Change channels to our house and picture Ellie and Grace saying these words. Cute, huh? Well, it can be at 6 am when Ellie is awake, sitting nicely on her bed and singing - usually Twinkle, Twinkle - to a semi-awake and very non-appreciative Grace. Grace's response these days is "No singing Ellie. Shut up. Shut up. No singing", etc.
To truly appreciate this, you must be eavesdropping via the baby monitor - audio, not video. As Grace tries in vain to get Ellie to be quiet, Ellie can be heard continuing to sing. It's comical in that instance.
What's not comical is when they tell each other or me or anyone else to shut up. They never uttered this phrase until after daycare last Wednesday. When I mentioned it to the teacher yesterday in hopes of being told that it's some little brat's...er...kid's favorite phrase, she was dumbfounded. Couldn't think of who there would say it.
Fast forward to this morning and there have been 3 time outs for saying shut up. Ellie is winning 2-1. Arg!
Here's my quandry...while the phrase is not liked and not used in this house, how do I get them to stop saying it? Is this one of those instances where the less attention paid to it the sooner it will be forgotten? Or do the time outs need to continue? Help!
Any suggestions will be appreciated. Jennifer
Jennifer, Hi! This is Golda, Izolda's little sister. I have an almost 2 1/2 year old, Samantha. Being in the south and having everyone use ma'am and sir gave me an idea to tell her "no ma'am". I think because it's different than what I say to her any other time, it caught her attention. So, I reserve that phrase for when she's doing or saying something she shouldn't be and I tell her no ma'am and then redirect her by moving her from where she was and trying to get her attention on a toy or book. I noticed quite recently that she's responding to my not liking things by what I say and/or tone of voice...not yelling, but maybe louder and deeper. It's clicking. Love your blog! Golda.
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