When all Else Fails, Bribe!

I never thought I'd be the type of parent that needed to bribe their kids to get them to do what I wanted them to do. But I overlooked the fine print of evolution, he's smarter than I am.

Every parent should hope that their kids become better than they are. As a Dada, that's what I work for. At the office and at home, the goal is to give the next generation every opportunity to be better, to achieve more, to move the bar higher for the grand kids and the great grand kids.

In the post Inaugural Christmas I described our morning ritual. Pierce wakes up and babbles to himself and that is my cue to go downstairs and make coffee, also to get his morning snack ready. After those simple preparations, I'll go back upstairs and open his door chanting something like "Is my little blue, blue, blue, blueberry head in here? He'll smile and chuckle to himself all while rolling around in his crib holding the stuffed animal of the week. After changing his diaper, we'd go downstairs and right before we hit the last step, I'd ask him for a kiss, he'd oblige and now without me asking when we get to that step, he'll turn his head an plant a wet one right on my mouth and smile. It's the best.

I grab my coffee, hand him his milk and grab the snack trap full of Morning O's. Pierce and I will sit on the couch, under a blanket, he'll eat his snack, I'll sip my coffee and smell his sweet hair and kiss his soft cheeks all in the glow of HLN. We'd sit for 10-15 minutes before he was ready to get down and start playing. About four weeks ago, 10-15 minutes turned in to 1-2 minutes.

I missed those minutes so much that I asked Ashleigh to pick up a more exciting cereal without compromising his healthy diet of course. I figured he was bored of the plain Organic Morning O's. Ash (not knowing my motivation) obliged and picked up Fruitful O's. There we were, Sunday Morning Pierce and I snuggled up again, it was just like old times. He ate a whole snack trap worth and I smiled at his Mama. She squinted at me and put two and two together, the 15 minutes were up and Pierce was off to play. Ash shook her head in a way that only spouses can, it's that "I can't believe you but I can believe you" sort of head shake.

The next morning, it was back to 1-2 minutes. It wasn't the cereal, Pierce doesn't need a morning snack, he's content to play and wait for breakfast. He does sleep 10 hours (which I'm not complaining about) he's just ready to spend some of that energy. That is what I tell myself anyway, as I sit without my cuddling buddy.

I bribed him with Organic Fruit Loops and stepped in to a time machine for one morning. I'm glad that he's not old enough to realize that I compromised my parenting, although I'm sure that deep inside that brain of his, he knows he has me right where he wants me. I'll concede the point on this one and look forward to our future chess matches.

My experiences are new to me, the lessons learned are probably not new to you. Most of the time, I'm just figuring out what the Silver and Black Lining is?