Mother of the year award right here, please! Yup, that's right. Because the story you're about to read is going to make you think, "She's an idiot!"
So here goes. Zoe's turning two in less than 3 weeks. And with the aging process comes independence...and with independence comes the "I don't have to listen to you" stage. Let's just say she's not getting very far with that - but she's trying. Oh she's trying - with all her might. She got more pops on the leg and time outs yesterday alone than I remember giving in a week or maybe even two combined. I pop her on the leg when she disobeys me after I've told her to do or not to do something. The first pop is fairly soft (unless it warrants a harder one). If the problem continues, she gets popped again a little harder and gets my "two sentence lecture" just before I put her in time out. Since she's two, she sits in time out for a max of 2 minutes. Following that, she gets another "I put you in time out because..." speech followed by an "I love you" and a hug. Usually works wonders. Not so much the last few days.
So as I said, she's almost two, and she's bringing all that strong willed nature alongside her. Sadly, I have to take credit for that - though my husband is strong willed himself, so I think she got a double dose. Yay us!
Today, she decided just not to eat her lunch. She always gets and always wants a banana after her sandwich or whatever I give her first for lunch. You'd think it was a gigantic cookie the way she devours it. So she refuses to eat. Crying begins. I told her that she needed to eat two big bites of sandwich and I'd give her her banana. Crying worsens. She sobs, "I want banana." I finish up my lunch and leave her in her seat with one comment; "I'll come back in a few minutes to see if you've finished your bites." Crying worsens still. Now it's an all out tantrum. So I leave for a few minutes to go change Ethan's diaper and put him down for a nap. Come back, no sandwich is gone. So great - I can't give in now. She'll know all she has to do is throw a tantrum to get what she wants. So the battle continues. I ask her, "Zoe, do you want your banana?" She responds, "Yes, *Sniff sniff*" Me: "Then you need to eat your two bites before you get your banana." Crying is at now at an all time high. So I'm thinking now, do I give in or what?? But I continue. I take her out of her chair, put her on my lap, and asked her why she didn't want her sandwich. No answer - just sobs. So I lower it down to just one bite! I really at that point just wanted to get my point across that if she ate what I asked her to, she would be "rewarded" with what she wanted...in this case, her banana. Sad, isn't it?? Rewarding with a piece of fruit. *hmph* So I now am forced to say, "Zoe - if you continue with this, I'm going to put you to bed". Nap time is already 15 minutes overdue at this point - part of the reason for the tantrum. So more sobs, flailing of arms, smacking at her face b/c she has a snotty nose now, etc. Then she stops for a moment, and through her tears, she says, "I wanna go to bed". And there it is - Zoe-1....Mommy-0. So not wanting to put her to bed w/o anything to eat, I give her....the banana. She'd have woken up early out of her nap hungry. Twenty minutes this went on...20 minutes!
Please understand - I'm not a hard nosed parent who's this dictator type. I just know my child. She'll get away with whatever she can. And she's got a good memory. So if I allow her a banana before sandwich this time, she'd expect that every time. And not only that, but her full blown tantrums are few and far between. I don't want to give the message that by throwing one, she'll get whatever she wants at the time. Ugh...that's what I get for trying to reason with a cranky two year old.
Like I said - Mother of the Year award.
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