Monday, December 24, 2007

A fair trade

Every morning, Shlomik watches cartoons and drinks from his bottle while we both get ready to go outside. Yeah, I know, he's too old for a bottle, but it's less mess and the only safe way to change him. The trick though, is measuring out the juice so that he would finish by the time we leave.

Last Friday Shlomik still had half a bottle left and absolutely refused to give me the bottle, both at home and at the group. He ended up taking the bottle in with him. I forgot to tell my dad, who picks up every day, to make sure to get the bottle back and the bottle is probably gone. The same thing happened today. The bottle wasn't empty and Shlomik refused to give to me. I tried reasoning with him, telling him to put it on a box and it'll be there when he comes back in the evening, asking him for the bottle, telling him that it'll get lost if he bring it to the group. No dice. Then I had an epiphany. I offered him a trade, his bottle for a cookie. Success! He gave me the bottle and took the cookie. Ironically, instead of eating the cookie, he ended up holding it in his hand most of the time. When I reminded him about the cookie as we were walking, all he did was to just place it in his mouth.

2 comments:

  1. It's amazing how difficult it is to reason with toddlers and how much fun to trade with them! I'm still looking for a good substitute for 'hot milk'...

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  2. Well, Shlomik was always on the bottle. After 1 year, we switched him to milk. Recently, he switched himself off it. I'd give him milk before going to sleep and after waking up. During day he drinks 1 part apple juice to 3 parts water. One morning, after I gave him a bottle with milk, he gave it back to me and said "сок"

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