I get weekly updates from babycenter.com for Owen and Baby Q2. The update for Owen this week was: "Being little is tough, especially when someone bigger than you dictates what you'll wear, and when you'll take a bath, go to bed, and eat meals. One of the only ways your 15-month-old has to assert herself is to say "no" or refuse to cooperate. To cut down on the number of no's you hear, try to limit your own use of the word — toddlers are great mimics, after all. You may be pleasantly surprised by the results."
At Owen's 15-month pedi appointment, I was told that it was time to start time outs. Hmm. I thought, Owen doesn't really do anything that is "time out worthy". Since then, with the help of family (you know who you are), I have learned that maybe there are a few "limits" I ought to set for the little guy. You know...make my house just a little bit less of a "yes" house and not let O get away with EVERYthing. For pete's sake, we re-named the dog to Bubba, 'cause that's what Owen calls her...it's cute!!!
So, oppposite of babycenter.com's advice to not say "no" so often...I am on a quest to say it at least once or twice a day...
After listing Owen's "offences", we decided on the following changes:
1. He can't play with the telephone {I really will miss this, I found it was so funny watching him dial a crazy long, say 173 digit, phone number just to be told by the operator to hang up and try again...I find humor in this...strange, I know}
2. He can't play with the remote {I saw the consequence of this action being that he turned off the t.v. show he was watching. No more Elmo?....that's the effect of causing a change in the channel, my little man...your learning here).
3. He can't use mama's electric toothbrush on the various fixtures in our bathroom and bedroom to make fun, silly sounds that make him belly laugh.
Though they may sound trivial, those are three pretty big changes in our house as these are "toys" that became favs of O's.
But, guess what, Owen has been fine with this. He gestures toward the phone, I say "no, we don't play with that any more {cause Grammy and Dr. Kessinger said no ;-) }, but you can play with insert any of Owen's actual toys here." He truly has been okay with this for a week straight. Hmm...I guess limits are working.
You know what the hardest adjustment for Punkadoo and me has been? The doc encouraged me to encourage him (read this like "help me, help you" in Jerry McGuire) to use his words. So, instead of responding to the grunts, gestures, or sounds that he makes {and that I have learned the meaning of}, he needs to use his words. This has resulted in more intense tantrums than I thought a 15 month old would be capable of. He screams, throws himself on the floor, pouts the biggest pout in Texas, and cries, cries, cries.
Mama watches, and in the most patient, loving voice I can find {75% of the time -- I use the exhausted, stressed voice when the nicer voice isn't to be found}, I encourage him to tell mama what he wants. 
2 comments:
Trust me on the phone thing, it will be worth it!! I thought that it was really cute too until B called 911 and hung up on them. A visit by the police an hour later and a very embarassed mom!!
Just wait - Mia now puts herself in time out. I can say "If you do that again you're going to time out" and she will then go and sit in time out. It's so cute but now what do I do?? Ha Ha!! Good luck!!
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