Miss Manners

Jocelyn is learning about manners at daycare.  It's pretty great.  We have been working on please and thank you at home for a few months, but honestly she was probably a bit too young.  Now that they are reinforcing the lesson at daycare, Jocelyn gives lots of unprompted pleases, thank yous and you're welcomes.  Except that her please is "PWEEEZ", which is super duper adorable.  And her thank you is "tank you" with a pitch increase on the 'you'/  Not in a question sort of way, just an increased pitch on the whole word.

She has also learned about apologizing, which we have not worked on explicitly at home.  There's not much sweeter than her saying, "I sowwy Mommy" in her tiny voice.  Except for maybe, "I sowwy Donovan."  Sometimes it's used appropriately (like she accidentally bumps her baby brother while they are playing), other times it's not (she didn't do anything wrong that I can tell).  It's very sweet.

In addition to that, she parrots instructions from daycare when she feels as though the rest of us are not following proper manners.  Last night, for example, upon my tickling her tummy, she instructed me to keep my hands to myself.  Yeah, I had to stifle a laugh on that one (it was effective, though, I totally respected her request for no physical contact at that time). 

Now, I am not trying to paint Jocelyn as a perfect little angel.  Don't get me wrong, she's still 2.  She doesn't practice good manners all the time.  But she's doing great with the lessons!

In other cute Jocelyn news, she has finally mastered saying "Donovan".  For a while there she didn't call him anything (well, she was just shy of 19 months when he was born, after all).  Then it was "Do-van".  Then it was "Dovovan".  But over the past two weeks she has mastered that n sound in there.  It's really, really sweet. 

She does love her baby brother.  She loves to play with him.   She calls to him, and wants him to crawl after her.  He is usually happy to oblige.  He loves her right back, and he thinks that she is absolutely the funniest person that he has ever met.  Watching the two of them play together and giggle is one of my favorite activities.  She even sometimes give him big hugs while saying, "My baby buzzer." 

Tantrums have gotten far less frequent (thank goodness), but far more intense (boo!).  It' must be really hard to be two.  These days they come on without a warning.  If you do something that you do all the time, but today she wanted to do it (like tear off the back page of the daycare daily sheet, for example), you might get a crazy, out of control tantrum.  If you suggest something (for example, a shirt to wear) that she does not agree with, it's sometimes met with an outburst.  And if she doesn't get something that she wants (for example, dessert after breakfast, because somehow THAT's a thing), forget about it.  It doesn't mean she gets what she wants, of course.  It means that she spends a lot of time in time out when she wants ridiculous things and won't take no for an answer. 

Potty training is at a standstill, though.  She did so well for a while, and it was totally motivated by her.  But she has lost interest - except at bedtime, when you tell her, "okay, one more song and then it's night-night time," she always has to use the potty (yeah, she's a master staller!).  Sometimes she goes, but not usually.  They use the potty at daycare, and she has not actually done anything in the potty at any time there (despite being sent to it several times a day).  I'm not concerned.  I want her to do it on her own time.  I was just so excited when she was interested, and it's sort of a bummer that her interest has waned a bit.  But it's no problem.  I don't think I am emotionally ready for her to be in big girl undies yet anyway. 

Jocelyn is still crazy smart.  Her daycare teacher is always telling us stories of her cleverness.  And when drive places, she points out landmarks, and also knows when we turn onto our street (and says its name).  A few weeks ago my Mother in law was in town.  Jocelyn asked her grandmother to take her to the grocery store.  My MIL told her that she didn't have any money, and asked Jocelyn if she had money to go to the store.  She went to her car (one of those sit and propel yourself with your feet things), opened up the trunk, and pulled out $30 cash!  She had recently been playing with Mike's wallet and took out all of the money.  We had just assumed that she returned it all when she brought Mike back the wallet and its contents.  Nope, she took some for herself, and evidently was saving it for a shopping trip with her grandmother.  Too funny!