Walking through the snow.

The children had to walk (more or less) to the T station today. Jonah might get tired, but I know that Noah can do the whole thing. The reason why I know he has the energy, is because he has the energy to run ahead of me and close to the street. That's how I know that when he falls down laughing in the street while I am carrying him across that it is some sort of game to create trouble and put himself in danger. Basically I yelled at him a lot today, because I didn't have time for that. And lo and behold once Jonah was dropped off he started behaving. Now when I picked up Jonah, he was still indecisive and whiny and all that. He's two. But when Jonah is acting like that I need Noah to be better because he is four. But instead what usually happens is he acts worse because he wants to be the one to be carried etc. Reasoning with them about traffic etc. doesn't seem to work.

While waiting for Jonah's group to finish Daniel Tiger's neighborhood came up in conversation. I was all for it and some of the other mothers were either ambivalent about it or against it. But while preaching the benefits of the parenting techniques I realized that I went all Corrections Officer on my kids this morning. In fact I forgot what song they use or exactly what problem Noah was in need of fixing today.
The "Give a Squeeze nice and slow" sequence seems to have been my fall back for all misbehavior. But I guess it doesn't always apply. And actually it doesn't help if Noah hasn't seen that particular episode. I actually pulled out that Give a squeeze song in Kung Fu class yesterday because two of the kids were flipping out which created a crazy energy. It definitely calmed the class down, if not those particular kids so much.

No I think Noah needs the "Stop, and Listen to stay safe." episode and then the Give a squeeze. Walking down the street means walking. Not hitting the snow banks every step, Not hitting Jonah every five steps not impeding Jonah and pushing him down... you know... just walk. It's not that hard. On the real snowy parts it is... but it's easier to walk than to turn around and hit Jonah for sure. So walk. On the wayback I might have to just carry both of them when crossing the streets. It might be a strain, but it's easier than carrying one and having the other squat and collapse in some strange sort of Ju jitsu groundfighting technique.