Guilt or Victory?
Jul. 16th, 2008 09:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
porphyryOne of Madeline's interests of late is to go into my walk-in closet and explore. It's interesting how Malkhos and I interpret this activity differently.
"She'll just go in there and wreak havoc," he tells me.
"Oh, let her explore," I say.
"She'll only leave a swath of destruction in her wake," he predicts ominously.
"Your militarized language is a bit excessive," I reply.
This morning, as soon as Madeline went into the closet, Malkhos shooed her out, which sent her to me, crying (faked); she somehow knows I'll give in but the trade-off for me is she'll actually let me hold and hug her while I comfort her in her pretend despair.
Once her tears subsided, I let her go back into the closet, knowing too that this would predicate one of Malkhos's unmitigated disaster assessments.
"See? See?" he says, pointing at something I can't even see through the wall.
I go into the closet and he points to several empty hangers from which she's pulled off the clothes. She's also opened drawers and half-emptied them, so I start putting the clothes back where they belong. In the meantime, Malkhos picks up an empty hanger that's snapped in two.
"What should I do with this?" he says. "Should I spank her?"
"No spanking," I say, the thought being too close to Mommie Dearest for my comfort. "Throw it away. No, wait, keep it for a minute. Go show it to her."
"Why? So she can gloat over her victory?" he says, using that military analogy again.
"No, silly; so she'll develop a conscience and feel bad that's she's broken my hanger," I say.
"She won't unless you spank her," he said.
"Chrissakes, I'm not spanking her over it! Give it to me. I'll make her feel guilty about it. That's a mother's province anyway."
"She'll just go in there and wreak havoc," he tells me.
"Oh, let her explore," I say.
"She'll only leave a swath of destruction in her wake," he predicts ominously.
"Your militarized language is a bit excessive," I reply.
This morning, as soon as Madeline went into the closet, Malkhos shooed her out, which sent her to me, crying (faked); she somehow knows I'll give in but the trade-off for me is she'll actually let me hold and hug her while I comfort her in her pretend despair.
Once her tears subsided, I let her go back into the closet, knowing too that this would predicate one of Malkhos's unmitigated disaster assessments.
"See? See?" he says, pointing at something I can't even see through the wall.
I go into the closet and he points to several empty hangers from which she's pulled off the clothes. She's also opened drawers and half-emptied them, so I start putting the clothes back where they belong. In the meantime, Malkhos picks up an empty hanger that's snapped in two.
"What should I do with this?" he says. "Should I spank her?"
"No spanking," I say, the thought being too close to Mommie Dearest for my comfort. "Throw it away. No, wait, keep it for a minute. Go show it to her."
"Why? So she can gloat over her victory?" he says, using that military analogy again.
"No, silly; so she'll develop a conscience and feel bad that's she's broken my hanger," I say.
"She won't unless you spank her," he said.
"Chrissakes, I'm not spanking her over it! Give it to me. I'll make her feel guilty about it. That's a mother's province anyway."
