Elvis Blogs - Elvis McNeely

No more needles! Hooray! It is nice to see it clean living room floor without pine tree needles. Christmas trees are nice only for a short period of time. My daughter had a bad habit of pulling the needles off the tree and letting them fall to the floor. Even though we would vacuum almost daily these needles would be tracked throughout the house. From time to time Stella would pick up a single needle and thrown away in the trash can. It was cute to see her do this but at the same time I like the idea of her pulling the needles off the tree.

All in all, for two-year-old, she did really well with the Christmas tree. There was only one incident when she was trying to pull one of the small ornaments of the tree that it shook the tree and caused a glass ornament to fall and break. From then on she was more cautious when she took off the small ornaments, that were really hers anyway. For Christmas of 2006 I think my most enjoyable moments were sitting on the couch watching my daughter admire the Christmas tree and the ornaments. She loved the lights and the star at the top of the tree. Almost every night to say goodnight to the tree has she went upstairs to go to bed.

It is interesting to see how children of this age relate to the world around them. Even though my daughter knows that the tree is not a person she still released the as a person. This happens as well for her DVD programs. Many times she also says goodnight to her DVD's. She is a single child and she does not relate a whole lot with other children for many hours in the day. I'm not alarmed as a parent but just curious if this behavior is normal. I guess as most new parents we think a lot about these things.

In just a quick comment on disciplining, it is not always easy to know just how much discipline the two-year-old needs. But with little patience and consistency I'm beginning to see that it pays off to persevere through these moments. My daughter's behavior is changing when we do correct her and surprisingly she doesn't always throw a fit about it. It's these small moments that we see his parents that we really find joy. Yes, just for the fact that a child comes into the world, relies on us, needs our attention, time and love, all of that brings a lot of joy. But, as a child gets older, at least for my daughter, you receive a different kind of joy when disciplining and seeing the behavior change.