I'm not sure why, but Sam can't hear me.
I mean, sure, sometimes she hears the words that come out of my mouth. But it's like there's a wall of Marshmallow Fluff somewhere behind her ears that just absorbs most of what I say. When a few words do get through, her brain seems to have a delayed reaction, possibly because it's trying to piece together seemingly random words.
Why is this? I have no idea. I know I'm speaking clearly, but lately she's starting pulling this line on me: "I'm sorry, Mom, I just don't understand what you're saying."
Because "please get dressed" is a terribly complicated sentence construction, I know.
It makes me grumpy. I hate repeating myself. Like, really and truly hate it.
I'm quite willing to admit that patience is a virtue that I lack. My mom enjoys the joke "God grant me patience, and make it NOW!" and I've got to say that it rings very true for me.
But I find myself trying very very very hard at least five times a day not to freak out at Sam because she's not listening to me. You know how all the parenting guides tell you that, to get your kid to listen to you, you need to make sure you're listening to her?
Yeah, tried that. It's a bunch of crap.
I know this is largely a 4-year-old thing (and yes, I know, just wait until she's a teenager ...). But how do you deal with this? Do you find that it's a problem that tumbles over into the discipline area?
It's called 'selective hearing'. It happens. Throw 'Disneyland' into every sentence and see how quickly it stops.