Manners, Babbling, and Snot

Everyone who has/had kids knows how demanding they are, and most of it is because they just don't have the language skills to be polite, but a lot of it is also because they have this connection that mom=service to their every whim. Anyway, almost every morning for breakfast Evelynn wants oatmeal. We go through the same steps of demanding oatmeal, not wanting mommy to cook it, then demanding milk. I have been trying to respond to her "I want some milk!" by saying, "Say, 'May I have some milk please,' " and she would repeat, "Milk please." Well this morning we went through the ritual, but as I gave her cooked oatmeal, I turn around to go get her some milk and I hear, "Mom, I want some milk please." I stopped dead in my tracks and stared at her. So she said again, "Mom, I want some milk please!" I was so proud. Then I was thinking, isn't it amazing what repeated brainwashing will do to a child? I mean, that's really what teaching them things like manners is. You have them repeat the same words and actions until it becomes ingrained in them and they are considered "polite" by society as a whole. And it makes us all feel good to hear people being polite. But it's still a form of brain washing, no getting around it. :)

In other news, Eloise is sitting up all by herself. Well, she's actually been doing this for about a month, but I am shamefully slow at updating my blog, so I guess now is better than never to get that out there. It's been great because I can sit her up facing the couch (away from the kitchen and hence not looking at me) and give her some toys and she will usually play quietly for a half hour or more! If only Evelynn was that easy to entertain. She is also starting to experiment with words. She is starting to say "da da da da" and even something that sounds remarkable like "Hi Dad!" This morning I was feeding her and she pulled off and looked at Doug as he crossed the room and said da da da da, gave him her huge smile, and then went back to eating. It was so cute.

The nasty cold is going around my family again. Eloise got it first, and she has it the worst. I took her in because she had pink eye on top of her cold, and the doctor also discovered that she had an ear infection. So needless to say she's been miserable. She slept about and hour and a half yesterday because she couldn't breathe well, and then went to sleep for good at six. Evelynn also has the cold, but it's her own stinking fault. I walked by her playing with Eloise to see her transferring a Popsicle stick from Eloise's mouth to her mouth and then back to Eloise's mouth over and over. I couldn't figure out why this was happening, but I took the stick away anyway. Later I saw her doing the same thing with one of Eloise's rattles. The best I can come up with is that she was trying to play doctor like she saw happening in the doctors office. So now she has the cold. There is snot everywhere. Anywhere these girls touch there seems to be a lovely film of snot. So far I haven't caught it but I consider that a minor miracle that won't last. Doug is already leaking like a faucet. ~Sigh!~ Motherhood is gross.