You are the adult, they are the child…..

I look at my daughter playing in the kitchen with me… She is a very well behaved child (almost to well behaved for her age) but I still can’t help but wonder when she is going to rear her little head and want to take control. I know it is going to happen down the road, and my husband and I will just have to set the foundation of: We are the adults, you are the child. To many times this goes ignored in the relationship between adult and child. The child is free to run rampant through the house and destroy anything in its path.

I have noticed that children are not made to behave out in public any more. When I was a child my mother would just turn to me “Do you want to go wait in the car?” Now, I don’t know exactly what the big threat about waiting in the car was, but it worked. I would settle down and we could continue what we were doing… the same with my brother. He never wanted to wait in the car either…. I asked my mom if we ever actually had to go out to the car… and I don’t believe we ever actually had to. It’s funny how that works.

It seems like a lot of times instead of just removing the child from the situation, or pointing out that they are going to be losing some type of privilege for their behavior, they get bribery. “If you can be good for the rest of the store, I will buy you a toy” this just reinforces that negative behavior!!! You are the adult!! step up!! I am not saying beat the child, I don’t agree with that. but have you ever heard of discipline?? Try it!!! I have been in a situation where there was a 5 year old who didnt want to do what the mother wanted to do. so the mother frantically searched for a piece of candy. She found one in the surrounding area that wasnt hers, but took it any way. “If you are good I will give you this piece of candy” “I want it now” “no, you have to be good first” “I WANT IT NOW!!!” “Are you going to behave” “I WANT IT NOW” the parent handed over the candy and the kid continued to have an even worse tantrum because they didnt want to do what the parent wanted them to do. “You said you would behave, give me the candy back” “NO!!!! I DONT WANT TO!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!” now imagine the AHH as this ear piercing shriek.

I honestly don’t know what I would do if any of my children ever attempted to act like that… i would most likely be mortified, but i would deal with the situation with something other then candy.

OK… so younger kids can have tantrums… thats expected.. so i am not saying that its such a big deal, its going to happen. What I am saying the big deal is about, is the reaction we give it. Reinforcing negative behavior.

ok, onto older children… this will actually cover the almost adults as well….

Cell phones, PDA, IPods, MP3 players, cameras, PSP, Laptops…. just to name a few… almost every kid has one or more of these things listed. They bring them everywhere!!! Where I work there is a waiting room area, now… if you knew the type of building… it would be common sense to not bring these gadgets back into the main area of the building once you have been led back there. I was trying to do my job one time… and this 15 year old sat in the chair across from me and was playing what looked like to be smash brothers. Three times i asked them to turn off the device and put it away. I then led the person back to the waiting area and informed the parent that I would be back after the next person, but only if they decided to put the game away. At this time the parent got mad at me. AT ME!! not the child for playing a game during their appointment, but at me for daring to insist that they stop before they are finished. My boss has removed cell phones and actually held them captive! (He can get away with it…) if the person whines that they want it back, he says “Fine, I will give you the cellphone/Ipod/whatever back, but you are still going to be charged for this appointment.” only once in that situation has the person taken the object back.. and then the parents get very annoyed when they get the bill….. hey both the child and the parent are warned in this situation. If you have that kind of money to waste, please give me some.

(I am sorry if that sounds a little screwy about where I work but I can never be to careful about the privacy laws… even though I don’t use my legal name… you can still never be to careful)

I think it is time that the adults take the control back from the children. Don’t squash their independence, but dont let them run wild!!!

Potty dance

Kimmy never ceases to amaze me!!

my 16 month old daughter is (in my opinion) very smart. She can already understand commands such as “bring me the remote” “get your shoes” “where do your socks go” “lets go change your diaper” and many others!! She also does simple things like “ball” and she will pick up a ball and hand it to me, of course she doesnt understand “bring me the blue ball” yet… but i am sure that she will pretty soon.

Today I guess she was making up for the fiasco with the kitchen chair.

After her nap I usually let her play in her crib for a few minuets so I can get up and go to the bathroom and then get her. (since I am dead tired all the time with the pregnancy I have been laying down at her nap time too) well today there was a huge storm that rolled through town, so instead of waking up in a playful mood she woke up crying. I dont like to leave her in the crib when she is scared. So I got her first instead of going to the bathroom. After I got her from the crib and changed her diaper, I headed towards the guest bathroom (which happens to have her potty in it)

I sat down to do my business… well next thing i know Kimmy is following me in and trying to pull her pants off, and pull her potty out of the corner. So i decided to humor her. I moved her potty and took her pants and diapers off… sure enough I sit her down and right away there is a tinkle. She started clapping and laughing like she had just accomplished the most amazing feat! (which I guess to her, she had)

