Try Again

My daughter loves graham crackers.  She really does.  Every afternoon either my husband or I give her half a graham cracker and sometimes its the biggest smile we get all day.  But today was a little different.  She didn't ask for the cracker until it was much later in the afternoon, almost supper time, in fact.  I felt I should still give it to her, but I wanted her to be hungry for supper as well.  So, I gave her half of what she usually gets.  I handed her the sliver of crunchy sweetness, and she looked at it with a very confused little face.  Then she resolved herself and looked back up at me and said, "That's not right, mommy.  Try again."

After I got over how adorable the moment was, I realized it wasn't just a funny moment.  It was a victory.  For several months I've been trying to teach her to use her words to voice her opinion about something rather than scream and throw a fit.  And she just did it!  I was so excited I wanted to hand her the whole pack of graham crackers.  I know, I know.  And I didn't cave.  I just wanted to.

I ended up explaining to her that we were going to be eating supper very soon so she would be having a smaller portion of graham cracker for her snack today (which, of course, she found completely unacceptable), but I was so proud of her for using her "big girl" words that she could have a Dora sticker (which made her forget about the graham cracker incident entirely).  I don't know that I did the right thing.  Honestly, I'm not so much concerned about always doing the right thing as I am about trying not to do the most wrong thing. 

But, my daughter was upset about something and did not throw a fit.  I'm sure that Hell has completely frozen over and I keep looking out my window for flying monkeys.  I hope I need more Dora stickers.