Tag Archives: funny

The Parent-Toddler Communication Barrier

07/09/2015 R.C. Liley 4 Comments

“Avery.” I said in a stern, but not scolding voice, “Please pick up your duck from the kitchen and put him in your basket or I’ll take him away.” Never thought that would be a sentence I’d have to say.

Avery’s resulting facial expression said it all….

After repeating myself just to give her another chance and waiting for 5 minutes (felt like an hour!), I had to take the duck and put it on top of the bookshelf.

You’ll notice the bag of blocks already there from a similar standoff we incurred earlier in the day.

And before that, we received a package at the door so I let her play with the box. I told her as long as she keeps off the couch and doesn’t tear the things off the box, she can play with it. I should’ve known better….

She also handed me a piece of tape and cardboard strip she tore off. She’s lucky she’s so cute!

This, along with 10,000,000,000 other standoff-type occurrences have become part of the daily routine. Going Mom and I try to maintain composure and do quite well most of the time, but, well, c’mon, patience can only be tested for so long.

Parents, I am sure you know exactly what I’m talking about here. And to think we only have our one, my heart goes out to you with multiple! Your patience must be like that of iron! Or just really good. 🙂

I assume the communication barrier parents face with their toddlers is a commonality we all must experience to turn our ~~hair gray at a faster than normal rate~~ fully appreciate parenthood. It may not be needed (or necessary), but I took it upon myself to create a visual representation of the barrier with a quick video. By simply taking a ball and asking Avery to catch it, you see the barrier in full effect.

What do you think? Did I capture the parent-toddler communication barrier accurately?

It does help to keep calm and politely ask your little one to do as told. Then, once (if) they follow through, be sure to praise them and let them know how good they are. You just might be rewarded with super cuteness!

Do you have any parent-toddler communication barrier examples of your own?

What ways do you find best to get them to listen better? Or are you still searching?

Life, Parenting, Vlog

Working on Animal Sounds: Avery & Daddy Episode 4

07/06/2015 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

Here we are again with another episode of Avery and me vlogging it up in style! And by “style”, I mean a yogurt face toddler and her dad who’s doing good just to have a shirt on for the camera. You’re welcome.

You might’ve noticed I dropped the “Vlog” part of the title to shorten it a little. Obviously, it’s a Vlog, so no need for redundancy. Oh, and I have plenty to share about our Fourth of July weekend full of 5k fun and co-sleeping before fireworks were done, so be on the lookout for that story soon.

My wife and I praise Avery for always responding when we ask her to make a certain animal sound, but a lot them sound the same. I know in her head it’s different, and we’re proud of her efforts, so I just wanted to a record it here.

You’ll have to pardon my corny intro, it’s just part of being a Dad. Right? Right? Plus, I thought I played it off pretty well actually. Call me biased, but…..well, just call me biased.

Hope you were able to hear her animal sounds good enough. I blame the fact I’m using the built-in audio/video from my laptop, so can’t expect high quality anything. But hey, she’s a cutie! And I bet you didn’t know a pig and a mouse sounded so similar, huh?

There will be more animal sound videos in the future, so stay tuned. Until then, hope your Monday is off to a great start and everyone’s fully recovered from the Fourth of July….if you’re in the U.S. that is.

What animal sounds are your kids making or did they make as a toddler?

Be honest, did you like my “caught off guard” intro?

Life, Parenting

What Happens When a Toddler Sees Her Shadow?

07/03/2015 R.C. Liley 6 Comments

We all know what happens when a groundhog sees its shadow, we get six more weeks of winter. But what about when a toddler sees their shadow? Well, I mean when they first acknowledge they are the ones making that silhouette on wall or any other light-colored surface.

Avery recently discovered her shadow and seems to get a kick out of her dark twin. I’ve been pointing it out to her when changing her diaper for a while, but just the other week she finally reacted to it and made her hand move across the wall. She’ll say something in toddler talk and smile, and I smile too because it keeps her occupied while changing her.

Now anytime we are somewhere that her shadow is visible, I can say look at your shadow and it will keep her busy at least for a minute. I love watching her learn something new and can only imagine what’s going on in her head as I explain how the light casting down on her creates that dark object called her shadow.

Just the other day, she was busy removing every item from her basket when I asked if she could find her shadow.

She seemed stumped and maybe a little hesitant at first.

But then she turned right around to come face to, ummmm, face? with her darker, less detailed self.

I asked her if she could find her shadow again and she immediately pointed to the dark figure. Still working on getting toys out of the basket, of course.

She closed in to investigate further with an almost accusatory point of her finger.

Squatting down, she was amazed at how her shadow followed suit.

Back up and a little hand movement just to test the boundaries and she finally accepted her shadow was there to stay.

That’s when she looked away and saw there were more toys to take out of her basket and drop behind me as I cooked in the kitchen.

That’s also when I ~~politely~~ asked her to stop everything! To which she replied with….

Yeah, heart = melted. Oh, and look, she has a heart! Then I offered her a green smoothie which she happily accepted.

It makes me so proud when she enjoys drinking the healthy green smoothies I make. What doesn’t make me proud is when she then proceeds to climb on the couch, throw the pillows off, and eat the rim. green mouth and all.