My daughter is driving me crazy. Literally.
I'm not sure what to do anymore. I usually don't ask for advice, because I like to figure out this parenting job on my own....but I need help.
Both of my kids are very destructive. I never remember ruining things like they do.....but lately, my daughter takes the cake. She rips up paper (which she has done since she was 2 by the way), she pulls the heads off her barbies, she rips apart her polly pocket clothes, she puts stickers EVERYWHERE, she finds new and inventive ways of destroying her toys.....
I have tried all I can think of to stop the behavior....
-talking about it
-timeouts
-spankings
and the latest coming yesterday.....
She was grounded. Her toys were removed from her room. She is not allowed to play with her new BFF Zoey, she cannot watch movies for the week.
Tonight, I'm starting to make dinner, when I hear a very loud crash come from her room. Apparently she climbed up on her dresser, and the top part that has shelves on it, fell down. No one was hurt, thankfully. She is currently laying in her bed thinking about what she did....But what is the next step? Take EVERYTHING out of her room? Why does she act like this? Why do I want to pull out my hair? How am I supposed to control this behavior? GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Monday, February 22, 2010
Thumb sucking, nail biting and potty training.
Alex has been a thumb sucker almost from the start. He used a pacifier for a short while, but gave it up for the thumb. It was a blessing at first. We didn't need to bring extra pacifiers anywhere, because he could not lose his. Also, seeing an infant sucking their thumb is so cute!
But then he got older. Now I had a 3 year old sucking his thumb. I hate when you're out and about, and you see that 4 year old with the pacifier...you know the one. And you think to yourself, "Wow. Hasn't anyone ever told that kid's mother to get rid of that thing?!" So....since I judge others on keeping the pacifier around for so long....I decided I needed to buckle down on my little man, and try to get this nasty habit broke.
After months of unsuccessfully trying to convince him not to suck his thumb...I looked online to try to figure out my options. This looked promising...until I saw the price tag.
Then I came across this. (Which was only $5.00 total with shipping when I bought it.) Based on reviews, I thought I would get lucky with this little remedy. It has cayenne pepper in it, and Alex hates spicy food....so I had high hopes.
I tried it on my own nail as soon as it came in. It had a distinctly spicy/bitter flavor. I tried it on Alex. I did not tell him what it was for...only saying that it was fingernail polish. (Which, by the way, he loves.) He tried to suck his thumb a little while later, only to pull his thumb out of his mouth immediately, and have a disgusted look on his face. Fast forward hours later, he is sitting in front of the tv sucking away at his thumb with no problems. This stuff wears off after only a few attempts at sucking the thumb.
So I decided to try the more expensive, longer lasting stuff. When it arrived, I, again, tried it out on myself. It. Was. Horrible. Not only that, the taste lingered in my mouth for a good half hour, even after drinking lots of water. So we tried it out on Alex. The first two days were rough for the little man. The first day he woke up in a terrible mood. He went to pop that thumb into his mouth, and before it even got in his mouth, he yanked it back down, spun in a circle, and started crying. He was very grumpy the first two days....and now? He doesn't even attempt to put his thumb into his mouth. He is just as happy as before. And now we don't have to worry about possible teeth problems...(well, any more than we already have to....our kids are pretty much screwed which ever side they get their dental genetics from.) ...or embarrassment for him in school.
I was worried to try these products at first, because I was worried that forcing him to quit sucking his thumb, would damage the progress that we've made with potty training. It seems that is has had almost the opposite impact entirely. Since he has gone cold turkey with the thumb sucking, he has started to go potty on his own. A couple saturdays ago, he went potty all day by himself while daddy and uncle Chris were too busy playing video games to care. ^_~ Plus, he has started to go poop on the potty as well, which we were having huge issues with. So mom is thrilled! We are almost there!!!
He has always been into biting his nails a little, which I try to discourage...but it had picked up a lot lately. So we used his special nail polish on all ten fingers, and the biting has stopped. I have not had to reapply at all. Mommy's little man is starting to grow up. Soon we will say goodbye to pull ups all together!!
But then he got older. Now I had a 3 year old sucking his thumb. I hate when you're out and about, and you see that 4 year old with the pacifier...you know the one. And you think to yourself, "Wow. Hasn't anyone ever told that kid's mother to get rid of that thing?!" So....since I judge others on keeping the pacifier around for so long....I decided I needed to buckle down on my little man, and try to get this nasty habit broke.
