Mr. Esquith at work. You should read his book.I've been reading a book I got a while back called, "Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire" by Rafe Esquith. (Highly recommended.) Like most books I read, this one has gotten under my skin and it has been leaking into my life. Full disclosure, though: I'm quite taken with this guy, Rafe. For one thing, one of his mantras seems to be: "There are no shortcuts." This, in all seriousness, is maybe my first ever BIG REALIZATION in life. I think I realized this for myself in about 8th grade. I don't know if I've ever heard anyone else ever even say this. Anyway, as I was sorting laundry this morning with Lucy, I decided to try to work in a lesson about the levels of moral development and motivation.
"So Lucy," I say--casually. "What do you think is better: Being nice so you won't get in trouble, or being nice because you want to be a nice person?"
"Yeah. It's good to be nice. So we won't get in trouble..."
Fail.
I tried again, a few different times on this tack then switched. I thought I would get her thinking about admirable character traits and we could discuss them a little. "Hey, who are some of your favorite grown-ups?" This question to be followed-up with, "Why?"
With no hesitation whatsoever, Lucy answers, "You and Daddy." A couple more attempts at asking the same question yielded the same answer. I couldn't ask her why.
She is so sweet.
And Gabe.
Gabe is a machine. He eats. I am a machine. I feed him and change his diaper. He has come to protest any efforts to get him to sleep. The one place he will sleep without a fight (and I do mean a fight), is his carseat.
Today, I stopped fighting. I put him in his carseat (car in the garage) and let him have his nap while I worked on the laundry. When he woke up, I loaded Lucy into the car and set out on our library outing. (Thank you, Mary Poppins.) Tonight, instead of trying to bear Gabe's protestations, I took him straight to the carseat. He was sleeping withing a minute without complaint. I read my book in the front seat until he was deep enough to transfer him.
Win! I feel like a genius. I have truly been at the end of my rope trying to get him to sleep lately. Nothing has worked. He's been sick and teething (four molars at once), so I can't blame him.
