Lucy hasn't made much progress with her swimming lately. I haven't pushed her to try new things. I'm just happy that she's happy paddling in the water so that I can move around and stretch. Yesterday she decided to try floating on her back with her vest. It's hard to do because the vest slips from side to side, so she has to keep re-balancing herself as it slips. Fortunately, balance is one of Lucy's specialties. She kept trying and trying until she was able to stay on her back and kick her legs to swim backwards. I wanted to see if she could do it without the vest, but she didn't want to experiment. Eventually, we'll try it. I think she's mastered the hard parts already. She can balance herself and overcome her instinct to panic while lying in water. If she has any buoyancy at all (more like her mother than her father), she should take to floating.
We had another interesting development with Lucy yesterday. She took apart a little bit of a wall that was already cracked. It was a small patch in an inconspicuous area. She left the bits she had broken off all over the floor in the hall. When I saw it, I told her she had to clean up her mess. At first, she seemed to like the idea of using the hand broom to sweep the hall, but then she lost interest and refused to clean. So I told her she couldn't watch TV or play with the tablet until her mess was cleaned up. She turned and started playing with some of her toys. We ate lunch. She asked to watch TV. I reminded her that she couldn't watch TV until the mess was cleaned up. She played with her toys some more. Then she sat in Matt's chair, which is her TV spot when he's not home. Suddenly, she hopped up and ran to the hall saying, "Mommy, help me sweep." I did help her, but she did a good deal of it herself. And then I asked her what she wanted to watch. The answer was "Dog Show" (Martha Speaks), her current favorite. We've watched it so much that even Emmie gets excited about the theme song, whether it's playing on the TV or being sung by Matt. Withholding something until Lucy complies has typically not worked with her. When she was younger, she would rather go without than say the word for what she wanted. It's worked a little better at meal times when we've said, "You can have another sip of Daddy's Dr Pepper after you eat another bite of dinner." It's a taking turns thing, and she seems to get that. But this was different. She considered the consequences and lived with them as long as she could stand, but eventually she initiated the action that would lift the ban. Matt said that if she really understands that kind of discipline, it opens up a whole new world for us. He's right. I hope this gives us some more discipline options. Our lack of options was getting frustrating. Removing her from situations, taking things away when she misused them, and talking to her weren't getting the results I was hoping for. And timeout didn't make any sense to her. She's a sweet girl who needs some discipline (as all children do), and now maybe we've found one way that works.
Lucy's imaginative play is taking off. She's played cooking and feeding fake food for a while. Caring for her baby dolls has been big for over a month. But today she did some new things. First, she pretended to pick handfuls of dirt from the living room floor (it's not dirty enough for actual handfuls of dirt) and throw them at me. Then she brought me a handful of "dirt" to throw at her. We threw dirt at each other for a while. She kept giggling and saying, "Me dirty." Eventually, I pretended to spit on my handful of dirt, form it into a ball, and throw mud balls at her with a "splat" sound effect thrown in. She thought that was great fun. She especially enjoyed the opportunity to pretend to spit. We played this for more than 10 minutes until she got hungry.
Later we went to Kroger to get a few things. Our Kroger sells grills and patio furniture and has some models set up near the front of the store. Lucy went to a grill and pretended to cook. Matt was impressed because we don't own a grill. She must have learned it from TV. Matt suggested that they make hamburgers and pretended to flip burgers on the grill. Lucy decided they should be cheeseburgers instead. She piggy-backed off of his idea and took it further. Then they sat at a table and ate their cheeseburgers. Then Lucy decided it was time to play a board game with Daddy at the table. Of course, Matt loved this idea. Lucy started calling colors and moving or taking imaginary pieces. I'm not sure the game has rules, but it had recognizable game mechanics. She had kind of invented her own game. She still doesn't get the concept of winning, so no one won, but she had a good time.
She later found a toy that she liked and wanted to take it home. Matt suggested that I give her something I had already bought to distract her. All I had were groceries, but I took out a package of feta cheese and offered it. She immediately dropped the toy and clutched the feta to her chest. She happily ate a third of the package of feta with at least a cup of grapes when she got home. After she ate, we got out a couple of German-made kids games that we've picked up through the years. Lucy really enjoyed the dice. Even with the game that only used one die, she shook that die before dropping it on the table. She didn't always want to hand the dice to the next player, but she did a pretty good job of taking turns. I think Matt may have a budding gaming buddy. He even said that if she takes to gaming, he's going to have to start looking for preschool games. And he doesn't mean Hi-Ho Cherry-O.
Lucy is a lot of fun. She's a handful because she's energetic, resourceful, and willful. None of those things is totally bad. They are just a lot to manage for her until she can manage herself.
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