C.L.A.P. for 2 year olds: Loving Language

Note: Today's post is a continuation of yesterday's assignment of different words for the C.L.A.P. acronym based on the fact that two-year-olds are their own little species!

L is for Loving Language

My analogy today is so much like yesterday's, you might think that my children are named Fido, Spot, and Poochie. In reality, despite being rather clueless, I DO know the difference between toddlers and puppies.

My family had a short stint of being dog owners. In the 9 months that we attempted living compatibly with a dog, we were amazed at how much he could understand. He could follow several little commands! I sometimes wondered what he would be able to repeat back to us if his tongue were humanized...

If we wanted to take the dog to the groomers, we didn't use that word anywhere in his general vicinity or he would no longer be anywhere in the general vicinity. Instead, we acted all excited-like and tricked him into jumping into the van and off we went.

Silver won a gold medal!

Toddlers are like our canine friends in this way. They can understand long before they can repeat anything, and they are tuned in to our tone-of-voice.

I have to keep this in mind whenever my little ones are in earshot. No matter how much I feel like complaining to Daddy on the phone about their messes, I have to realize that whatever words come out of my mouth will frame their self-identity.

So I pledge to use loving language as much as humanly possible! It's not easy, but it's good exercise for my brain. "How can I phrase this so that my toddler recognizes it as a behavior that I don't want repeated, but that I still love him?"

One phrase I've used over and over, Rover, is "Oh, I can see that you're still learning to..."

• use a tissue instead of your finger!
• listen to your body and run to the potty!
• clean up one toy before getting out another!
• touch the baby gently -- soft, soft!

Well, although I've been describing the similarities between dogs and children, the fact is, children are infinitely cuter (at least, mine are -- I guess I should speak for myself). They have far more potential than any puppy. Generally speaking, they smell better, too.

And they do eventually start repeating back whatever I've been saying to them all along. When my three-year-old holds my cheeks in his hands and rubs noses with me and says, "I love you, Mommy," I give my clueless self a pat on the back... I must be doing something right!