Friday...Friday....

Thank God It's Friday!!!

I've never been so excited to see the end of a week.

 

While nothing major happened, I felt a little defeated this week in the parenting category.

As I've mentioned here before, Shelby has had a real problem with biting at school.

Last week was pretty bad.

1, 2 even 3 kids a day.

So disappointing.

We both talk to her when dropping her off and picking her up.

As much as people act like a 17-month old doesn't get it - well, we think she does.

She knows the word bite and she knows she isn't suppose to do it.

 

Then, over the weekend, she got a little out of control with the smacking of her hand and grunting when things don't go her way.

She has even smacked us.

Not cool......

We let her know that too.

But, on Monday afternoon when I picked her up there was an incident report saying Shelby swung at her teacher.

(along with 2 other reports of her biting kids)

 

That was it folks.

I had all sorts of emotion.

Anger, disappointment, sadness, failure.

 

What are we doing wrong??

When we got home, she did it again.

Swung at both of us.

We did an extreme time out and I think she got it.

Since then, I'm happy to say there's been no reports and we're encouraging gentle touches and hugs.

 

Even for Mr. Buddy.

 And, the babies.

 I've been doing a lot of reading and I'm trying to praise her when she's sweet and kind and encourage her to give hugs and kisses.

 Let's hope we stay on the up and up.

 I know it's just a phase but Brad and I are both on the same page about intervening before it gets out of hand.

As I've said before, I REFUSE, to let her be a bratty, spoiled child.

Here's to a good weekend and an even better week to come!

TGIF!

And, so it begins..

Well, we officially have a toddler.

A toddler who is testing us.

It's started a few weeks back but more and more she's working to get a reaction.

 

If she didn't do this we would know that something might be wrong with her.

 

Her favorite things to do right now in the 'testing' department?

 

* Tantrums. The most recent was at the mall when she didn't want to get back in the stroller.

She fell to the floor and cried and kicked around.

They say she does this at school time to time.

We don't make a big deal out of it.

We wrangled her back into the stroller and just let her cry it out.

Embarassing? Yes, but Brad and I REFUSE to let her win.

Let's all face it, if you give in when they do that sort of thing, you're screwed.

 

* Drop her sippy cup from her high chair right after you hand it to her(looking at us the whole time to get a reaction)

* Scream(I'm not down with kids screaming in the house, I didn't grow up being allowed to do that and I'm not going to stand for it)

* At times biting me(not brad for some reason, and she bite a kid at school)

 

Of course, there are other small things but those are the main things.

This isn't major stuff but we recognize it.

She's a great little girl, but she's growing up and learning her way.

 

Brad and I are both trying to approach things reasonably and the best way possible for the best outcome.

 

Our speech pathologist friend told us to ignore her when she drops her cup or screams.

That seems to be working somewhat versus scolding her.

 Last night she bite me again.

It's been several weeks since she bite me last time.

I told her no very sternly and she started laughing and thought I was playing.

I decided to put her in time out.

I wanted to let her know that it is not acceptable to do that and I will not play with her when she behaves that way.

 

She cried and cried and tried to get up.

Brad went over and stood in front of her and told her no to stay seated.

Honestly, it was hard not to laugh but I wanted her to know I was serious.

I didn't console her or go over there, we both just let her sit.

 

Did she get the message?

I don't know.

Let's hope she's figuring it out.

Brad and I are both trying to raise a daughter who is sweet, respectful towards others, and well behaved.

I don't want her to be that kid that everyone whispers under their breath.

'Oh....great.... Shelby is coming over...'

 

I can remember kids like that when growing up and I know kids like that now.

I will do everything in my power for her not to be that kid.

Here's to learning the ropes of parenting.

 

Feel free to give advice!

A Big Pet Peeve of Mine

Now that I'm private I feel a little more freedom to write about topics that I might not when public.

One of them is a huge pet peeve of mine and that is:

 Parents who complain about their kids.

(especially in front of them)

I know that I have not hit the terrible 2's or 3's or 4's or whatever, but this is still something I'm pretty passionate about giving what it took us to even have Shelby.

It's something that totally rubbed me the wrong way when trying to conceive and even to this day.

It's just rude, selfish and inappropriate.

I understand there are hard times but in my opinion parents should talk about these things between themselves instead of making comments such as:

"I can't wait to get away from my kids."

"Oh, you have a 9-month old, I bet you couldn't WAIT to get out of the house!!"

(this was said to me at a blogger event and I was quick to put them in their place)

"Why did we have kids again?"

(then trying to laugh about it)

The worst comment ever made to me and Brad?

(And, when we were in the midst of crazy fertility treatments. And, it was made in front of the children who were old enough to understand.)

"I can't wait for you guys to have kids, so your life can be as miserable as mine."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I know parenting is hard but when we were trying to get pregnant I SWORE to myself that I WOULD NEVER COMPLAIN ABOUT MY CHILD IF WE WERE TO EVER HAVE ONE!

That is still my story and I'm sticking to it.

Maybe I'm different???

Am I??

Is it because what we went through?

Brad has never complained once and I don't ever see him complaining.

We take our jobs as parents as the best and most ultimate job we could ever be blessed with.

We treasure our time with her but appreciate our time away too, but I don't go around chanting to everyone that we're free?

We miss her but at the same time I know it's important for our marriage to have time for just the two of us.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When we were trying to conceive and even now I question parents that complain about their children.

It's not judging it's just my personal question.

"Why did they even have kids?"

"Did they have them too early in life to appreciate them?"

THOUGHTS??

Infant Survival Swim

I'm not sure about the rest of you Moms, or Moms to be out there, but I had never heard of Infant Survival Swim until a friend of mine mentioned.

HOLY SMOKES is all I have to say.

I'm talking about it today over at the Junior League of Charlotte blog.

Click here to check it out.