All my toddlers have loved playing with shoes, Emily included. There is a photo here of her trying on a pair of boy's sneakers and snow boots. What the fascination is with shoes, I'll never know. I certainly have no shoe fetish.
There is one photo of my husband, with a faint smile on his face. He isn't smiling much lately though. He's been so busy playing Mr. Mom that it's been after the kids' bedtimes before he's had time for his own shower. There's a lot to learn before you can juggle everything well. I'm still learning and I've been at this Mom thing nearly seven years. I'm still doing laundry and a few of Rosey's potty trips or diaper changes.
Really driving Don nuts is the fact that Rosey is into everything. You can't take your eyes off of her yet, for the most part. Here she's getting into the cans.
We never went through the terrible twos with the boys. They weren't difficult until about three years old. Not so with Rose, I suspect. Yesterday she threw a full water bottle in frustration at my telling her no about something. Then she had herself a mini-primal scream. I have to confess this is going to be a challenge, if it is indeed the terrible twos. It was easier to discipline a three-year-old toddler/preschooler. I'm not used to dealing with this so early. The playpen is no longer her timeout place, since she got out of it successfully and I had to dismantle it. What am I to do now? If she is strong-willed, as I suspect, then spanking will do no good. Plus, she's definitely probably too young for a spanking. I believe spanking is, for the most part, only effective when done once in a while, with kids who are not ADHD or strong-willed.
I will have to think and pray about this, and hopefully come up with a timeout place that allows her to stay put, and me to go forth quickly with my busy day. Otherwise, am I stuck holding her in timeout, for two or three minutes? I suspect she would definitely understand the timeout, or more accurately, she'll be able to connect her behavior to the timeout. I'm certain her receptive language skills would allow that, even though her speech problems have delayed her talking. What have you used - those of you who've dealt with the terrible twos, at the actual age of two (or nearly two)? Emily turns 2 on Dec. 14. We use distraction quite a bit, but throwing a full water bottle, or a toy, would pose a serious threat to the new baby. I have to curb any throwing ASAP.
1 comment:
I've been reading your blog for a while but I'm terrible about commenting. My son, Gabriel is almost exactly the same age as your Emily Rose. He'll be two on the 19th of December.
I'm totally amazed to read this post that your boys didn't test you much until age three! Wow. Gabe's 'terrible twos' started at or before 18 months. When he was younger, we did kind of did 'time out' with him sitting on our laps and held firmly. He hated that and it did work for a while. We have also slapped his hand some in the past, but the lap sitting worked better. Now he often only needs a reminder, but we do spank him and have been for quite some time. I know not everyone agrees with this, but it *is* effective for teaching boundaries and respect for authority. He knows which things he is allowed in and which he is not, he knows to come when he is told, and he knows what will happen if he does not obey. With my strong-willed child, spanking gets his attention and I'm surprised to see that you think it only works when a child is not strong willed. In my experience it's kind of the opposite, and might not be so necessary when a child is less strong-willed.
I just want to wish you wisdom and grace as you seek God's will in parenting a new kind of child! :)
Terri
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