Pool and Thomas

I didn't have plans to leave the house today until Denis called to suggest that we meet up with the Creens after work at Meadows Pool for a 6-8p family swim. That ended up being the highlight of the kids' day. Nikko was ecstatic, holding two plastic fishes that he brought from home, and lunging into the water leading with his head. Unfortunately the lifeguard blew his/her whistle at me three separate times for silly infractions: we brought plastic buckets to fill with water, like last time, but today they said it wasn't allowed. I was swinging Audrey back and forth in the water and the lifeguard said it was too high. Finally, Ronin and Audrey were standing on a cement block on the lawn waiting for me to finish packing up our gear when a lifeguard blew the whistle for them to get off. Geez! Three-peat offender!

I handled one thing this morning that could have gone sour. Nikko approached me at 7:15a with the Thomas DVD. I really don't like turning on the TV before breakfast, since it's on most of the day afterward, so I told Nikko to wait. Of course he didn't want to and kept pushing and whining at me to move toward the TV. I turned the tables on him and made it an exercise in asking for permission. I wanted him to ask, "I want to watch Thomas please" or "I want watch Thomas" or any derivative thereof. Nikko caught on that I was trying to make him ask properly and staunchly refused at first. He was screaming and whining, thrashing on the floor and throwing himself into a pillow on the couch because he didn't want to obey my request. He could see that I was unrelenting and he must have really wanted to watch Thomas because he rushed saying, "I want Thomas please" and dove screaming into the couch. I didn't have as much success when I tried to get him to say, "Thomas is on TV" so I accepted what he told me and put on the movie. Instantly, calm. Go figure. I tried so hard not to lose my temper this morning and it paid off.