After months of unsuccessfully trying to convince him not to suck his thumb...I looked online to try to figure out my options. This looked promising...until I saw the price tag.
Then I came across this. (Which was only $5.00 total with shipping when I bought it.) Based on reviews, I thought I would get lucky with this little remedy. It has cayenne pepper in it, and Alex hates spicy food....so I had high hopes.
I tried it on my own nail as soon as it came in. It had a distinctly spicy/bitter flavor. I tried it on Alex. I did not tell him what it was for...only saying that it was fingernail polish. (Which, by the way, he loves.) He tried to suck his thumb a little while later, only to pull his thumb out of his mouth immediately, and have a disgusted look on his face. Fast forward hours later, he is sitting in front of the tv sucking away at his thumb with no problems. This stuff wears off after only a few attempts at sucking the thumb.
So I decided to try the more expensive, longer lasting stuff. When it arrived, I, again, tried it out on myself. It. Was. Horrible. Not only that, the taste lingered in my mouth for a good half hour, even after drinking lots of water. So we tried it out on Alex. The first two days were rough for the little man. The first day he woke up in a terrible mood. He went to pop that thumb into his mouth, and before it even got in his mouth, he yanked it back down, spun in a circle, and started crying. He was very grumpy the first two days....and now? He doesn't even attempt to put his thumb into his mouth. He is just as happy as before. And now we don't have to worry about possible teeth problems...(well, any more than we already have to....our kids are pretty much screwed which ever side they get their dental genetics from.) ...or embarrassment for him in school.
I was worried to try these products at first, because I was worried that forcing him to quit sucking his thumb, would damage the progress that we've made with potty training. It seems that is has had almost the opposite impact entirely. Since he has gone cold turkey with the thumb sucking, he has started to go potty on his own. A couple saturdays ago, he went potty all day by himself while daddy and uncle Chris were too busy playing video games to care. ^_~ Plus, he has started to go poop on the potty as well, which we were having huge issues with. So mom is thrilled! We are almost there!!!
He has always been into biting his nails a little, which I try to discourage...but it had picked up a lot lately. So we used his special nail polish on all ten fingers, and the biting has stopped. I have not had to reapply at all. Mommy's little man is starting to grow up. Soon we will say goodbye to pull ups all together!!
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
I haven't updated in...oh...forever.
So, a couple weeks ago I was on my way to my car, to go to work at Vals, when I was stopped by an older man. He asked me how old my children were. I told him, my girl was 4 and my boy was 3. He then introduced himself and his wife, asked my name, and told me that his wife was planning on making baby doll blankets for all the little girls in the apartment complex, and that they were going to buy little toys for all the boys in the apartment.
I was so shocked by their generosity, that I can't even remember what he said their names were.
Tonight there was a knock on our door, I opened it to the nice elderly couple that live on our first floor....and they had gifts for our children.
For Kaitlyn
For Alexander
And for Mommy
(Cookies not included. I made those tonight.)
So, a couple weeks ago I was on my way to my car, to go to work at Vals, when I was stopped by an older man. He asked me how old my children were. I told him, my girl was 4 and my boy was 3. He then introduced himself and his wife, asked my name, and told me that his wife was planning on making baby doll blankets for all the little girls in the apartment complex, and that they were going to buy little toys for all the boys in the apartment.
I was so shocked by their generosity, that I can't even remember what he said their names were.
Tonight there was a knock on our door, I opened it to the nice elderly couple that live on our first floor....and they had gifts for our children.
For Kaitlyn
For Alexander
And for Mommy
(Cookies not included. I made those tonight.)
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Life....
I haven't posted anything in forever....
Life is pretty uneventful right now.
Kaitlyn is currently in her third session of swim lessons. She's missed like four days out of the ten....so that's not cool. She loves to swim! She's been doing really well. She has even been listening to her "teachers" very well.
In less than a month, my baby girl will be starting preschool. Time seems to pass on by without you noticing, until these milestones come along. Then it seems that you are unprepared for them. I'm ready for her to get some time away from me, because we spend so much time together, that we drive each other crazy....but I'm going to miss her. I'm not ready for her to grow up. I think I'm going to cry on her first day of school. She's so excited. We just bought her a Hello Kitty backpack. I think she'll do great!
