Mappen Kakken

Who knew I'd learn a habit from a 2-year-old?

Recently Andreas' cousin, his cousin's wife, and their 2-year-old son came from Sweden to stay with us for a couple of weeks.

I was nervous for Emelie. The time she has spent with other children is for an hour or two at a time, so I had no idea how she'd respond to having another toddler in the house playing with her toys, sleeping on a different schedule (and therefore being awake and running around while Eme was napping), and generally exerting his own will on a previously Eme-run household.

Actually, it was fine. Great, really.

Eme would get excited in the morning when she heard Viktor stirring in his room. She was very kind about sharing (really, she just let him have whatever he wanted, and came up with ways to trick him into wanting different toys than she wanted -- clever Eme). Nap times turned out not to be as big a problem as I thought. In general, everything went well.

What I didn't expect was that Viktor would teach ME any habits.

He had a little stuffed cat ("katten" in Swedish) and a pacifier ("knappen") that he wanted when he was tired or needed comfort. When he wailed "knappen och katten" (as in "I want my pacifier and cat, please") repeatedly, it meant he was upset or tired. With his 2-year-old Swedish it sounded to me like "mappen kakken."

Up to now, Emelie hasn't had a mappen kakken. I've been trying to keep her independent of props so that if we forget a particular animal when we go out she can still take her naps. In fact, I've been trying to rotate the animals she carries around, hoping that she won't become dependent on any one of them.

Seeing how much Viktor loved his mappen kakken, I have been rethinking. Now, every time Eme asks for "beebeeeee" (her baby doll) I let her have it (rather than trying to distract with something else). So far, she's still able to get to sleep without it, but she asks for it almost every night....

Have I started a bad habit?

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