Pink Elephants

It occurred to me as I was talking to Mia this morning that once my kids are grown past this stage of "very young" I probably won't have the pleasure of saying such strange things on a regular basis. For example, when else in everyday life will I say, "please don't eat Mommy's book" or "we don't kiss the toilet?" How about, "good job going poopies!" or "why are you banging your head against the wall for fun?" Other favorites I will miss are "its not food, it's lip gloss" (said yesterday when I found Mia sucking the contents of a tube of lip gloss - that by the way had the warning "Do Not Ingest" written on it - down her throat), "she's not a doll, she's a baby" and "why is your bum wet?"

About a month ago we decided we needed a fresh approach to discipline with Hannah. We thought we'd include her in the process by asking her to assign special words that we could use in our family for praise when a good deed is done or good attitude shown and for censure when a poor choice was made. All who know Hannah know she has a special knack for assigning names to things. She told us for a good deed we should say, "PINK ELEPHANTS!" and for a poor choice, "purple mashed potatoes." On a daily basis she earns pink elephants and receives minutes of bonus playtime with Daddy accordingly. If she earns 25 or more "pink elephants" she gets 5 extra minutes (on top of the usual 10)at the end of the day. For every "purple mashed potatoes" choice one "pink elephant" is taken away. This system has worked pretty well. It's a way to reward her and also give her a warning (purple mashed potatoes) before more severe consequences are given (such as losing a minute outright or having a time out). When later in my life will I get to go around all day say saying "PINK ELEPHANTS!" and "purple mashed potatoes?"