How to get what you want in life

Apparently, this all starts very early.

I'll show you 3 examples:

#1.  I was watching the twins do crafts in the playroom when Jonas wandered out to visit Grandpa down the hall.
He saw this...


I guess Jonas had eyed this game earlier....because he walked right in and asked Grandpa,
"Can I play your game?"

Since Dennis was busy filling out reports, etc he said 
very matter of fact to Jonas and in his monotone business voice, 
"No Jonas you can't play with that."



So Jonas leaves his office, comes back into the playroom and I heard him say to Téa,
"Let's make Grandpa laugh so he won't be mean and he will let me play with his game."

Dennis heard him say that to Téa, felt guilty and ended up letting Jonas play 
with the game for a little bit. Either way, it worked!
{This boy is learning people skills.}

#2.  Then today Jonas wanted to watch a movie 
but he knows Grandpa is the only one in this house who knows how to work the player. 
But he was on a business call and I told Jonas he would need to wait to ask him.

Jonas is not a good waiter. He started pacing, and then he stopped and said, 
"I know! Remember last year (everything is last year to him) when you made 
Grandpa a turkey sandwich and it made him so happy? Let's do that again! 
Then he will turn on the movie for me!"


His plan worked again!

Nothing quite like a movie with lunch.


  #3. Téa has her own method. 
While I was making lunch for them Téa asked if we could go in the garage 
and "get the thing for lunch." I told her there was nothing in the garage for lunch. 
She insisted, "You know the thing. It's in the freezer in the garage." 
I assured her again that we had all the food we needed for lunch in the kitchen. 
Soon she disappeared so I just figured she had gone to play in the playroom.

About 5 minutes later I went to check on her, and Jonas and I found her under the table crying softly.

 She was whimpering and said, "You told me last year (she meant last night) 
we could have that thing to eat in the garage and now you said no." 
Suddenly I remembered "the thing"....it was a juice bar! 
I did tell her that just last night but I had forgotten all about it!

I told her of course she could have a juice bar after lunch and I apologized for not remembering! 

At 4 years old they are all ready learning to work this world.

My Mom use to say we can catch more flies with honey than vinegar (Jonas' way)
But sometimes a few tears get our attention, too.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

How adorable. It's nice to know there are other 'mean' grandparents! We are on grandparent duty for two weeks and there have been a few conflicts and tears (mostly mine!). Do any of you ever hear "well, I'll just ask Mom when she gets home and she will tell you that you are doing it wrong"? I like the blanket on the chair for mealtime...it matches our place.

pjc in MI

Anonymous said...

Glad you have those stories recorded for posterity.
darlene

Scrapally said...

oh how cute. Loved this post! What we learn from our grandchildren eh? How fun that they want to make someone happy...even if it is to get what they want. :)

grandmapeg said...

It seems that the way to Grandpa's heart is through food and the way to Grandma Honey's heart is through tears :-) That is the same way at our house. Loved this post!

Susan Anderson said...

They are learning and growing so quickly, aren't they? Such a cute pair!

=)

Lisa said...

This post makes me feel so much joy for you & them. What a wonderful blessing it is to have such precious grandkids & to watch them grow up! I can't believe they are 4!!! I still think of them as newborns! : )

Karen Mortensen said...

What sweet stories. You can learn a lot from a 4 year old kids. Way to go guys.

Karen Mortensen said...

What sweet stories. One can learn a lot from 4 year old kids. Way to go guys.

McKay said...

Since when has Dennis been into chess?! I'll have to challenge him next time you guys are in town.

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