I’ve been thinking about something that Jimmy told us during the Fall right before Sydney started going to school. There was a meeting with prospective parents and Preschool administrators. Jimmy said that, in essence, they asked parents to name a significant trait about their children. He’d told them that Syd was a ‘negotiator.’ I thought that I’d likely have said that Syd is exceptionally bright or articulate with an incredible vocabulary for a young child.
But when I really started thinking about it, I immediately realized that Jimmy is absolutely right. Sydney Marie Stewart is ‘The Negotiator In Chief.’
I’ve noticed in my own writings in “The Chronicles” that I use the words: ‘after I negotiated with Sydney for a while’ about something such and such happened. I’ve also seen it when Skyler writes something about ‘after negotiating with Sydney’ this was the result.
I’m here to tell you that at 3 years old this kid is a master negotiator and she’ll negotiate longer and harder than the grown men selling trinkets to tourists on a beach in Mexico and they do that all day long every day of the year!
From what I can tell, no issue is too trivial for Sydney Marie Stewart to try to negotiate. Bath time often involves negotiations.
One night I’d told Syd that she HAD to take a bath but I’d cut her a lot of slack and suggested that it only had to be 2 minutes long, which meant that she’d be in and out of the bath in no time. In Sydney’s World, where negotiating is the art of the deal, she held out for a 1 minute bath. The girl was positively thrilled when I accepted her counter offer. It was a win win situation. Syd felt that she’d won the negotiation and I knew that once she gets in the bath she always wants to stay in much longer, which means that I outsmarted a Preschooler!!!
This week was classic Sydney. She didn’t want to take a bath but she really really needed one because she was dirty all over. She’d been jumping outside at school and had gotten filthy. She was in her bedroom and undressed at the time when she exclaimed: “I’M NOT DIRTY ALL OVER.” Pointing to her back she empathically told me: “MY BACK ISN’T DIRTY!” That’s when I said: “YOU DON’T HAVE TO WASH YOUR BACK!!! I guess that means that I wasn’t outsmarted by a Preschooler…or was I?
Generally, when we’re getting ready to take Syd home we get into all kinds of negotiations. She had agreed to go to the potty right before we left our house. Yes, she went to the potty but she sat on the toilet seat going the wrong direction! I guess it was Syd’s way of showing her belief that: “I’M THE BOSS OF ME!” Finally, she turned around the right way.
By the way, I wanted to let you know that Syd STILL considers herself a PRINCESS and a LITTLE SQUIRREL.
Recently JB told her that she was being a Drama Queen…Syd didn’t challenge the fact that she’s dramatic just that she isn’t a Queen. She told him: “I’M NOT A DRAMA QUEEN…I’M A DRAMA PRINCESS!”
When we were at the Stewarts’ house we met one of Skyler’s cousins. When he said something about Syd being a cute little girl she quickly corrected him saying: “I’m a SQUIRREL!” That made me start thinking about the fact that Jimmy is taking Syd to Shanghai for a 3 week trip in June.
What happens when they get to customs and someone says that Sydney is a cute little girl? When she tells them that she’s a SQUIRREL who knows if they’re going to have to talk to the airport people, who decide which ANIMALS can come into China. Perhaps Syd should go heavy with the “I’M A PRINCESS” and NOT TALK about the fact that she’s “DADDY’S LITTLE SQUIRREL!”
Love, D2
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