Category Archives: Discipline

I can do this… I think I can do this… Can I do this?

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“Mommy, I have a question.” she says to me as we settle down in her room for the night. She’s had a bath, has fresh PJ’s on and has her head lying on her little sheep pillow.

“Ok, Ry, shoot.” I respond with a smile and a bit of a chuckle. {where does this kid come up with this stuff!?}

She sits up on her knees, looks me square in the eyes and says “So, how was your day?”

I pause for a quick second and actually think about it. I tell her I had a great day and ask her if she knows what my favorite part of it was.

“No, Mommy, what was your favorite?”

“My favorite part of my day was the special night we had tonight. We played ball outside… We laughed a lot… We ate ice cream… We read books… We had fun tonight, didn’t we?”

She smiles and says “yea…” lays her head down on the pillow then taps the bed right next to her and says “One more minute…”

As I lay there I think, I can totally do this.

This time next week Andy will be on his way to Alaska for his EPIC Alaskan Fishing trip with his dad and best friend. So while he’s off traveling the great state of AK for an adventure of a lifetime, I will be playing the single mom role.

With nights like last night it’s easy to think, “pshhh, this will be nuthin’!”

But then…I think back to Saturday. Oh how easily it all comes back to me.

The crying.
The screaming.
The hitting.
The timeouts.
More crying & screaming.
The anger.
The frustration.

The overwhelming feeling that I’m an awful mother who can’t even handle her own child.

Can I really do this? By myself? For 12 whole days?

Last night was great. Maybe it’s all mental? I was “ready” to have a fun night with just Rylee and me. Maybe it was the promise of ice cream after dinner?

By no means am I any sort of expert in the way of parenting, but here’s what I do know:

I am going to go into next week with a smile on my face and a freezer full of ice cream.

Let’s Talk About That Magical Switch

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True Story: When I met Rylee and Andy at the mall on Monday for her first-ever Santa meeting, she had the charm turned on. She was a perfect angel. After the Santa meet-up, we wanted to grab some lunch. As we headed to the mall food court, Ry politely asked for a grilled cheese sandwich: “Rylee want a grilled cheese sanich…heeese?”. Well, in our mall food court, there are seriously NO kid-friendly eateries. So we decided we’d spend the extra time an the extra money and go to the Chili’s in the mall…you know, so Ry could have her grilled cheese.

Chili’s was busy. Really busy.

My child? Was a perfect angel.

I’m not even kidding. She ordered her own lunch. Opting for the “tay-sa-dee-a” instead of the grilled cheese. She ordered her own beverage “Rylee need milk, heeese?”Upon arrival of both the milk and quesadilla she loudly proclaimed “Hank You”.

While we waited, we colored her menu, we wrote names of our family and spelled them out, we quietly sang the ABC’s, we played I Spy.

I heard our waiter, on more than one occasion, say things under his breath like “That’s so cute”. He even commented to another waiter how awesome Rylee was. As we were leaving? He made a point to stop Andy and tell him how adorable Rylee was.

You guys? I’m not going to lie to you…I was completely shocked. Now, before you try to tell me that of course Rylee was great, she’s a great little kid, she’s an angel, blah, blah, blah…let me paint a picture of the night before…

My child was a monster. Not the cute little monster for which she got her nickname. There was nothing cute about Sunday night. She all out grew horns and was letting Andy and me know it. She wouldn’t listen. She was throwing fits. She was kicking. She was screaming. She was throwing things. It was ugly.

It got so bad at one point, that Andy could clearly see the frustration and outright anger in my face and decided it was time to step in. I seriously, seriously contemplated whether or not my child was “ready” to be spanked. And not because I thought it would be the right way to discipline her, but because I was angry. When Andy stepped in, I gladly walked away. I walked into my dark, quiet bedroom and sat down on the end of my bed. And just sat there.

The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful. Andy helped Ry get her jammies on and she came out of her bedroom looking for me. She snuggled up to me and we read books. I took her to bed. And that was that.

Now, I ask you…where is that magical switch? It’s gotta be somewhere…Rylee clearly knows where it is on her and me.

$H!T! I mean CRAP! I mean…oh eff it!

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I have not been known to have the most lady-like of mouths. Actually, there’s times when I have  down-right foul language. There. I said it. And if ya don’t know, now ya know. However, around my chatter box little 2 year old, I really try and watch what I say. Honest.

It seems like there is this “magical”, instantaneous moment when, as a parent, you go from trying to get your kid to say something to trying to get them to NOT say something! For months, maybe years, you try and coach your kid. Say Dog. Say Awesome. Say Pepsi. Sometimes they cooperates, other times? Not so much. Then, just when you think they’re not listening, you playfully tell your husband to “Shut up”. It’s like a bell goes off and your kid hops up and says “Shuyup. Shuyup. Shuyup.” Over and over and over again. All evening long. Then they get creative and say “Shuyup Daddy.” “Shuyup Mom.” “Shuyup Dante.” Then it’s bedtime and you figure, oh, they’ll forget by morning. Then morning rolls around and it seems within minutes of your wonderful, prefect little child awakening from a blissful slumber, you hear “Shuyup. Shuyup. Shuyup.” (why is it always in threes?)

