Peanut looks up at me with her big brown eyes, sticks out her bottom lip in an adorable pout, and reaches her tiny hands in the air for me to pick her up. Awe....I swoon. My baby wants to cuddle with me! I pick her up and hold her to my chest for a good hug. Then I feel a tug on my neck and a pinch. She has popped my necklace into her mouth and is chewing vigorously. Apparently, she spotted my shiny prized Tiffany locket from the floor and knew exactly how to get her mouth on it. This has been an ongoing struggle between the girls and I. They have broken one necklace and nearly swallowed a couple more. Some days I chose not to wear jewelry because I knew they'd scratch at my neck to get at it. I also thought about ordering some teething jewelry I had seen advertised online. "Look stylish without having your jewelry ruined by baby!"
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| The Face |
One day while picking the girls up from my mother-in-laws (MIL) house Peanut started towards a ceramic mouse sitting on a shelf. My MIL says, "No, no. That's Grandma's." Peanut looks back at her grandmother then to the mouse. She turns away from the shelf and crawls towards a toy nearby instead. My jaw dropped. "They know 'no' already?" I asked. My MIL had been practicing "no" all day and the girls had caught on fast. She simply would repeat this phrase and gently pull the girl's hand away from the forbidden object. Eventually they got the message. I picked up Cookie and she immediately grabbed for my necklace. I gently pulled her hand away and said, "No, no. That's mamma's." She looked up at me with understanding and left my necklace alone. This opened so many doors for us. Now we didn't need to cover up the DVD case or close bathroom doors to avoid toilet paper mishaps. Why hadn't I thought of teaching "no" sooner? I thought they were too young to learn such an advanced concept but I had seriously underestimated their capabilities.
We have created a culture of quick fixes. It would have been easy to buy that rubber jewelry rather than telling my girls no every time they reached for my necklace. People would rather buy child locks, close doors, and hide all their breakables than to watch their child closely and teach them to respect their environment. If your kid can handle a home without child proofing than it's much easier when you visit other people's homes. Not everyone will have a special toilet seat lock or a child proof door handle. Now I'm not saying you should leave your sewing needles out from your resent craft project or leave doors that lead to pools unlocked. Babies are fast and twins are twice as hard to juggle. I'm just saying you shouldn't rearrange your whole living situation when it's more logical to help the child adapt to how your home really is. If they respect your television at home than it is less likely for them to climb grandpa's television and get hurt. Children are capable of much more than we give them credit for.
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