Friday, November 21, 2008

LG's 1st (and 2nd and 3rd....) time out

This afternoon and evening proved to be parentally exhausting. LG, while a sweet boy, showed his persistence in testing one boundary in particular.  One of my "things" as a parent is teaching my child not to scream, at least while indoors. So, when LG proceeded to do that very thing about 7 dozen times tonight (only a slight exaggeration), I had to take some action.  Mind you, they were not hair-raising screams.  But he would look me in the eyes while he did his little performances. I saw this as an important learning moment for LG and myself. Since I've had some experience working with difficult kids as a teacher, I yanked open my mental filing cabinet and found that the file labeled "toddlers" was missing. But, if I have learned anything from teaching special ed, it is that you must be consistent and also point out good behavior. So, with this in mind, I was pretty good at giving him a consequence when he stepped out of the zone and likewise, letting him know when he was "talking nice".  The consequence became "time out" even though I am not completely sure about that method.  We danced this two-step for QUITE  a while tonight. My husband is out of the country, by the way, so this was an exclusive mother/son experience. There isn't much of a point to this post, just that I now feel a certain bond to all the parents of toddlers in the world. It is wonderful, and difficult. By the way, I still haven't found those stupid boots.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

One item found

Naturally, I found the alarm clock about 3 minutes after I wrote the previous post.  No sign of the boots.

Has anyone seen my alarm clock or my boots?

It's been a week or two since I've seen my alarm clock. Likewise, the boots that I was planning on wearing today (and last Sunday) are also missing. I know LG is innocent until proven guilty, but he is my no. 1 suspect at the moment.  He is a pretty cute suspect. When my sister's kids were very young, she once found her alarm clock in the crisper area of the fridge. I had better continue my search.