Now, I remind you that Kimmy is only 16 months old. I got her potty just as something to sit in the corner and for her to get used to looking at. That way when it came time for some serious potty training time she wouldnt freak out. Its a colorful Elmo potty that says a few phrases like “way to go” “You went potty in the potty” “Its fun to use the potty” “You’re growing up just like Elmo” Its pretty cute… unless she puts her leg against the button and it keeps repeating over and over and over…. *sigh*

Her second amazing task of the day… She started to tug on my sleeve as I was sitting behind the computer, so I looked at her and asked if she needed her diaper changed. (at this point you could smell that this was obvious) she dashed off to her room and was waiting for me standing by her changing table. She opened her drawer that hold all of her diapers and wipes. I took out a diaper and a few wipes “ok, go ahead and close it” she pushed the drawer shut and tried to climb on top of the table. (which of course, thank goodness, she can not accomplish just yet)

In my opinion this is a pretty good understanding of her needs to using the potty, or needing to be changed. so this just makes me happy. My mother in-law calls her little miss amazing pants… and yes, she does live up to that nickname.

short one kitchen chair…..

So this post basically relates to my stating that there is never a dull moment in my life.

We are now short of kitchen chair…. now this is actually a lot easier then you think. My 16 month daughter (Kimmy) loves to climb on our chairs and play around. The very first bars on either side can’t be any more then 2 inches apart. but, that just means they are big enough for this itty bitty foot to slide right through… but not slide right back out. At first i thought she was just playing because she was hitting the chair… but then her little squeals of laughter turned into panic… sure enough, i turn completely around and her foot is stuck right through the bars… i finally found something that Skin So Soft does not work on! kitchen chairs!! well… it was a  nice try any way.

I called my husband, which of course he is on his way home with the convertible top down… did he hear a single word until i shouted at him? nope. and then of course he wonders what in the world he did for me to yell at him. (I am not one to shout… i think the last time i actually raised my voice to my husband was over 3 years ago) any way… he starts telling me about all of these saws to use?!?!?!?!?!? umm… no… i dont think so. I have NO way to restrain my daughter…. and i have no one to help me keep the saw steady so i dont end up chopping more then just the chair. So i ask him where the tree loppers are… oh thats right… they are by the Christmas tree over in the corner (just to mention it is currently the middle of June… and we still have the trunk area to the live Christmas tree). well the tree loppers worked… her foot is free…. and I have a very upset baby, oil on the floor, a broken chair… and a frazzled husband… this is the part where i would normally get myself a glass of wine and try to unwind… nope. cant even do that. *sigh*

and this is just another example of why my life is never dull!

Never a dull moment….

So… a friend of mine suggested that I go ahead and start a blog. I warned her right off the bat… I am very bad at remembering to update these kind of things… actually come to think of it, I am also behind on writing my pen pals back.. guess i should go ahead and get those finished too.

Why is my life never a dull moment??? Honestly I think that if you have a dull moment you are not getting the most out of life… the same thing can be said for not learning something… if you didnt learn something that day… you didnt live that day.

Any way… enough with my tangent… why my life is never dull. Currently I am 25.. Will be 26 later on this year in November. I am married to a very wonderful man, we have one daughter and another child on the way. I am a stay at home mom… but I am also a trained Optician… to add things into my already hectic life I decided i should try writing a book, a fantasy to be exact. …. now do you see why my life isnt dull? (oh and you can also add in the fact that I really seem to enjoy the time wasting games like farmville, and frontierville… and I am also addicted to hidden object games like RavenHearst)

… Kimberly is 16 months. she is quite the bundle of energy! She has been walking since she was 8 months… so at least i have been used to that for some time now. She said her first word about a week ago. Bubble… what a very strange first word. We were at the doctors office (getting those dreaded shots) and I was showing her the fish tank. I pointed out the bubbles that were coming out of the little treasure chest, and I would say “bubble up” and point to the bubble as it went to the top… after three times of doing this for her she pointed to the bubble and said “baba p” …. if you have ever had children it is the same thing as “bubble up” she was very proud of her self and started clapping… which was another very cute moment.

I am sure this blog will mostly be filled the adventures of Kimmy… and maybe the occasional whimper and whine about the pregnancy, and a gripe or two about work. But I think reading about Kimmy would be a lot more interesting… and writing about work just gets a little iffy… sometimes I think HIPPA gets a little bit out of control… but then again I know the reason behind why the privacy act is in place… so i guess i can understand.

well I should probably get up and move away from the computer… why does that sound like something a cop would say: “put your hands up and move away from the computer”….

any way… I have a lot of cleaning that needs to get finished… might as well get started… my pixies ran away, so I guess the house isnt going to clean itself.