I don't really remember my parents saying that much. Then again, maybe my Dad said it a few times when he was working through his frustrations of my "mule-headed" behavior. He laughs and jokes about it now, and I think he beleives Mae and Nate could do no wrong (he has those "Grampy Glasses" on now). My mom would always try to wish children upon me who behaved just like me too, but she always tried to pick out the good characteristics. I think she was a firm believer (and still is! Mom, you can comment to speak for youself if I have this wrong) in the idea that if a child is praised they will become confident adults, but if they are constantly told they are bad they will become just that and meet those expectations of misbehavior and mischief. My mom used positive words and we were never allowed to say any negative comments towards each other, not even in a fleeting moment of anger or frustration. We have a similar rule posted in our house, "We use kind words." That goes for everyone in the family. I've gotten off topic completely. What I was meaning to blog about was our trip to the Mayfield Dairy and how Mae disproved my drifting thoughts that she might have been switched at birth. Sometimes I have these irrational fears that someone is going to show up at our doorstep one day with an olive complected, brown eyed little girl with sandy hair explaining that Mae belongs to a blue-eyed blonde who is a slim 6' 3" model with fair skin. However, I saw a glimpse of myself or maybe even a 360 degree reflection of myself in Mae's behavior at the dairy. Actually, I see that same determination in Mae quite often. By the way, has anyone read the strong-willed child book?? I'm thinking of putting that on my list...
Mae refused to wear the required hair net to take the tour of the dairy. While driving to the dairy I was expecting fields of dairy cows, milking demonstrations, etc... I was teaching Mae a song about the cows and singing "Old McDonald had a Farm" right along with her because we were on our way to see the dairy cows! But instead we were shown a video about what they do after the milk arrives from the cows to the big warehouse dairy and invited on a tour of how they make Mayfield milk and ice cream the best stuff on earth. I have to say that Mae is becoming quite the fashionista and probably recognized that a hair net is not on the latest runways. Most of all, she was just being "mule-headed" just like her mama. Supposedly I had these sort of "issues" with new experiences as a child. One instance was at a theme park where I refused to have my hand stamped. No matter how much my parents tried to explain that to ride all the rides beyond the entrance gate I had to have a stamp. I don't remember how the story ended, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't with a stamp on my hand. I try to remember the way I was and get into Mae's head to understand her feelings and thoughts. But sometimes the "mule-headedness" of my father comes out instead and I just get frustrated that she won't comply with such a simple little task in order to get through to the fun part. Wow, I could ponder on that for a while but I won't do that here.
So, we missed the tour but Mae was a happy little clam when we sat down with an ice cream cone. She did learn a song about how the cows give us milk, cheese, ice cream, butter and MEAT! Maybe she made the connection that ice cream comes from milk that comes from cows... Lesson learned: Next time make sure the dairy farm has real, life-sized cows. Toddlers don't appreciate the homogenization process or flash-freezed freshness techniques (or a giant brown cow made of ???). Oh well, maybe in a few years we'll try the tour again. I've posted a link to the Mayfield dairy in case anyone is interested and also for my own reference. http://www.mayfielddairy.com/
Jon and Mae waiting for moose tracks!
If only I could've snapped a picture of Nate in the hair net...sooo cute and he looked so clueless about it all. I had no extra time or energy while dealing with Mae's meltdown to capture that moment. Oh well, at least it provided a laugh for Jon and me. Mae didn't think it was funny at all :)
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