Of course, the aforementioned story is not actually theoretical. By kid/they, I mean Rylee and by a parent/you, I mean me. And, I must also mention that Andy thought it was absolutely hilarious that she repeated something bad I said and not him. He made sure to take note of that one.

I guess out of all the words that have gone into that little monster’s ears, I should be happy (?) that the first doosey was “Shut up”…but I have a crazy little inkling that this will not be the last time our monster decides to act like a parrot.

Also, don’t forget that the Top Baby Blogs listings have been reset. I would probably be better able to watch my language if you voted for LMR…do it. For the sake of the kid.

Click To Vote For Us @ the Top Baby Blogs Directory! The most popular baby blogs

Makin’ the move

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So, I know I said I would post updates about the big move to the big-girl bed, well, last Saturday. It’s obviously Thursday now. Whatever. Life happens. Anyway, I got home from work last Friday night and Andy was getting everything ready to officially make the move. The crib was moved out of the way and her bed frame was in place. Rylee was super excited about it. I took this opportunity to grab the camera!
Here she is helping dad with the tools.
Breaking down the crib…
Testing out the new diggs…
Update:
Friday and Saturday Night: It took about 45 minutes to get her to sleep each night. Got out of bed at least 3 different times throughout the night. Saturday morning she woke up in our bed.
Saturday: She refused to take a nap.
Sunday: Fell asleep in the car on the way home from church, made a sucessful transfer to her bed where she napped for 2 hours.
Sunday and Monday nights: We resorted to locking her in her room and letting her cry it out. Getting out of bed twice each night. Oddly enough, she always ended up back in her bed before she went to sleep.
Tuesday Night: Only took 15 minutes to get her down and she only got up once (!!) that night. No door closing or crying necessary.
Wednesday Night: Again, 15 minutes to get her down and only up once. Again, no door closing or crying!
We will see what tonight brings, but I am happy to see the progress. If I would have given updates when promised, there would have been nothing to update about!
I am thankful for three things:
  1. That my daughter doesn’t know how to open doors. 
  2. That my daugher catches on quickly.
  3. That my husband is excited and really wants to take charge of the big-girl bed transition…if he wants to get up with her in the middle of the night, more power to him!
This is what happens when you don’t take a nap…you fall asleep in the middle of the living room at 5:15 PM.

You know I love you, but I really don’t like you right now!

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You know the saying, right? Well, that’s how I was feeling with Miss Monster Rylee this morning! Let me back up and first tell you that last night I started feeling cruddy…runny nose, sneezing, congestion, blech. I took some NyQuil last night and racked out. Andy was great last night…he made dinner, did the dishes and put Rylee to bed. And he got up with Ry both times she woke up crying last night (a somewhat-all-of-a-sudden-regular-occurance since she’s been so sick). I woke up this morning still tired and groggy from the meds.

Rylee was in a seemingly good mood this morning…things started off just fine in fact. Then breakfast time rolled around. She decided she couldn’t decided between an orange or a pear and we stood there with the refrigerater door open for nearly a minute before I smartened up and realized I should just move her out of the way and close the door while she decided. Finally, the decision was an orange. Then she wanted some cereal to go with it. No big deal. I opened up the cereal cupboard and she chose Chex. Great choice. So while I was peeling the orange (which I am HORRIBLE at, by the way), she sat at the table in her chair with some cereal in front of her.  Next thing I hear is the sound of cereal dumping all over the table! Awesome. She got to the box, pulled out the bag and dumped it out because she wanted more. She then preceeded to “accidentally” push some into her lap and squish and crunch it under her bum. Even better. I managed to get it dumped into a bowl and the crumbs all cleaned up. She ate her orange and all was well…or so I thought.

When it was time to leave for Grammy’s house, she told me she wanted to wear her boots. For some stupid, crazy, no good reason, I told her no. I’m pretty sure I was still grumpy about the cereal thing. Either way, I made my decision, NO it was. Well, of course she was not happy about that! These boots are her new favorite thing! The boots mean that she gets to go outside in the wet, muddy goodness that we call Oregon Spring. As soon as I told her no, I questioned myself, realizing that was stupid, but while we begin this whole thing called discipline, I needed to stick to my word. Needless to say,  a nice raging fit followed my no. How on earth such a normally sweet little kid can scream “boots” so loud is beyond me. While I stuck to my guns and she wore her pink tennis shoes, I did concede and we brought the boots with us.

Now, hours later, as I sit here and read the story I just told, I’ve decided I am completely ridiculous. Was I seriously that upset over cereal and boots!?

Reality check. Take a deep breath. Relax. She’s nearly 2. She’s not perfect. You’re not perfect. Pick your battles. Look at the bright side, your dog will be more than happy to clean up any leftover crumbs tonight and you still got to work on time!