making it up as i go: toddler discipline.

toddlers are awesome & so freaking hard all at once.  parker's been averaging a timeout per day & testing my patience constantly.  but all at the same time he is picking up so many new things, becoming this hilarious mini person & surprising me every second with this strong little emerging personality.

so far timeouts have worked wonders & he gets them frequently for things like fighting against me while i'm trying to get him dressed, fighting me during diaper changes, smacking me in the face when he gets mad & refusing to sit in his high chair to eat.  by the end of his timeout, he's usually relaxed & asking to do whatever it was he was fighting me about to begin with.  so far, parental success.  i'm just trying not to overuse them so they keep their effectiveness & i can keep feeling like i know what i'm doing.

yesterday sam offered parker a bite of his popsicle & parker freaked out when he didn't get the whole thing.  obviously this resulted in thrashing & crying on the floor.  i told parker, "ok, you can cry but it hurts mommy's ears so you need to go in your room & do it.  you can come out when you're done crying."  {thanks for that line, lindsey!}  i walked him back to his room & left the door open a crack & he continued to scream & yell but stayed in his room.  a couple minutes later he walked out & said "all done crying in my room."  i was floored.  because he really was done crying & seemed to understand what had just happened.  who is this guy?

i don't know what i'm doing.  i'm making it up as i go & trying to be consistent all at once.  sometimes i have to turn away & count to ten to keep from throwing myself on the floor & crying & kicking & screaming alongside him.  sometimes i wonder how the heck this sweet little guy can make me so dang frustrated one second & then turn around & melt my heart with his innocence & sincerity the next.

i feel like with every age & stage the polarity between the good times & the bad times gets greater, like he's more challenging than ever but he's also more fun than ever.  does that just continue on forever?  i don't know if my heart can handle that amount of love & stress.

someday we'll be trying to figure out what to do when he stays out past curfew or skips school.  or maybe he'll talk back to a teacher or get caught cheating on an assignment.  but i'm pretty sure he'll still find ways to amaze us & make us more proud than we thought possible.

until then, i'll just enjoy the days of oatmeal in my hair & timeouts.  seems easy enough.