1) Hailey has been throwing some terrible temper tantrums this week and it has lead me to wonder if we have been spoiling her. She is so particular about the way she wants things and throws a hissy fit if you don't get it right. Example: giving the two of them slices of cheddar cheese at lunchtime to buy me three minutes to make the rest of their lunch. Hand piece of cheese to Hailey who looks at it with disgust. Wants a new one. Why? Who on earth knows. Its too thin? Too thick? Too small? Cut her a new one, plus a second, and all is well again. Same sort of routine for peanut butter on a spoon (how dare I put it on the pink spoon and not the yellow one....or some sort of ridiculous thing as that). I'm probably the one to blame for giving into her whims. Sometimes I have a low tolerance for the whining, and while I want to be consistent with disciplining, some battles just aren't worth fighting to me. Like the thickness of a piece of cheese. Hand the rejected one to Casey, get her a new one and we all move on. But until now. As it seems to be spilling over to more and more situations. The new method of dealing with it is, "Hailey, this is the one you get, it's fine, if you don't want it, you can sit in timeout." Then I place her in the corner, the food item or whatever, on the counter and she either eventually takes it, or walks away. Here's hoping things start to improve, still too early to tell.
2) Casey is starting another round of teething, joy of joys. Picked up more teething tablets at the store today.
3) We are heading to Canada tomorrow to visit my sister, her husband and their two kids for a few days! The university has spring break, so rather than be cooped up in our house with cabin fever, we are taking the 7 hr, 52 min road trip to visit some family! I am so excited as we've never been up there to visit them. She and I got married the same summer, almost 4yrs ago, and her hubby is Canadian, hence their current dwelling place. I can't wait to experience their life up there.
4) Speaking of which, I have packed nothing yet and really should get on that. I have a load of wash waiting to be moved to the dryer, and another one ready to go in. My most productive time is in the evening, after the littles are in bed, so I think I'm waiting till then.
5) Do you take it easy during naptime? I could be accomplishing things around the house right now, but I use naptime as downtime for mommy too everyday. If they are resting, so am I. Or doing something for me. I'll usually start with my daily prayer time, then either nap, read, watch a show, blog, or work out and shower. I look forward to 1-3pm every single day.
6) Fridays in Lent are tough for me. Especially because I don't like seafood. I'm trying to expand my horizons but it's slow going. I have no idea what we are having tonight.....
7) Isn't he precious? I came home from the store and found him like this. Luke said he didn't help him. Tired teething baby. Who I may have just heard wake up.....
Oh, the tantrums :). We had an awful round of them right after we hit year two, and then with a lot of, "Welp, you can go hang out in your room until you can be calm", they passed for a while. Now we're hitting a new round that is generally centered around doing it herself or just being confused as to what she really wants. Sometimes I just walk away until she's sorted it out and sometimes she needs a hug and for me to say that I understand it's confusing (growing up is hard work ;-)) Good luck! Some days I just tell myself that if I don't throw a tantrum as well, we're doing pretty well.
ReplyDeleteI *definitely* take it easy during naptime. If I don't nap, then I use the time to use the computer, sometimes work, and sometimes just read blogs and facebook (aka, what I'm doing right now). Sometimes naptime/quiet time is only half an hour long, though, so I have to savor it while I get it!
I, too, am not a seafood fan at all. I try to occasionally make some salmon and rice (I've found a recipe that I can handle if I'm in the right mood, honey mustard!) because my hubby and daughter like it, but otherwise we do a lot of grilled cheese and tomato soup, vegetarian chili and pasta with sauce.
Happy Friday!
My favorite book about kids is "Wonder Weeks" which does a lot of explaining why kids do the things that they do. Tough isn't it? When the child naps, I nap. LOVE LOVE Seafood...
ReplyDeleteMmm, temper tantrums. What fun :) They're the best when you've got a room full of 20 other preschoolers, 3-6 years of age with 1 or 2 of them screaming on the floor. In your situation, I'm a fan of presenting choices for the child. Instead of handing the child peanut butter in a blue spoon, ask her if she would like peanut butter, followed by, "would you like it in the blue spoon or the pink spoon?" The choice allows the child to feel [a healthy] independence and, really, decision-making is an important life skill.
ReplyDelete... And there's my student Early Childhood Educator side coming out. Hope that helps a little. God bless!
Teething is no bueno.
ReplyDeleteI miss the days of kids napping and having down time! Treasure that! It's so great that you use that time to rejuvenate.
Have a great trip ti Canada, what a fun adventure!