Sunday Funnies

Story 1:

Lyla has officially reached the age where she cannot be trusted with a secret. Kirk's been drooling over a pair of new shoes for several weeks, but refused to pull the trigger and buy them for himself. So, I figured it was a good opportunity to surprise him for Valentine's Day. I was super excited, especially since it gets increasingly more difficult for us to surprise each other as time goes on. The shoes arrived during the afternoon while Kirk was at work and upon their arrival, I expressed my excitement to Lyla and Max. I took the shoes out of the box to admire them, then quickly stored them in the upstairs closet, eager for Valentine's Day to come. 

Well. Here comes the part when I learned my lesson. 

Kirk walked in the door from work and not even one minute later Lyla says, "Mom, let's give Dad his Nike shoes." I gave her the look of death and told her to be quiet, unsure if Kirk was even paying attention. She responds to my reaction with another honest remark of, "Oh never mind, Dad. I can't tell you, it's a secret. Sorry." By this point Kirk is listening, half chuckling and half confused. Then Lyla, very assertively, walks up to Kirk and tells him the new shoes are black like his shirt. Ugh! He obviously knew she was talking about the shoes he has been wanting after she made that last comment. There was no point trying to bounce back at that point and he ended up getting his gift two days early. I was slightly disappointed in Lyla's lack of ability to keep a secret, but it was mostly hilarious. I guess I didn't actually expect a three year old to keep a secret. It's just the first time she has truly sabotaged me, so I was a bit stunned.

Story 2:

I know a lot of parenting experts frown upon the use of reverse psychology. Apparently it's cruel to play mind games with your children. However, my own experiences are leading me to believe otherwise. Max is going through a phase of wanting to do everything on his own. He is becoming very self aware. He is a big boy and he can do it himself. As such, he will likely do the exact opposite of anything you ask him to do. This story happens to relate to his eating habits, which seem to be evolving. He continues to eat most foods, but his ability to focus is lacking. He is easily distracted and it takes him f.o.r.e.v.e.r  to eat a full meal. However, if you tell him not to eat, he gets great satisfaction in doing the opposite. The other night he ate seven pieces of broccoli during dinner. This all happened because we told him not to. He thought it was hilarious to disobey. The gene of rebellion lives on!!! The reverse psychology trick didn't work long for Lyla. I think it only took her one day to realize we were trying to outsmart her and she can't have any of that! Max is still young and naive, so it is working out quite well on him. I'm going to take advantage of this trick for as long as I can. If I pay for psychological damage later in life from tricking my child into eating vegetables, so be it.

Story 3:

As many people already know, Kirk has bestowed his love for Superheroes to his children. Lyla and Max can recognize all the characters and have all their names memorized. Kirk is a proud father. Ha! DC Comics is the favored series in our house, Flash in particular for Kirk.  I've banned the "boom" game in the past, which is just lingo for playing superheroes. We still read lots of books, have lots of action figures, own several items of clothing, and watch all the movies. However, Max is beginning to comprehend the rules better, so the real life game is slowly making a comeback. 

Anyway, Kirk owns a Flash t-shirt. It was a gift from the kiddos for Christmas. At the request of Lyla, Kirk wore this shirt three days in a row after work. Initially, he attempted to avoid wearing the same shirt multiple days in a row by claiming it was dirty. Lyla didn't see this as an issue. She dug through the dirty clothes to find the shirt and put it in the washer. She even started it herself, although I'm sure there was no soap. Then she promptly transferred it to the dryer when it finished. Needless to say, Kirk wore the shirt again.