See this adorable child?
Looks can be deceiving.
Troy, bless his heart, I think ended up with a combo of stubbornness from both the Johnsons and the Bowerses. Again, bless his heart. He is the sweetest child, loves his mommy, great big brother, smart as a whip....but when he gets an idea in his head, it is do or die. I'm thinking positively and saying this will give him drive when he's older. For the time being, however, I just want him to live that long. As in, not get beat half to death.
Like yesterday. I had to take Audrey back to the doctor for a reckeck from her RSV, so Troy stayed with his nanny. On the way home, I stopped and got him and my niece Happy Meals. They were out of Sprite, so I got them Hi-C. When I get there he is upset there is no Sprite. I try to gently explain there wasn't any, and I want him to try the Hi-C. He tells me nanny has Sprite. Of course, I have already told him to try the Hi-C, and since trying to get him to try new things is a big deal right now, I decided to make him try it or not get anything. Here was strike two against me in his book (not having Sprite to start with was strike one). A few minutes later, Nanny noticed a black spot in his hairline, and since they had been playing outside, we wanted to make sure it wasn't a tick. We asked him to look down, and re refused. I gave his head a little push, and he slapped at me. Since hitting out of anger is a big no-no, I gave him a little spanking (bear in mind, this is a good spanking, not child abuse.) This prompted the biggest fit/temper tantrum I have ever seen him throw. He was swinging his arms, kicking his feet, throwing his body around, anything to keep us from checking that spot on his neck. I spanked him again, to no avail. I finally had to sit down in the recliner with him in my lap like you'd hold a baby on your shoulder, wrap a leg around his legs, hold his body and arms down with my arms, and hold his head between my hands just to keep him still enough Peggy could check the spot (which turned out to be just a scabby scratched place). We packed up and came back home.
Once home, I sat down at eye level and made sure he understood why he was in trouble. I also told him since he was ugly at Nanny's, he wouldn't be going back for the rest of the week (which is a big thing b/c they just live next door and he generally goes several times a week to play with my niece). He was calm and fine and went and took a nap, waking up 2 hours later just as sweet as ever.
So today, he said he wanted someone to play with while Ty is at school. Sorry, Charlie, you are grounded for the next 2 days. I know he understands what he did was wrong, but I don't know if he completely understands that the punishment is a result of that. I think he does, but you know, he's not quite four. I do think he will be fine and maybe next time he will remember this before he pitches a fit.
[And today when Jeremy came home from lunch, he had to explain to same wild child why it we kill some animals (i.e. cows/deer/rabbits for food, wild dogs for chasing the cows) and not others (like the racoon that was playing in the pasture this morning). I'm telling ya, he's smart. He even brought up Bambi. Which is another post in itself.......]
Looks can be deceiving.
Troy, bless his heart, I think ended up with a combo of stubbornness from both the Johnsons and the Bowerses. Again, bless his heart. He is the sweetest child, loves his mommy, great big brother, smart as a whip....but when he gets an idea in his head, it is do or die. I'm thinking positively and saying this will give him drive when he's older. For the time being, however, I just want him to live that long. As in, not get beat half to death.
Like yesterday. I had to take Audrey back to the doctor for a reckeck from her RSV, so Troy stayed with his nanny. On the way home, I stopped and got him and my niece Happy Meals. They were out of Sprite, so I got them Hi-C. When I get there he is upset there is no Sprite. I try to gently explain there wasn't any, and I want him to try the Hi-C. He tells me nanny has Sprite. Of course, I have already told him to try the Hi-C, and since trying to get him to try new things is a big deal right now, I decided to make him try it or not get anything. Here was strike two against me in his book (not having Sprite to start with was strike one). A few minutes later, Nanny noticed a black spot in his hairline, and since they had been playing outside, we wanted to make sure it wasn't a tick. We asked him to look down, and re refused. I gave his head a little push, and he slapped at me. Since hitting out of anger is a big no-no, I gave him a little spanking (bear in mind, this is a good spanking, not child abuse.) This prompted the biggest fit/temper tantrum I have ever seen him throw. He was swinging his arms, kicking his feet, throwing his body around, anything to keep us from checking that spot on his neck. I spanked him again, to no avail. I finally had to sit down in the recliner with him in my lap like you'd hold a baby on your shoulder, wrap a leg around his legs, hold his body and arms down with my arms, and hold his head between my hands just to keep him still enough Peggy could check the spot (which turned out to be just a scabby scratched place). We packed up and came back home.
Once home, I sat down at eye level and made sure he understood why he was in trouble. I also told him since he was ugly at Nanny's, he wouldn't be going back for the rest of the week (which is a big thing b/c they just live next door and he generally goes several times a week to play with my niece). He was calm and fine and went and took a nap, waking up 2 hours later just as sweet as ever.
So today, he said he wanted someone to play with while Ty is at school. Sorry, Charlie, you are grounded for the next 2 days. I know he understands what he did was wrong, but I don't know if he completely understands that the punishment is a result of that. I think he does, but you know, he's not quite four. I do think he will be fine and maybe next time he will remember this before he pitches a fit.
[And today when Jeremy came home from lunch, he had to explain to same wild child why it we kill some animals (i.e. cows/deer/rabbits for food, wild dogs for chasing the cows) and not others (like the racoon that was playing in the pasture this morning). I'm telling ya, he's smart. He even brought up Bambi. Which is another post in itself.......]
