"How 'bout...?"

"You have two choices for dinner... Eat or Don't Eat!"

That was what it was like in my house. My mother and father both worked full time and neither of them ran a restaurant, so dinner was-what-it-was and you either ate or went hungry. I agree with this philosophy 100%, but when you have a child with eating issues... this wonderfully simple idea goes right out the window and you find yourself in the catering business. "How about egg and cheese?" ..."How about Macaroni and cheese?" ..."How about oatmeal and applesauce?" "How about a Hot Dog?" ... "How about...?" ... "How about...?" ... "How about...?" This "how about" phrase is now Grace's favorite thing to say. Enter the terrible two's! "Grace, it's time to pick up your toys and get ready for bed." Grace: "How 'bout go outside now?" ... "Grace, it's time for bed." Grace: "How 'bout 'nother bath time?" Sitting in the cart at the grocery store... "How 'bout carrotts?" ... "How 'bout cookies?" ... "How 'bout this?" "How 'bout this too?" It's rather hysterical! She is becoming quite the negotiator.

Grace is still telling us "Mine!!" on an aggravatingly regular basis, but she is often referring to things as "my" which I prefer. (i.e. "May have my teddy bear?" ... "My phone please.") When Lily has a toy that Grace wants instead of always grabbing it away and saying "Mine!!" she has started to count to 10 then take it away. This started in the shower; Grace and Mommy are in constant battle for the water, so we count... I appreciate that she is getting the hang of taking turns, though 10 seconds does not seem a fair amount of time... (To be honest it's not enough time to rinse the shampoo out of your hair either, which is why we count to 20, but by 10 Grace begins to shout "Grace's Turn!") ...It's a step in the right direction.

Grace has mastered the G-R-A-C part of 'How do you spell Grace?' After 'C' she usually says a few random letters, but we are almost there. She knows that she will be 2 on her birthday, but cannot figure out how to hold up 2 fingers And while Grace can tell you what every animal I can possibly think of that makes a specific sound says, we are now working on it backwards. Instead of "What does a donkey say?" ... "Who says Hee-Haw?" This new line of questions confuses her a bit, but I know we'll get there. She can correctly identify the primary colors, red, blue and yellow more often but still on occasion reverts back to her old standby answer "Green!" for every color! Now I want her to learn everything she already knows in Spanish, but I think we will keep working on counting, colors and maybe knowing what the ABC's look like.