Hmph.

I just went outside to let Liam know dinner was cooling (doesn't like his food hot) & he was playing in the Honda while Dada cleaned his car (to put up for sale). He said that he wasn't coming inside & I said that yes, in fact, he was & that I was coming back out to get him when his dinner was ready.

I went back out on the front veranda/deck area and called down to him & he told me no again. But this time he said "Mama go away" and PUT THE WINDOW UP AND WAVED GOODBYE.

Stinky, little, stinker bug.

Morning Status: FAIL

Liam was in a Mood this morning. He got two time outs for throwing toys & his chupies. He got his whole basket full of kitchen toys taken away because after his FAIL of a time out he went right back and threw some more. He cried, he screamed, he had snot running down his face and he begged Dada to side with him.

Then we went to Tumbles. And we had to leave before class was over. He hit me in the face while waiting in line. He got a time out while there because of that. He did apologize and say sorry but that didn't stop him from throwing himself on the floor forcefully and screaming at the top of his lungs and about 4 octaves higher. So we left.

We came home had lunch and went straight to bed. I only hope he wakes up in a better mood because this morning did nothing to help my mood. He was in bed by 11:30. I hope he's not getting sick and maybe he's teething but he was a little pain in the ass bum this morning.

I have no idea why he was so out of sorts at Tumbles; it started out good and kind of just went downhill. He wasn't misbehaving the whole time but it was enough. The hitting me in the face almost made me walk out right then & there but I stuck it out & put him on the tables & made him sit there and apologize and attempted to rejoin the group. It just didn't work though & I had had enough and clearly he didn't feel like participating properly. He wasn't up early, wasn't up late last night...so I don't know what could have caused all the issues this morning except Terrible Two Territory. And to that I give the big Adult Sign Language Finger to.

Friday Five - Things the Fellow does not Approve

We have on our hands an independent little thinker these days, with opinions & desires and freshly added Things a Fellow Does Not Approve Of and today I will honor those things with the hope that someday these opinions will change!

1. Fellow approves of raisins & craisins BUT not any other kind of dried fruit. I tried the Fruit Bites & Raisin with Cheeries and since they were different colors and different shapes (I'm assuming), he wouldn't even touch them. Or look at them.
2. Fellow does not approve of eating what he asks to eat. Snack time has been challenging this week to say the least. He will ask for cereal, then not eat it. He will ask for cottage cheese and then run screaming like I handed him a bowl of snakes. He will ask for yogurt and then look at me like I just asked him to name all fifty (there are 50, right?) states in alphabetical order. He will ask for a cookie, but not that cookie, he wants that cookie and you see, Dada ate all of those cookies so there are none to give. And yet he still looks the gift cookie in the face and refuses to eat it. Fine, I'm not one to waste food...
3. Fellow does not approve of shirts. He's been hardcore hitting up the Ghetto Style this week. As Nana says, I need to get the kid some bling.
4. Fellow does not approve of running errands that involve him being in the car seat, stroller and/or shopping cart for the entire duration. He wants to "walk, Mama" and "run, Mama" and yes, Mama is well aware of this little factoid but is also well aware of the street outside those doors and those doors that open automatically and the errands that actually need to get done, thankyouverymuch, this is not a playground, son.
5. Fellow does not approve of being silent in the car for one hot second. At all. Today, I told him he was a distraction as I was trying to pull out into holiday rush hour traffic coming from the Post Office (carseat-->stroller errand) and it actually shut him the hell up made him pause and reflect silently for a moment.

The Outgrowing Phase

We are fully entrenched in an Outgrowing Phase here at Casa Nino. We've outgrown our favorite sandals this week, today it seems he has outgrown using his 'baby' bowls and insisted upon using an Adult Bowl and Spoon for his cereal, he has outgrown the need to wear a shirt, he has outgrown the need to sit in my lap for Circle Time, etc. etc. etc.

For some reason (well ok Toddler Reasons) he insisted on wearing his closed toed shoes (the cute tan ones) and those don't fit anymore either. He doesn't want to use his plastic utensils anymore and luckily I had bought a set of Toddler Fork & Spoon at the every handy Target $1 Spot so he has those two that are in heavy rotation daily. He will only drink his juice out of a Big Boy Cup and has been known to take his lid off his sippy cups and drink straight from it. I only give him enough juice to make it No Worries Spill Proof but I do not do the same with his milk but methinks that might be a good idea. He's picking his own meals & throwing fits protesting loudly when we don't give him what he threw the fit about requested. This includes Frosted Flakes for dinner, Oreos for lunch & maple syrup for snacks.

I have no idea where he gets this strong headed stubbornness from.

Thankfully, the blame rests squarely on both of our shoulders as a product of a Scorpio Taurus combination, Liam never stood a chance.

Also, in times like these, I love to blame the Terrible Twos Territory on his strong willfullness and mind-numbing bullheaded requests. Shirley, it cannot be that he's simply taking after his parents, right?

Anyway, things these days are long, tiring & Am I Really Fighting With a Two Year Old? but amusing and also mind-blowing to watch unfold. As long as I don't have to do any of the 're-folding' after the fact, you know?

And, oh yeah, he woke up at 4am this morning & wouldn't go back to sleep until he was in bed with us, with me hanging off the bed (literally with one foot on the ground) and elbows flying every time I finally dozed back to sleep...

Entering Terrible Twos Territory - need help!

I need a little help with some discipline suggestions as Liam has started to hit us in the face when we have to pick him up to make him do something he doesn't want to do. He even hit the beloved Nana last week when she was struggling to get a wiggling, non-cooperative Liam on the changing table! I do not like being slapped in the face & the other day he hit me hard enough for it to smart for a good 10 minutes afterwards.

At the moment, we are sitting him down, looking him in the eye, getting down to his eye-level and telling him very sternly that you never, ever hit someone. And he has even been known to hit us when we are telling him this!

I think there has got to be a way to discipline him firmly without having to spank him but I've yet to find it. I have started just dropping everything I am doing and sitting him down right away and having the little talk with him because I know that consistency is part of the key here & even though the reason I've picked him up to begin with is because we have to do something right then but stopping it all to set him straight has to be the main focus at that point.

I should maybe point out that he doesn't act out because we've stopped him from doing something, it's always usually because we have to change his diaper or put him in his highchair.

I also don't think that the Time Outs on the stairs are working seeing as he doesn't sit & we have to sit with him. I might try the "corner" approach like Rach does and see how he handles that. I don't want to make a Time Out Chair cause I don't want him to start resenting chairs and not wanting to sit on one during normal play time so I thought the top stair would work but now I think the corner will be a better option for us...who cares if he hates the corner, right?!

How did you guys get your precious one to stop hitting? I know it's a Phase & natural (rolls eyes) part of exploring and testing (you don't say?) their boundaries but I do not enjoy getting hauled off on & slapped straight across the face. I really don't think "waiting it out" is an option, I do think I have to punish him for his actions I'm just kind of at a loss...I'm not one to believe that spanking him in response to this is a great way of showing discipline cause hitting for hitting isn't really moving us forward towards a resolution, no is it? You hit me, I hit you doesn't make much sense for me so at this point I'm trying to reason with a emerging terrible two-er while making sure I've not got a toddler sized hand print across my cheek!