Points of Interest

Yesterday morning, I decided to give Mekayla yogurt for breakfast.  She is feeding herself these days so we have been sticking to safer items like cereal without milk and bananas for breakfast, but I was thinking that she might be getting bored of the same old stuff so I asked Sheac Yee to pick up some other items the last time she went shopping and yogurt was one of the things that was on the list.  I know - it can be messy, but I was thinking that now might be the time to introduce her to something more challenging.  The first time I gave her yogurt to eat by herself was last week and she did okay.  I sat with her and watched the whole time and she got a little bit on her but mostly did okay.  So yesterday, I gave her the yogurt and the spoon and went upstairs to check my email while she ate.  I came back down to find her with yogurt dripping down her chin, a pile of yogurt in her lap, a handful of yogurt in her left hand and her right hand shoved into the cup!  I got some baby wipes and started cleaning up.  As I was cleaning her, I decided to try to discipline her a bit so that next time she would be more careful.  Here is how that conversation went:

Me: Mekayla, you made a big mess.  Daddy is very sad.
Mekayla: Daddy sad? (sounding concerned)
Me: Yes, Daddy doesn’t like it when you make a mess and now I am sad.
Mekayla: I sorry daddy.
Me: Okay, but next time don’t make a mess. (in my soft but stern voice)
Mekayla:  Daddy still sad?
Me: Yes, you made a mess and daddy is sad.
Mekayla: Mekayla sing?  Make daddy happy?
Me: No baby, daddy is sad because you made a mess and singing won’t help.
Mekayla: sings all 3 verses of Twinkle, Twinkle (see previous post to see how cute that sounds)
Mekayla: Daddy happy now?
Me: No response.

Well, I wasn’t upset anymore.  She used her charm and was able to make a huge mess and in the end everyone was happy.  I am not sure if it the first time she has done this to me, but it was the first time that I noticed.  I think I am going to need some help to figure out how to discipline her when she turns on the charm

On Friday night, while putting Mekayla to bed, I kissed her and told her that I loved her like I do every night.  What made Friday different was that she replied “I love you too daddy”.  Now this isn’t the first time that Mekayla has told a parent that she loves them.  She has been telling mommy that for weeks.  But this is a first for daddy and definitely worth mentioning here.