It's a bird! It's a plane!

Lately the name of the game with my son is DISTRACTION.  

It's really a great resolution to so many problems.

If he starts to cry about something (other than being hurt, although it still works then too).  If he is asking for a cookie non-stop and won't take "no" for an answer.  If he won't eat what's in front of him.  If he won't stop yelling in the car.

All of these common household problems have the same solution.  DISTRACTION.  

Really I should call it "Distraction Jeopardy" because things have to be posed in the form of a question.  And it is indeed a little game.  First it's his turn; he cries.  Then it's my turn; I say "where's the sky?" or "where's your nose?" or "do you see that doggy?".  Doesn't really matter what the question is about most times, but in extreme cases it has to be something interesting and not just a body part.  And it doesn't really matter where we are or if the question is relevant.  I can ask him "where's the moon?" when we are in the middle of the grocery store and he'll stop what he's doing and look around for it.  Those 22 month olds are gullible like that.

Here's an example.

This morning my husband was trying to get our son to eat breakfast.  As hungry as he always is in the morning, for whatever reason, he tends to be a pain in the arse about actually eating the food he is asking for.  Either he wants to feed himself, or it's not the right spoon ("Elmo poon!"), or he wants more cereal in the bowl before he'll take a bite.  You name it, he has an opinion about it.  I mean, it's just Rice Crispies for pete's sake, what's all the fuss about?

So this morning I enter the kitchen and decide that it's time for a round of Distraction Jeopardy.  I pick him up and take him over to the window in the dining room to look outside.  I bring the bowl of cereal with me so that I'm at the ready when he gets distracted.   

I always figure a window is a safe bet since there's so much to look at outside.  "What do you see outside?" I ask.  Sure enough, there's a new tulip in the ground that we admire.  But that gets boring fast.  "Do you see any birdies?" I ask, figuring it's a fat chance at 7 in the morning, but worth a shot.  

Then we look around and hit the mother lode.  Two doves are sitting on the fence right outside the window.  It's like winning the Double Jeopardy bonus question.

To know just how much of a mother lode this is, you have to know that we play this game a lot, a bit too much in fact, in the car.  If ever there is a fuss, all I have to do is say "Do you see any birdies out your window?" and he immediately stops what he's doing and looks for birds.  The same can be done for airplanes.  Since we live under the arriving flight pattern for SFO and about 2 miles away from a small local airport, we are always spotting planes in the air.  Mommy's little helpers fill the sky with all kinds of distractions around our house.  I do have to hear the words "boidies!" and "aowpane!" about a hundred times a day as he points them out while being shuttled around to and from his sisters' various activities.  But it's worth it if it keeps him happy.

So back to this morning.  As his eyes open so wide I think they might pop out of his head, his mouth opens too.  And in enters the first bite of cereal.  He tries to actually touch the birds through the window and continues to be so fascinated that I can then get a few more bites in while he watches them.  Then we are home free.  

Once he gets a taste of the food he realizes just how hungry he is and we can return to the kitchen where he can feed himself the rest of his breakfast, no matter which spoon he's using or how full the bowl is.

Voila!  Problem solved.

Now if only we didn't have to play 25 rounds of this game throughout the day.  

It can be a bit distracting.