Alexander is crazy as ever. A while back, he was getting up at 2 am every morning, without fail, to find, and eat candy. We didn't know what to do. Then, we cut chocolate out of his diet, and after two days, chocolate free, he did not get up at all. So...no more chocolate for Alex. Apparently the caffine goes straight to his head. He was very mad about it to begin with. He was a huge fan of chocolate milk. At the daycare we often have choices for the kids to make, regarding snack or milk choices, where they have to choose white (vanilla) or chocolate. It took quite some time for not only him to get over not having a choice, and for the teachers (mainly my aunt) to stop giving him the decision to make.
He has his up and down days as far as potty training goes. Some days he'll be dry and go potty every hour. Some days he is wet, and refuses to even sit on the potty. It can be frustrating, since I know he can do it. I was hoping to have him potty trained before three...but I'm beginning to think that it won't happen.
He is still a thumb sucker. This doesn't concern me too much at this point, since he is only two. I just don't want him to go to kindergarten still sucking his thumb.
It'll be about 3 years, and we will be out of debt. Then, hopefully, we'll be able to jump right baclk into it, when we buy a house of our own. The children will both be in school by then, hopefully I will no longer be working in Gretna...I'm looking forward to it! Apartment living is finally starting to get to me. We might be looking to move to a different apartment next year. I do not like not having our own washer and dryer in our apartment. It's just a hassle, especially since we have our own in Tina's garage.
Well, I think I got everyone pretty much up to speed....I'll call it good for now.
Life is pretty uneventful right now.
Kaitlyn is currently in her third session of swim lessons. She's missed like four days out of the ten....so that's not cool. She loves to swim! She's been doing really well. She has even been listening to her "teachers" very well.
In less than a month, my baby girl will be starting preschool. Time seems to pass on by without you noticing, until these milestones come along. Then it seems that you are unprepared for them. I'm ready for her to get some time away from me, because we spend so much time together, that we drive each other crazy....but I'm going to miss her. I'm not ready for her to grow up. I think I'm going to cry on her first day of school. She's so excited. We just bought her a Hello Kitty backpack. I think she'll do great!
Alexander is crazy as ever. A while back, he was getting up at 2 am every morning, without fail, to find, and eat candy. We didn't know what to do. Then, we cut chocolate out of his diet, and after two days, chocolate free, he did not get up at all. So...no more chocolate for Alex. Apparently the caffine goes straight to his head. He was very mad about it to begin with. He was a huge fan of chocolate milk. At the daycare we often have choices for the kids to make, regarding snack or milk choices, where they have to choose white (vanilla) or chocolate. It took quite some time for not only him to get over not having a choice, and for the teachers (mainly my aunt) to stop giving him the decision to make.
He has his up and down days as far as potty training goes. Some days he'll be dry and go potty every hour. Some days he is wet, and refuses to even sit on the potty. It can be frustrating, since I know he can do it. I was hoping to have him potty trained before three...but I'm beginning to think that it won't happen.
He is still a thumb sucker. This doesn't concern me too much at this point, since he is only two. I just don't want him to go to kindergarten still sucking his thumb.
It'll be about 3 years, and we will be out of debt. Then, hopefully, we'll be able to jump right baclk into it, when we buy a house of our own. The children will both be in school by then, hopefully I will no longer be working in Gretna...I'm looking forward to it! Apartment living is finally starting to get to me. We might be looking to move to a different apartment next year. I do not like not having our own washer and dryer in our apartment. It's just a hassle, especially since we have our own in Tina's garage.
Well, I think I got everyone pretty much up to speed....I'll call it good for now.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Oh Alex.
Just in case you all were wondering....Alex would like you to know that the bad guys are the bad guys, and that he killed them. ^_^
Sunday, March 29, 2009
What a shitty way to end the weekend....
I got a call at about a quarter till 6pm tonight from my mom's boyfriend. He was very upset, if not crying than almost crying. He told me that my mom had wrecked her motorcycle and that she was alive and talking. He said that it was on 20th and Superior, and that I needed to come down. (For those of you who do not know, I live on 7th and Superior.)
Joe and I threw shoes on the kids and ourselves, and flew down the road as fast as possible. Joe parked the car on the side street, and I ran up to the scene. My mom was lying on the pavement in the middle of West bound traffic on Superior with paramedics surrounding her.
