The first battle of wills

Baby M loves the tissue box. She loves to pluck a tissue out and tear it apart. We don't let her do it. For one, she puts the pieces in her mouth.

We usually keep a box of tissues in every room (really comes in handy when there is a mucous-filled 9 year old ready to explode in your face). There is even one on our bed, between the pillows, next to the headboard. It is this box that M made a beeline for this morning when I brought her in our bed. As she reached for it, I just blocked her access with my hand and said "No". She tried again from a different angle. I blocked her again and repeated "No". We went at this about 20 times. Usually, I just pick her up and distract her but today she wouldn't be distracted. She kept going back to the tissue box. And it is Saturday. I have all the time in the world (well, not really). So I decided to see if the block-and-say-No strategy took us anywhere. So I kept at it. Gently, but firmly. And in a true stubborn-child-of-stubborn-Cee style M kept at it too. After about the 17th try she started getting the idea. She still tried a few more times. Then she must have realized it wasn't working. So then she sat back and started playing with what I had been distracting her with.

It WORKED! She does understand a "No". Only she chooses to ignore it. But we are getting to the point where I just call out "Uh-unh" and she backs off. We have tried that when she was trying to grab hold of my laptop's adapter. It took a few tries - 5 or 6 maybe - but she did move on to something else and I didn't have to physically remove her from there.

In bargain, I do let her mutilate a few newspapers and glossy fliers (while keeping an eye on her that she doesn't sneak a piece in her mouth) and generally let her make a mess sometimes (like pulling freshly laundered, neatly folded clothes out of a laundry basket, onto the floor). I am trying to keep "No" to a minimum so that when I do say it, it is paid attention to. For now it seems like we are making a headway. Lets see where this strategy takes us. It worked for us with S. I never had to baby proof the apartment with her but then we were living in a one-bedroom apartment and didn't really have much stuff anyway. No coffee table, no dining table or the horde of other tables that we have around the house now. And all these tables have stuff on them - photo albums, candles, flower vases, table lamps, books.... It will be interesting this time around.