Thursday, October 04, 2007

Follow-up: "why?"

Wow, what a helpful bunch of people you guys are! Thank you very much for all the thoughtful (as well as funny!) advice.

After some thought (and conversation with Gabe) I've decided to try two things.

If the "why" question comes after a direct instruction, I'm going to respond with "you may ask that question after you obey." I fully expect this to be followed by "why?" but I can just repeat the phrase until he does it. And then answer. I think having a set phrase may help Jonathan understand - just as the words never vary, neither does the expected action.

If, however, he just has a case of the "whys" in general, once I get tired of them I'll just use "why not?"

We'll see how it goes!

4 comments:

Kellie said...

Hi Emily - sorry for the unrelated comment. I'm folliwng up the advice you gave me about what baby stuff is needed or not. THANK YOU! I appreciate it so much.

I've got a couple of questions for you. I am a bit of a minimalist, but I don't mind spending a bit of money for the right thing. I just choose carefully. Like you, I'd rather not buy 5 bad ones before spending a bunch on the good one in the end.

For the pottery barn diaper bag... I wish they had more pictures of it on their website. For $60, I'd want to know what I'm getting! So, does it become a back-pack also? Does that work well? Or does it work better as one or the other? How is the size of it? I don't want something so massive that I could pack for vacation in it, but I know I need a bag that holds a good deal.

We're planning on cloth diapering, but I've read many suggestions to just plan on using disposables while they are a newborn. Do you agree? My only concern is that I've had a couple friends who had that plan but then just got so used to using disposables that they never switched. All of the options of cloth diapers are so overwhelming to me. Do you know of any resources or websites that compare the different brands/kinds in english? I've seen fuzzy bunz and they are so darn cute. Do you know how the Bummi's compare? How do they work? (I mean literally... I already assume you think they work well.) Also, how do you deal w/ cloth diapering when out for the day?

Advertising our minimalist intent is an interesting idea. This is such a hard area. The only risky things are the handmade ones. I have to tread lightly. I also don't want to miss out on any beautiful, handmade items that I would treasure for years, just because I didn't pick it out in a store. I might try to offer some hand made suggestions. For example, I really don't want a cross-stitched thing for the wall (of course, I wouldn't say that), but I would LOVE some knitted baby sweaters/cardigans in different sizes.

Also - did you guys use/need a swing or jumper or anything like that?

Thanks so much for all of your help and advice! Good luck on all the "why's?"!

Sylvia said...

Can I make one more recommendation? I'd been trying to think of something helpful to say, and then something yesterday reminded me of a book that was given to me on my 3rd birthday (I must have been like Jonathan!). I don't know if it can still be found at a library or not (our library doesn't have it), but if you can find it, you'll like reading it to Jonathan. It's called The Curious Little Owl by Frances Ruth Keller, and it's about a little owl that doesn't say "who", but says "why?". It's delightful. If you can't find a copy I'll lend you mine when I get a chance.

Emily (Laundry and Lullabies) said...

Sylvia, thank you for the recommendation! Someone has it listed in inventory on BookMooch, so I'm going to see if I can get it that way. I'll let you know if it doesn't work out - in that case I'd love to borrow it. :)

Amber said...

I think your approach sounds like a good one. My favorite response to the "why?" question is "well, what do you think?" I use that approximately 10,000 times a day with Emma (still!!) and I have for years. The answers are sometimes bizarre, sometimes funny, and sometimes quite fascinating. They've led to interesting discussions about all sorts of things and they give me quite an insight into her little brain. It is also nice because it makes them think, rather than relying on you to do all the thinking!