Toddler Rehab

Thumper has developed some really bad habits this summer. I'm embarrassed to admit that she is asking for TV and sweets all the time. Well, not all the time, but it seems like it to me. I want her to understand that she has a Montessori Mommy and, therefore, is not going to be allowed to watch TV in large quantities--or consume ice cream for breakfast, cookies for snacks and chocolate chips. She just isn't buying it, and boy is she persistent.

Unfortunately, she is often asking for TV as soon as we walk through the family room each morning on out way to kitchen where she asks for ice cream for breakfast. During the day, when she asks for TV, I usually swoop her out to the yard where we are now being consumed almost whole by the mosquitos. That strategy is not so pleasant anymore. It's so hard when I am preparing good, nutritious food, and she repeatedly demands a cookie. It's such a contrast between my seven year old who has understood for what seems like forever that these are things that we indulge in in small quantities. I don't remember her asking for these items so frequently so I'm wondering what I've done wrong the second time around.

So, I am really looking forward to Thumper's entry into school. She will be attending a Montessori toddler program this fall. I am delighted. In my head I have started calling it "toddler rehab" because she will enter this new environment that she doesn't associate with ice cream cones or Mr. Rogers. Not only that, but her classroom will be full of activities selected just for her age group, her stage of development. The countdown has begun.