Diligence

{"constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken"~Dictionary.com}

Training and raising a child certainly requires diligence~~every moment of every day.

About a month ago, I began to teach my son to say, "Mmm, Mama!" to indicate when he was hungry. See, usually whenever he tried to alert me to the rumbling in his tummy or his readiness to partake in yet another bite, he would cry. Or whine. Or scream. It didn't really matter which method he chose; none of them were pleasing to the ear and had the tendency to set one's teeth on edge. Since he knew both "Mama" for me and "Mmm" for food, I decided to encourage him to combine the two into an acceptable phrase to replace the other noises he made.

He caught on very quickly. Not that he didn't need reminders from time to time, but he did very well. Then, it suddenly occurred to him that he didn't have to do things my way. He could choose to refuse to say, "Mmm, Mama!" He could go back to screaming instead. So, we tested my stubbornness against his. I continued to calmly remind him that "No" screaming was not an appropriate way to communicate that you are ready for the next bite.

Finally, he gave up and decided that maybe screaming wasn't the best route. After all, he didn't seem to get his next bite after whining his wishes. He only seemed to get that bite when he said the magic words.

This then brings us to yesterday...

We braved our local grocery store to stock up before the next big snowstorm hit. I plopped my son down in the seat of the cart and off we went to the produce section. As I examined the produce, his eyes lit up. Wide-eyed, he exclaimed, "MAMA, MMM!!" I laughed and said, "Yes, sweetheart. This is food, but we're here to shop, not to eat. We'll eat when we get back home." All throughout the store, growing in intensity at the yogurt cooler and again at the baby food aisle, he continued to announce with surprised enthusiasm, "MAMA, MMM! MMM, MAMA, MMM!!"

Hey, at least he learned to use his words, right?