Please!

Don't let that sad face fool you.

The final stage....her bottle.

Here are a few shots that captured our evening with Emma. Now let me preface this story by saying we are parents that pride ourselves in being consistent with our kids. It all began at dinner when Emma decided that she did not like what was being served to her, and once Emma is in a foul mood, it is best to just let her be. Instead, we tried to give her something that she liked and asked her to say "please" (which is commonplace, and she says 100 times a day). We should have known better than to mess with the grumpy Emma, because she refused to say "please". She simply sat in her highchair and would not do it. So, after 30 minutes, we got her down and tried our darndest to get her out of her funk before asking for the word "please" again. But the mood was here to stay and she just wandered around crying. (Let me point out that she was in no way starving. This is the child that eats all day, and 5 minutes before she was served her dinner she had just eaten a bowl of raisins and goldfish). We were stumped as parents. Never have we had a child test us like this. Her screaming gets worse, something that is cured with a one minute sit in timeout......and at the same time we think, ooohhh, this will work. She will want to get out of timeout and we can ask her to say "please" then for sure. We are so smart. Nope. No "please" for this either. And believe me, we were trying hard to talk her into it. So, next up in our bag of tricks....her bottle. She loves her bottles, and will do anything for one. Ha, not tonight! We actually give her the bottle, but tell her she can't drink it until she says that magic word. Meanwhile she just sits there, not too many tears, just stubbornness in her eyes. She does manage to say "all done" and "down" quite a few times, but never the word that we asked. At this point I am wondering how long she will hold on, and I am beginning to doubt myself as well. But it was a matter of principle, even at a young age consistency is so important. So after countless games of pool (timeout chair is in the game room), we venture to the other room, leaving her there alone. To sit. After 5 minutes I hear babbling, I peek around the corner, she smiles at me and says "please". There you have it. 2 hours later. We fought the good fight as parents, and won......I think. Although I might give it a few days before I ask her to say that word again.