Out of the mouths of babes

We have our typical ritual for getting Riley ready for bed at night. Once upstairs, where her bedroom is, she runs to get her nukie and blankie. I then pick her up, place her on the changing table, change her diaper and put on her jammie jams. Lately, she’s started throwing her blankie on the ground while still up on the changing table. Deliberately throwing it. If I don’t pick it up immediately she freaks out. Since she’s not accidentally dropping it and because I am not her slave I don’t immediately pick it up. While she’s having a meltdown I explain that I will pick it up once I finish changing her diaper or putting on her jammie jams, but this does not appease her. There have been a couple of times she has even hit me. In those instances I have responded with a stern, yet calm “don’t hit me” sort of comment.

The other night was a pretty typical night. While on the changing table Riley threw her blankie on the floor, but instead of freaking out right away she turned to me and stated “don’t hit me”… and then hit me. This caused me to envision a yet to occur event where we are out in public where Riley has a tantrum and then exclaims in front of everyone “don’t hit me!”... followed by me dying of mortification as everyone looks at us thinking I beat my child. Context, people!

Look at that mouth. Could anything but  the sweetest things come out of it?

It really is an amazing time as Riley’s vocabulary grows in leaps and bounds, but this moment made me realize that nothing I say is off limits and without historical context… can be downright humiliating. Luckily, most of her comments aren't something that would make me blush in public and are usually moments of pride and joy. And even "don't hit me" can be taken that way too as she seems to be able to tie together the comment and the action. Sure, she still hit me after she made the comment, but we're working with baby steps here.