concessions

1. We never did disconnect that button on the kitty keyboard. We’d been hiding it since his birthday when, once the pre-recorded songs had driven Scott mad (and it didn’t take long) we’d lied and said it was broken and we had to send it back. He hadn’t said boo about missing it, until one day last week when we were at a toy store and there it was on the shelf. Suddenly, the little gears in his brain start turning. Hey. Kitty keyboard. I had one of these at some point. What the heck?

So he starts talking about it and asking for it and how could he know that we still have it? But the guilt wore us down too quickly for us to act on the urge to open the back and cut the wires to THAT BUTTON. So we’ve just taken to explaining to him quite vigorously that we don’t like the songs that play when he hits the purple button and to please not play them.

2. Speaking of please…

We’re driving in the car and he’s whining. Did I mention that he’s 2? Very, very 2. The whining, we haven’t quite gotten a handle on how to MAKE IT STOP yet. In this one scenario, he’s whining for his skull hat. I’m driving and rummaging through the diaper bag trying to find it (not terribly safe) and I do find it and then it dawns on me that I shouldn’t REWARD the WHINING so I tell him, “If you want the hat, you have to ask for it nicely. You have to say, “May I please have my skull hat?”

So he repeats, “May I please have my skull hat?” and I say yes, and give it to him.

Then, a few minutes later, he starts asking for his candy cane, the one that the lady at the store gave him without asking me if it was okay first (no, I’d rather not have him learn about candy yet, thanks for not consulting me before you stuck it in his hand) and I tell him NO, I’m not going to give it to him. (I don’t want to do any more rummaging and handing off while driving and anyway couldn’t you put an eye out with that thing?)

So he says, “May I please have my candy cane?” — Touch-ay.

I give it to him. How could I not?

He’s now selectively applying his politeness skills. This morning, upon spying a jar full of small dangerous choke-ables which I have specifically placed on a shelf out of reach for the purpose of collecting said choke-ables and storing them in a place that avoids interaction with little hands, he says, “May I please hold that jar?”

Nice try buddy, but, nope. Sorry.