Josiah is at a very, um, challenging? stage of life. I realized the other day that though I have two older children, I have never done this stage with a boy before. It's a WHOLE different ball game. Josiah is a very, very physical child. If one of his siblings won't give him a toy he wants, he will attempt (and sometimes accomplish) to use his heft to push said sibling down and take the toy out of their hand. He climbs EVERYTHING. He hits when he's not happy. He throws his food when he's done. It's charming. (Can you sense sarcasm? I hope so.) I am doing my best to be disciplined about regularly correcting his "offenses" against his family members, but it's ridiculous how often I find myself correcting him. Because he is a hitter, I don't want to spank him because I feel like that will reinforce that behavior. And one of his favorite things to do is climb up into the time out chair and just hang for a while, so the time out situation doesn't always work. (Mostly because he will just heave himself off the chair onto the floor when he doesn't feel like sitting in it anymore, since he can only climb up, not down.)
Today Nia made a simple sundial in homeschool, so we are going outside to check it at regular intervals. We literally are outside for ONE minute. All we do is walk out out of our apartment, onto our sidewalk, mark the shadow and note the time. Like I said, literally ONE minute. Before we walked out, I closed the gate so Josiah wouldn't fall down the stairs and told Nico we'd be back in one minute. (And Nia told him, "Nico, while we're gone, you're in charge.")
When I came back into the house ONE MINUTE LATER, this is what little Jman was up to--
I am SO in for it.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Josiah, the rascal
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4 comments:
He's going to be your Abbie. Maybe it's a third-child thing.
Don't worry, it is normal. My two boys did (and still do) exactly the same thing.
Way to go with the sundial for Nia. Earth Science Rocks!
This is funny..because I dont have kids...but a suggestion...
When I nannied (there is my credential for you!) the little girl I watched didn't respond to spanking or time out...neither worked, she really just didn't care.
BUT...we finally caught on to something that did work.
When caught in an act she was not supposed to do, we would grab her hands, and hold them still, (I know silly, but this loss of control was too much for her!). So for example, when she hit a sibling, I would grab both of her hands, in mine, squeeze, and explain...Sara,these hands are not for hitting your brother...you will stop hitting your brother. I would hold them for a minute, resisting her attempt to take control.
Oddly enough, it worked. The first few days, I had to do it about 100 times, afterwards, she caught on quite fast.
I want to see pics of the sundial!
Also, I just wanted to say it just gets better...wait until he can talk and he tells you, "Mama, I ACCIDENTALLY got up here on the table."
Micah told me a few days ago that he ACCIDENTALLY opened the garage door. Which I can barely do (it's not automatic and doesn't even have a stinkin' handle on it; you have to put both palms flat on it and push REALLY hard).
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