When I got closer, I could hear her shouting about the pain in her leg and arm. The paramedics were cutting off her leather jacket, and her jeans as I came to stand by Jeff (my mom's boyfriend). They got her onto the stretcher, saying that the leg was definitely broken. Jeff said I could ride with her to Bryan LGH West in the ambulance.
I rode in the passenger seat on the way to the hospital. When we got there, the driver of the ambulance told me that we were going to go into the hospital, and immediately to the left would be a waiting room and I would have to wait there until they were ready for me.
After a half hour or so, a nurse came and got me, and told me that I could see my mom for a minute, and then they would have to do splints and I would have to leave. So my kids and I went into the room, gave her a quick kiss, and she told me that she was going to be fine....then we were ushered out.
After much waiting, the doctor came to see us. He told us that her right leg was broken right below the knee....pretty much shattered. It would require pins and multiple surgeries. He also said that her left arm was broken, right below the shoulder....pretty much shattered the ball joint. They might be able to make it heal correctly, but if not...she might have to have her entire shoulder replaced.
She has no internal bleeding that they could identify, and her head is fine. She has a small scratch on her nose, from her glasses. She was wearing a leather coat, and chaps....so no road rash.
They said they will monitor her over night, and if her leg doesn't swell too much, then they will tentatively do surgery at 10am. (tentatively meaning as long as no one comes in with a more serious injury.)
I talked to Jeff. This is what happened as far as he knows....
They were riding their motorcycles up Superior, towards our apartment. Jeff was in front of her. There were two cars in front of them.
The light at 20th and Superior changed to yellow.
The cars in front of them slammed on their brakes.
Jeff tapped his brake.
Jeff heard my mom lay on her back brake. (which is apparently a no no, says Jeff. You are supposed to use your front brake more?) He heard a squeal, I guess.
He looked in his mirror, to see my mom flying one way, and her bike going the other way.
He whipped around, and blocked traffic....called 911...called me.
The two cars in front of them? Slammed on their brakes for the yellow light.........ended up running the light anyway.
Joe and I threw shoes on the kids and ourselves, and flew down the road as fast as possible. Joe parked the car on the side street, and I ran up to the scene. My mom was lying on the pavement in the middle of West bound traffic on Superior with paramedics surrounding her.
When I got closer, I could hear her shouting about the pain in her leg and arm. The paramedics were cutting off her leather jacket, and her jeans as I came to stand by Jeff (my mom's boyfriend). They got her onto the stretcher, saying that the leg was definitely broken. Jeff said I could ride with her to Bryan LGH West in the ambulance.
I rode in the passenger seat on the way to the hospital. When we got there, the driver of the ambulance told me that we were going to go into the hospital, and immediately to the left would be a waiting room and I would have to wait there until they were ready for me.
After a half hour or so, a nurse came and got me, and told me that I could see my mom for a minute, and then they would have to do splints and I would have to leave. So my kids and I went into the room, gave her a quick kiss, and she told me that she was going to be fine....then we were ushered out.
After much waiting, the doctor came to see us. He told us that her right leg was broken right below the knee....pretty much shattered. It would require pins and multiple surgeries. He also said that her left arm was broken, right below the shoulder....pretty much shattered the ball joint. They might be able to make it heal correctly, but if not...she might have to have her entire shoulder replaced.
She has no internal bleeding that they could identify, and her head is fine. She has a small scratch on her nose, from her glasses. She was wearing a leather coat, and chaps....so no road rash.
They said they will monitor her over night, and if her leg doesn't swell too much, then they will tentatively do surgery at 10am. (tentatively meaning as long as no one comes in with a more serious injury.)
I talked to Jeff. This is what happened as far as he knows....
They were riding their motorcycles up Superior, towards our apartment. Jeff was in front of her. There were two cars in front of them.
The light at 20th and Superior changed to yellow.
The cars in front of them slammed on their brakes.
Jeff tapped his brake.
Jeff heard my mom lay on her back brake. (which is apparently a no no, says Jeff. You are supposed to use your front brake more?) He heard a squeal, I guess.
He looked in his mirror, to see my mom flying one way, and her bike going the other way.
He whipped around, and blocked traffic....called 911...called me.
The two cars in front of them? Slammed on their brakes for the yellow light.........ended up running the light anyway.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Dreams are weird....
So I had this dream last night....starring Amanda as Amanda, me as me, and John Turturro as Amanda's very wealthy boyfriend, Strom.
