Time Out

Skyler has been testing her limits. She will do something over and over again each time I tell her no, and sometimes she’ll do it just halfway, look at me and smile slyly, waiting for me to scold her. It’s so adorable but I have to be strong and stern at the same time so she doesn’t win!

Last week I even had to put her in time out for the first time. We got home from work and I got her in the highchair and started feeding her dinner. But behind me on the floor she could see her Pink Bear, so she started pointing and whining after it. I don’t let her have that at dinner b/c it would then be nearly impossible to feed her with that big furry bear in her lap (and not to mention messy!) so I wouldn’t get it for her. She proceeded to scream bloody [fake] murder at me and shoving the spoon of food out of her way when I would try to keep going. I decided to kick Pink Bear around the corner so she could no longer see it, but that didn’t help, and perhaps even upset her worse. She wasn’t about to forget about Pink Bear this meal! I finally put the food up and took her to her crib screaming the most obnoxious tantrum I’ve ever heard from her. I set her in there, closed the door and let her scream in the dark. When she settled down I would go get her, let her get Pink Bear hugs out of her system, and then attempt dinner again. FIFTEEN MINUTES later, she had calmed, but was still whimpering. I felt like that was good enough for our first time out experience! The rest of the evening she was back to her normal fun self, thank God!

It’s funny how some moments can be so overwhelmingly irritating I want to run far, far away, but in minutes, the day has turned a 180, I’m wrestling around with my giggly little girl, and I’m wondering what ever got my blood boiling just a little bit earlier?