apologies

So we've been working on the art of the apology around here. A hug, a "sorry so and so" and a brief explanation. We were off to a slow start, but Q seems to be catching on.

Lately he has been kicking me while I change his nappy. Not hard. But seriously annoying. I keep telling him to stop kicking mama but he thinks "keecking mama" is a hilarious game. And if I raise me voice and get all serious and authoritarian, it apparently becomes funnier. But tonight we made a breakthrough. I said sternly, "Quincy, it isn't nice to kick mama." He immediately stopped laughing and said, "saya mama" and pulled me down to give me a hug.

The last few days we've been hearing "saya digger", "saya fire onion", "saya guys", etcetera if he accidently bumps a toy during play or even if he has to move a toy in order to start playing with something else. And yesterday he fell and when I gave him a cuddle, he said "saya mama", so he might just be getting a tad confused and taking it all a bit far.

Tonight I was in the middle of a conversation with Jeremy. He was getting frustrated that I wouldn't read him The Snail and the Whale (Quincy not Jeremy), so he threw the book on the floor (again Quincy not Jeremy). I gasped oh so dramatically and told him with the straightest face I could muster that it wasn't nice to the book, the whale, or the snail, so he said "saya book" while giving it a hug. Jeremy, laughing, took it a step further, and well, have you ever seen someone try to give the floor a hug?

This reminds me of a story about Max, one of my nephews. To preface, they have to give four-step apologies... "I'm sorry for such and such because (insert reason it wasn't a nice thing to do). I promise not to do it again. Do you accept my apology?"

So Eddye was trying to cultivate a beautiful rare plant. Max loved to play with his guys and dinosaurs around said plant. One day he knocked the big red blossom off. Lisa told him he needed to apologize and here is how it went down...

Max: I'm sorry for knocking off your head. It must have hurt. I won't do it again. Do you accept my apology?
Beautiful rare plant: silence
Max: (with a hint of frustration in the voice) I'm sorry for knocking off your head. It must have hurt. I won't do it again. Do you accept my apology?
Beautiful rare plant: silence
Max: (totally frustrated) I'M SORRY FOR KNOCKING OFF YOUR HEAD. IF YOU DON'T ACCEPT MY APOLOGY, I'M GONNA KNOCK YOUR HEAD OFF AGAIN.