How Do You Solve a Problem Like Alex?

I’m getting a bit annoyed at the fact that Alex won’t listen when I read to him. He’ll hum the entire “Sound of Music” soundtrack under his breath and line up dominos instead. This failure to focus has gone on long enough! I decided to fight back. I sat down right next to him, opened up the book and kept right on reading no matter what he was doing. He sang louder, “The hills are alive…”, I plugged my ears and kept right on reading. “Doe, a deer, a female deer” he crooned. I kept on reading. “So LONG, FAREWELL, AUF WIEDERSEHEN, GOOD-BYE” – boy, he’s a tough nut to crack. I kept right on reading.

Wouldn’t you know it? He stopped. He sat by me. He listened to the last page. I stayed calm which was a miracle and said “goodnight”. As I began to leave the room I heard, “Mommy wait…give me a kiss!” Ah, the sweet smell of victory!