SO MISUNDERSTOOD!

A diary of the trials and tribulations of a 3 1/2 yr old.......

first, please allow me to introduce myself to you...My name is Gillian but when I was a baby I was called “Baby G”, “Gilly-Beans”, “Gilly-Bear” and well just plain “G”. Now that we have a new baby in the house named Gabrielle, I am sometimes called Big G or G1..

I am often SO MISUNDERSTOOD. Mostly by my parents but sometimes by my preschool teachers, grandmothers, the checkout lady at Target, the checkout lady at Kroger and well maybe a few others.

I am an active little girl with a tremendous imagination, unlimited amounts of energy and the ability to push my parents buttons, test limits and boundaries better than most.The theme from Survivor comes to mind as I can “outwit, outplay and outlast”.  I am a master manipulator, negotiator and when all else fails, a terrific trantrum-thrower!

I also have a language all my own. Below are a few terms to bring you up to speed:

Chick A-Lay = Chik-fil-a (my favorite place to eat, where I ask to go every single day after getting picked up from school)
Ladybug Car = A Volkswagon Bug
A Goodea = A Good Idea
Sissy = Gabrielle, my 3 month old baby sister, who I love dearly
Gola’s = Granola (me and dad I like to put this on our yogurt)
berry simple = very simple
brown food restaurant/daddy's restaurant = the mexican restaurant with the refried beans
sassy = paci, pacifier, binky

My parents not only understand my language but they have adopted it when speaking with me and I have even caught them using it with some other adults which I find quite amusing.

They are constantly trying to figure out the best way to get me to do what they want..Their latest is counting... That’s 1.........,That’s 2........, That’s 3.... If I do not stop the undesired behavior by 3 I am sent to “time- out”...but many times I just run and hide from them and after they have chased me around the house so many times they are so tired that I can then wear them down by going into full tantrum mode. If the tantrum does not work, I then turn on my master negotiating tactics and promises to be good to avoid the dreaded “time- out”.

Here are some of my strategies I have found quite successful to avoid going to sleep at night. You may want to implement them yourselves as they have proven quite successful for me..

First I will allow mom or dad to put me to sleep as usual... Book, then patting my back, then a kiss good night.. I will normally wait about 10  minutes so they think I am asleep and I will come out out and tell mom that I have to go potty. Sometimes after that, I will come out just to ask mom or dad a question.. any question will do.. “do I have school tomorrow?”, “can we have Chik-A-Lay tomorrow?”, “can we go do see Lizzie?”, “what day is today?” after the questions and being brought back to bed again, I will then come out and say, “I am thirsty”. Lately, another favorite I use is to cry loudly and when they come running to see if I am alright, I tell them I am “falling” off the bed and need help to get up.

So you see it is berry simple to learn these methods, but don’t worry, if you do not want to use any of the above tactics I promise you there will be more....