Breakthrough!!!

We have two ongoing battles with Maria.

The first regards food: does it belong on the floor, or in her mouth?

The second regards any non-food item: does it belong in her mouth, or on the floor?

We have made little headway in the second battle, but in the first we have made a break-through. For many months, we tried a gentle wrist tap to dissuade her from dropping her food on the floor. The first time Edward tried it, she looked puzzled, then grinned and pointed at him as if to say, 'ha ha Daddy. That was a great joke!' The gentle wrist tap was clearly not the answer. But a few weeks ago I was feeling poorly, consumed with self-pity and unenthused about waging this particular war. So when Maria gleefully dumped five tomato chunks onto the floor, I heartlessly removed her from her chair and told her she could clean up for once. That's when it happend - the breakthrough! She looked about, picked up the hand-held broom and began to sweep at the tomato chunks. True, she was holding the broom upside down, so that the bristles pointed in the air and she swept with a hard plastic handle, but it was the gesture that counted. And it was noble. What a baby. Now our strategy is thus: Maria drops her food and we say (calmly, confidently and in control) 'Miss Eleanor Bumblebee if you drop your food, you will have to clean it up.'

I think we must look quite obviously first time parents.