Saturday, November 03, 2007

All Done! -- updated

The baby has really taken to signing "all done." I started out teaching him this in order to curtail temper tantrums in his high chair. I would wave my hands back in forth in front of me and say "all done" every time I took him out of the high chair. Once he started doing it, I would require that he say "all done" before I would remove him. That way, he learned that he had to say "all done" to let me know when he was finished. It was great. He'd say "all done" when he was full, and we'd clean him up and he'd get out. Now, he has learned to apply this "all done" concept to other areas. For example, last night, he started frantically saying "all done" in the bathtub when he was done with his bath. Great, another tantrum avoided. The big problem is, that sometimes, like this morning, while he was playing, he suddenly started saying "all done." My thought is: "All done, what?" What did I do? I thought that maybe just maybe he's all done being awake. Maybe he's tired and wants a nap. So, I tried it. I put him down for his nap. He whined a little and protested for all of about 2 minutes. He's now asleep. My child just told me he wanted a nap. He wanted to give me some free time to do dishes take a shower sweep the floor read a book do something productive play around on the internet. He's the best. And because I made him, so am I. The BEST thing I ever did was teach that child "all done."

Update:

He's taken the "all done" theory to a new level. He tells us every time he's all done with anything. Today he told us he's all done with the following:
I'm all done being awake.
I'm all done sleeping.
I'm all done eating this.
I'm all done NOT eating that.
I'm all done waiting for you to give me that french fry.
I'm all done sitting in this stroller
I'm all done walking.
I'm all done crying in my crib.
I'm all done sitting in your lap.
I'm all done playing with this toy.
I'm all done being washed for my bath.
I'm all done playing in the tub.
I'm all done waiting for my bath.
I'm all done NOT playing with that toy.

Basically, the child is always "all done." He tells us so all the time. I'm all done talking about being all done.

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