Raise The White Flag

Yep, that's Sera's new favorite outfit. Smashing, isn't it? It does cut back on laundry. That's also minutes after I opened her new Graco playset. She literally bounced at my side as I put the pieces together. Granddaddy and Grandma Nora did good. She loves every piece in this set.

Sera's always been fairly cooperative in the morning when I combed her hair. This week she fought me every day. She fought me over brushing her teeth. She fought me over her shoes. She fought me about her hair. A couple of mornings I just gave up and ran a quick comb, but left off the pigtails. The problem is that even after her haircut, her hair still just falls in her face. Her daycare teacher did her hair the two days I didn't. Sera will cooperate later in the day. I think this is her way of trying to get control on our rushed mornings. I get her up at 6 and we're out the door by 6:30. I could get her up earlier and slow the pace, but I figure letting her sleep until the last minute is better for her.
This morning, I won the battle, but she may have won the war. Usually I let her brush her teeth first, and then I take over. Her brushing is more like sucking on the toothbrush. Today, instead of taking over, I just put my hand on hers and guided her. That seemed to work for one day. I'll need more than one success to call this technique a winner.

But then it was time to go downstairs and do her hair. The way she resists is she becomes boneless. She flops on the couch or over my leg or across my chest, but she will not sit up and let me fix her hair. Today, I was getting frustrated. Instead of losing my temper, I told her I'd give her an M&M if she let me do her hair. She instantly sat up and sat still. She even let me turn her around so I could put in two pigtails instead of one on the top of her head. When I finished, she looked at me and said, "num a num?" I gave her three and we both got in the car and headed happily to school.

I think M&Ms are numma, too.