Go Play!!!

At work today, I decided to read a book to a little boy who was a little shy. Jorryn came along to sit on the other lap (I try to always keep a lap free for her.) After we were done with the book, the little boy wanted down, so I let him go. Jorryn patted my lap and said to him, "Jack, sit down!" I guess she enjoyed the company. Another little girl decided that she wanted to read too, so I pulled her up onto the free lap. Suddenly Jorryn pushes her away and yells, "No!! Go play!!" At the time, it was not very nice of her to say that, but in retrospect, it was really funny!

As we were getting ready to leave work, Jorryn had pulled a bunch of books off of the bookshelf and I asked her to pick them up. She refused. I asked her again and she just wouldn't do it. I ended up giving her two time-outs but still she dragged her feet. Suddenly, she noticed one of her favorite books and said, "Read haircut book!" And so I took the book away and told her we'd read it after she put all the books away and then we'd go home. So finally she put all the books away. John thinks I bribed her into cooperating, but oh well, it was a more positive approach with a more positive result!

Tonight we sat down as usual and read our two bedtime books. I bought Jorryn a couple of Christmas books to teach her about different aspects of the holiday. I had bought her a Halloween book, which really helped her understand a whole lot more and took a lot of the fear and distrust out it all. So we've been reading a Christmas word book to help her understand all the new "things" that have cropped up lately on houses and in stores. So Jorryn's been identifying candles, tinsel and wreaths. She says the Christmas trees are pretty and loves the angel ornaments. She still thinks the ball ornaments are balloons (we haven't put our tree up yet) and she absolutely LOVES Christmas lights. On the page depicting the Nativity scene, she points to Mary, "Mary sleeping" and then points to the cradle and says, "Baby Jesus" just as clear as a bell. Then she pointed to Joseph and said, "Dada." It was all so cute, I just wanted to cry. Another part of the book shows an image of a snowman and she observes that "it's cold" because the snowman is wearing a scarf, hat and gloves.

Speaking of snowmen, I bought Jorryn another pair of boots for our trip to Canada this year. They were used and only cost $3.50. They are bigger and more suited to snow and colder weather. I thought she would hate them but she absolutely loves them! She wants to wear them all the time. She calls them her "zipper boots" because they have a zipper across the front. So much for trying to prepare her for bulkier clothes. Maybe there's a little bit of Canada in her after all :)