I'm pretty sure I have shared the whole "Good Morning" saga regarding Carter and his lack of "giving heart"... however there is an addendum. Quick paraphrase on the start of it all:
Every morning when we jog, I ask Carter to say good morning to the walkers and the joggers that pass us. He complied. Until one day. It stopped. I asked why and he answered, "Because I don't want to give them a happy heart". Hmmmn. So I asked again, "please say good morning to the joggers, because Mommy asked you to". You see, now it's about compliance vs. the happy heart issue.
Every morning when we jog, I ask Carter to say good morning to the walkers and the joggers that pass us. He complied. Until one day. It stopped. I asked why and he answered, "Because I don't want to give them a happy heart". Hmmmn. So I asked again, "please say good morning to the joggers, because Mommy asked you to". You see, now it's about compliance vs. the happy heart issue.
Honestly, I don't care all that much that my 2 yr old yells from the stroller "Good Morning" to some focused walker that can't even muster up the strength to smile and wave back, let alone serve him with a "good morning" (Whoa, bitter much? That's a whole different story...why do people feel they don't need to respond? It's a weird world out there, however, if you are an unresponsive walker or jogger, I'd like to give you the benefit of a doubt... please enlighten me on why you feel it's not necessary to return a greeting.), it's mostly about the obedience factor. That was a long detour. My apologies...so, back to Carter.... the next walker comes, I even remind him. He doesn't say it. Snap. Now I actually have to create some sort of consequence. Being that he's still obsessed with the back hoe that Grammy and Opa gave him, I threatened to take it away if he didn't obey. Worked. Worked for two weeks. And then...
M: "Ooh, here comes a walker"
C: "I'm not going to say good morning. I don't want to give a happy heart to that walker".
M: "Hmmn. Well, you know the consequence, you will have your back hoe taken away".
C: Silence. Walker passes. He missed his opportunity.
M: "I'm sorry, but you disobeyed, so I am going to have to take the back hoe away when we get home".
C: "Good morning Good morning Good morning". (nice try, kid)
M: "That's too late, you're still getting it taken away. I'm sorry.
C: Cried the whole rest of the way home. Begged, pleaded, promised to say good morning, you get the picture.
So the back hoe was set aside for the whole day. The lesson was learned, the last two days Carter has been very enthusiastic about his morning greetings. The whole reason I post this story is to lead on to what Carter has been like the last two days.
Angelic.
Weird.
Ironic, maybe?
Ironic, maybe?
Not sure.
Whatever it is, it's been working. His manners have jumped full speed ahead. I haven't had to remind him to say "May....please?", or "No THANK YOU"... they all have come out of his mouth flowing like a natural river. It's bliss. He's been a joy, a delight.
If only these days came in twos... Everett, on the other hand, has been a teething mess. He's getting his eye teeth and has a horrible bum rash... the combination of the two creates a loud, annoyed monster baby. He doesn't cry, he just gets obnoxiously loud so that everyone else has no choice but to be in pain with him.
On a positive Everett note: He signs "All Done" now! It's been two days in a row. The cutest thing you've ever seen! :-) Here's big E one second after his big signing debut (of course I couldn't catch it right at the moment):
