting her to use the potty I will have a race with her. This usually works, but I can only do it when Rich is home (so he can help her) and I have to let her win. Sometimes I pretend to go to the potty and just stand in the bathroom waiting for her to finish, so she can declare, "I beat you mama!"
Food Games
Another challenge we have faced this past year is getting Ava to eat in a timely manner. Ava likes to eat and will eat, but it just takes forever. She likes to play with her food and eat a little bit at a time. It is hard for me and has been a good lesson in patience. I'm just not willing to sit at the table for a hour to eat one meal. So to encourage Ava to eat a little more quickly we have come up with some games of our own.
First, we use to cheer for her. Whenever she took a bite we would clap, cheer, and make a big deal about it. Then we started chanting for her, "go Ava go" or "eat Ava eat". Both of these worked for awhile, but the novelty soon wore off.
We then moved on to reverse psychology. For a time Ava liked to have three of whatever she was eating (3 cucumbers slices, 3 grapes, etc.). She liked to have three because they were a family with a mommy, daddy, and Ava. Every once in awhile she would throw in Luca. She would make the food talk and interact. To get her to eat it we would ask her not to eat mommy, daddy, or Ava. As soon as she heard that she would gobble them down. She especially liked it when we made sounds of pain as she ate "us".
Once that wore off we moved onto emotions. Ava has been intrigued by emotions. She loves to talk about people being happy or sad. At the dinner table one night I told her I was sad she wasn't eating and that if she ate I would be happy. She loved that. Ava told me to cry, so I pretended to cry. As soon as I started crying she ate her food and I became happy. Seeing the connection Ava kept telling me to cry, so she could eat and make me happy. After awhile I think she just liked watching me fake cry. Once she was done with all her food I would do a crazy happy dance. Ava loved the happy dance and would ask for more.
At the moment we do not have any new food game ideas. Mealtime hasn't been as exciting and is starting to drag on again. I will miss all of the crazy fun we have had at the table, but I sure do look forward to Ava just sitting down, eating with her fork, and by herself.
Kiss My Booty
The other day while Rich was waiting for Ava to go potty she slipped off the toilet because she was playing. Rich asked if she was okay and she told him she had an ouchy. When Rich asked where she told him on her booty. Ava then turned around and said, "kiss my booty daddy." Of course Rich declined and told her that was yucky.
One of the songs that I sing to Ava is, "You Are My Sunshine". I have sung it to her since she was a baby and sing it because she truly is my sunshine and makes me happy. I sing it to her during lunch, while waiting for her to go potty, while we snuggle, or just whenever. Sometimes Ava sings along and usually when Rich sings she tells him, "no, that's mama's song."
The other day after I sang I got an unusual response. After I sang I said, "Ava you are my sunshine and I love you." She looked at me and replied, "No. I'm daddy's sunshine." I was surprised and didn't know what to say. I just looked at her, laughed, and told her, "I love you", again.
Pee Races
We have slowly been working with Ava on potty training. We have had some successful days and some trying days too. We have tried different things to encourage her to use the potty. Some have worked and others have failed. One of the successful tools has been "Pee Races". Ava likes racing and beating us, so if we are having a hard time getting her to use the potty I will have a race with her. This usually works, but I can only do it when Rich is home (so he can help her) and I have to let her win. Sometimes I pretend to go to the potty and just stand in the bathroom waiting for her to finish, so she can declare, "I beat you mama!"
Food Games
Another challenge we have faced this past year is getting Ava to eat in a timely manner. Ava likes to eat and will eat, but it just takes forever. She likes to play with her food and eat a little bit at a time. It is hard for me and has been a good lesson in patience. I'm just not willing to sit at the table for a hour to eat one meal. So to encourage Ava to eat a little more quickly we have come up with some games of our own.
First, we use to cheer for her. Whenever she took a bite we would clap, cheer, and make a big deal about it. Then we started chanting for her, "go Ava go" or "eat Ava eat". Both of these worked for awhile, but the novelty soon wore off.
We then moved on to reverse psychology. For a time Ava liked to have three of whatever she was eating (3 cucumbers slices, 3 grapes, etc.). She liked to have three because they were a family with a mommy, daddy, and Ava. Every once in awhile she would throw in Luca. She would make the food talk and interact. To get her to eat it we would ask her not to eat mommy, daddy, or Ava. As soon as she heard that she would gobble them down. She especially liked it when we made sounds of pain as she ate "us".
Once that wore off we moved onto emotions. Ava has been intrigued by emotions. She loves to talk about people being happy or sad. At the dinner table one night I told her I was sad she wasn't eating and that if she ate I would be happy. She loved that. Ava told me to cry, so I pretended to cry. As soon as I started crying she ate her food and I became happy. Seeing the connection Ava kept telling me to cry, so she could eat and make me happy. After awhile I think she just liked watching me fake cry. Once she was done with all her food I would do a crazy happy dance. Ava loved the happy dance and would ask for more.
At the moment we do not have any new food game ideas. Mealtime hasn't been as exciting and is starting to drag on again. I will miss all of the crazy fun we have had at the table, but I sure do look forward to Ava just sitting down, eating with her fork, and by herself.
Kiss My Booty
The other day while Rich was waiting for Ava to go potty she slipped off the toilet because she was playing. Rich asked if she was okay and she told him she had an ouchy. When Rich asked where she told him on her booty. Ava then turned around and said, "kiss my booty daddy." Of course Rich declined and told her that was yucky.
1 comment:
We have races with Ezra at the dinner table. Grandma is actually the one often racing him. She will say "Ezra lets have a meat bite race" or at squash race or whatever we are having. It works pretty well.
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