April 25

Awhile back, Jayna and I had a long talk about the fact that:

1. She KNOWS what to do at certain times of the day.  Like waking up and bedtime.
2. That she's known these things for a LONG time.
3. That if she knows what she should be doing, then I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO TELL HER.
4. That if I do have to tell her, I BETTER only have to tell her ONCE.  If I have to say something more than once, I lose my patience.
5. That if she does these things without being told, it's called initiative...and then mommy doesn't lose her patience.  And sometimes, if she does a good and efficient job, she'll get rewarded for her initiative.  Not EVERYTIME, but sometimes.

Initiative is a regular at our house now.  Every night after we get done washing her hair in the bath, she'll say to me, "Mommy, if you leave the bathroom and come back in a few minutes, I might be initiative."

So I leave.  And everytime, she's gotten out of the bath, dried herself off, put on her pajamas and has started brushing her teeth.  And it's GREAT.  The one thing that I like more than only having to say something ONCE is NOT HAVING TO SAY IT AT ALL.

That whole "be initiative?"  We don't correct that yet.  She gets the idea and it's cute.  After all, she's only 4.