So the three of us were out somewhere celebrating their anniversary. I have no idea why I was along for this....but oh well. I don't really know where we were....but it was someplace very fancy. We were all decked out in ball gowns and Strom was wearing a tux. So we are enjoying our evening, when Strom catches Amanda kissing some guy that works at this place that we are at. He gets really angry, and Amanda explains that it's over between her and this other guy. That was just a goodbye kiss.
So Strom is okay with this, as long as it really is the end, and it will never happen again. So we continue our evening...having a great time. Then it is time to leave. Strom takes off to get the limo. Amanda and I are left talking to eachother. And then she's all, isn't Justin great? And I was like, what? Then she goes on to tell me all about Justin and how they are in love, but she's not going to break it off with Strom, cause how else are we going to have wonderful evenings like the one we just had....
So we go outside and are waiting for Strom on this huge set of stairs, when Justin appears and starts making out with Amanda. Just then, the limo pulls up and Justin disappears. I start walking down the stairs, because I'm really hoping that Strom did not see that kiss. I get to the limo, and Amanda is way behind me.
Strom gets out of the limo with a huge white box. He opens it up to reveal probably at least a hundred roses, and dumps them onto the street. He then looks at me, points, and says, "This is all YOUR fault!" Then he shoved me backwards.
"MY fault?" I say, then I shove him back into the street. He looks at me, looks at Amanda, then turns around and starts running across six lanes of traffic. He is then hit by a semi-truck. It's like in the cartoons when someone gets hit, and they are just kinda stuck to the front of the truck...no blood or broken bones or anything.
So everyone around us stops what they are doing, and starts calling 911. By this point, Amanda is standing next to me, and I look over at her phone and it says '811'. I tell her not to worry about it because a lot of people are already calling. Then I look over to the truck, and see Strom begining to peal himself off the truck. I look at Amand, and we start running.
He catches up to us, and grabs a fistfull of my hair, and is screaming at me while we are all still running. I start screaming for help, and we finally run into a group of people. He lets go of my hair, and runs up past us. As we keep walking in that direction, we walk past the people and they are all giving me dirty looks, like 'what the hell is her problem'.
That is when I woke up.
I have no idea what that means.
So the three of us were out somewhere celebrating their anniversary. I have no idea why I was along for this....but oh well. I don't really know where we were....but it was someplace very fancy. We were all decked out in ball gowns and Strom was wearing a tux. So we are enjoying our evening, when Strom catches Amanda kissing some guy that works at this place that we are at. He gets really angry, and Amanda explains that it's over between her and this other guy. That was just a goodbye kiss.
So Strom is okay with this, as long as it really is the end, and it will never happen again. So we continue our evening...having a great time. Then it is time to leave. Strom takes off to get the limo. Amanda and I are left talking to eachother. And then she's all, isn't Justin great? And I was like, what? Then she goes on to tell me all about Justin and how they are in love, but she's not going to break it off with Strom, cause how else are we going to have wonderful evenings like the one we just had....
So we go outside and are waiting for Strom on this huge set of stairs, when Justin appears and starts making out with Amanda. Just then, the limo pulls up and Justin disappears. I start walking down the stairs, because I'm really hoping that Strom did not see that kiss. I get to the limo, and Amanda is way behind me.
Strom gets out of the limo with a huge white box. He opens it up to reveal probably at least a hundred roses, and dumps them onto the street. He then looks at me, points, and says, "This is all YOUR fault!" Then he shoved me backwards.
"MY fault?" I say, then I shove him back into the street. He looks at me, looks at Amanda, then turns around and starts running across six lanes of traffic. He is then hit by a semi-truck. It's like in the cartoons when someone gets hit, and they are just kinda stuck to the front of the truck...no blood or broken bones or anything.
So everyone around us stops what they are doing, and starts calling 911. By this point, Amanda is standing next to me, and I look over at her phone and it says '811'. I tell her not to worry about it because a lot of people are already calling. Then I look over to the truck, and see Strom begining to peal himself off the truck. I look at Amand, and we start running.
He catches up to us, and grabs a fistfull of my hair, and is screaming at me while we are all still running. I start screaming for help, and we finally run into a group of people. He lets go of my hair, and runs up past us. As we keep walking in that direction, we walk past the people and they are all giving me dirty looks, like 'what the hell is her problem'.
That is when I woke up.
I have no idea what that means.
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