TIME OUT!

Well, first of all, let me tell you that Cam is still alive (I'm afraid Michelle might have been worried).

I was told that boys were more of a "challenge" than girls. They would be into EVERYTHING. Orneriness would be the norm. I did not believe any of this. After all, I've got friends who have really well behaved boys, plus with my remarkable parenting skills, that would never happen. Uh huh.

Well, reality (and 2 years) have set in. I frequently post and tell people about Cam's hi jinx. Well today, my patience may have come to an end. It's my fault for wanting to have a conversation with Michelle, and deluding myself into thinking that because Serayah was taking a nap, I'd actually have time to talk (with only 1 up and running around). Well, Cam got rather angry (downright pissed, actually) that I was on the phone and not paying attention to him. I basically blew him off. This is what ensued.

Cam (thinking): "Mom's STILL on the phone. Humph. I'll show her."
Me (thinking): "Huh, Cam's getting the pringles I just bought for camping (and tried.. new flavor.. rather yucky, actually) down. Oh well, I guess he can have a couple."
Cam: "She's still not off the phone! Hmm.. I'll just fake her out and act like I'm going to eat these"
Me: "Huh... he's bringing them over here... maybe he needs me to open them"

Yeah. So what my little sweetheart did was walk onto the carpet, looked at me, opened said container, turned the container upside down, dumped the entire contents onto the floor, stepped through them, threw down the container, and looked at me... daring to see what I would do. For those of you who have forgotten, he just turned 2, not 13. Needless to say, he got his way, and I got off the phone.

I've been reading a great parenting book "Parenting with Love and Logic". Love and Logic dictates that you never yell, or spank, or let the kids know that they've gotten under your skin. Uh huh. I, in a calm soothing empathetic voice (right), told him that he was going to have a time out. He was in time-out for a long time. Note: around here, timeouts mean that the kids basically drop to the floor wherever they are and lay there 'till we tell them they can get up. Hence the pictures. I got tears after a bit, and after he got up he came running over and gave me a hug and helped me clean up. I don't know what I'm going to do with this kid.

Oh, and for those of you who are thinking I just should have spanked him for it, let me tell you, I've spanked him before. Doesn't do jack. He gets ticked off at whoever spanks him, and looks a bit broken-hearted, then will go right back to doing what he shouldn't be doing. Time outs seem to work much better with him.

I swear we raise Serayah and Cam the same. If Serayah even thinks you're mad at her, it pretty much devestates her, and you don't really have to do much. The other picture is one I snapped after Serayah had been in timeout for something the other day. Her little broken hearted expression cracked me up.