Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Project: Spring Break on a Budget Day 2

The little one is down for a nap - thank goodness.

Yesterday, I posted about our Spring Break on a Budget goal this week. Today's adventure, so far, has been a morning at the playground, followed by a packed lunch and Menchie's frozen yogurt. I am pooped. If you could, picture the most outgoing person you know - someone who isn't afraid of anything, always wants to try something new, and has no fear of getting hurt. Now, multiply that by 10 and you have an idea of how my daughter is at the playground.


She is my wild child.

I did not get any good pictures really worth posting today because most of my time was spent chasing her around and making sure she didn't get kicked in the head by kids swinging, or fly off a slide, or fall from the highest tower, or miss a step on the rock climbing wall and tumble down.

I basically saved her life numerous times today.

Do any other moms with little girls notice that, most of the time, it's a battle of who has the strongest will? If I tell her to stop doing something (like kicking her brother while in the car), she will stop, but will usually let out a loud yell just to be the one with the final say. And then I'll usually reach back and spank her on her leg and say "No!" very firmly. This goes on for 3 or 4 more rounds until, usually, I have to give up because I'm just steaming mad and at my wit's end! She will, however, stay quiet and still for a while after these episodes...but I just cannot figure out how to make her submit and respect me as her Mommy when it comes to disciplining her. I don't want to get all psycho and scream and go crazy on her little bootie...but do some kids just need that? Help, please! Anyone with similar experiences with their children, please share any advice you may have for me.

Anyhow, I spent a total of $3.84 today. Lunch was packed from home and the playground was free, so we only spent $3.84 on the yummy frozen yogurt at Menchie's.

It was a fun, and tiring, morning out!






6 comments:

  1. I think the defiance must a second child thing. Lol. There is no disciplining Roman. With Cadence, you can explain actions and consequences and she'll listen and you can tell she feels sorry. Roman doesn't even sit to hear it. Hahaha - I laugh but it's very frustrating, especially when he was the age your daughter is. And Roman also has the 'power' over Cadence. He will fight her out until he wins, there is no giving in. Part of me thinks it's for survival purposes. The smaller they are, the fiercer they have to be to win over the oldest sibling - something you and I can't understand being the oldest. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Roman and Symphony should be siblings. Then they would get a taste of their own medicine. Haha. It sounds like your house is a lot like mine. Sym will literally beat up on Nathaniel and he'll just sit there and say in an extremely calm tone, "Stop, baby. Ouch. Stop." Haha. Ai yi yi....

    ReplyDelete
  3. i struggle with the same thing with ash sometimes. she'll have a mischievous look on her face and defiantly do what i explicitly told her not to do. i am such a control freak so that's no help either. what we've done to kind of correct this behavior is demonstrate to ash the things she should do. for example, she loves to pull her people's hair including her own, i mean literally yank out the hair. after we tell her no, we make her apologize. if she does it to herself, we'll tell her to "hlub" which she's come to understand in baby talk to mean "don't do it" or "love herself" and we'll pet that part of her head the strands were pulled out. sometimes she'll just laugh and other times she'll touch that part of her head. she knows when she's in trouble. will has a pretty good handle on disciplining her even if that means she's put in the corner on time out...which unfortunately has happened at least twice. i think it all boils down to consistency. we try not to focus on the negative but demonstrate the positive. saying no comes so naturally to me and i'm fearful that that particular word will be her favorite vocabulary. there's been time that i've had to enforce tough love. the important part of disciplining is to always follow up with showing her that you still love her.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sym listens to KB much better, also. That's why I wonder if I should try the mean faces and spanking, too. It seems to work for him. haha. I have tried demonstrating the positive with her, and sometimes it works, but sometimes it doesn't work. I guess no children are consistent. I'm just trying to find what works with her, because she seems to always be changing. What works one time, doesn't work the next. When you guys do time out, do you put her in a chair or in her crib? KB has suggested putting her in her crib, but I really don't want her crib to be a negative place. How do you guys do it?

      Delete
  4. All kids are different. They come out like that. Know this and you will be more accepting of your kids and youself! Yea!! I always feel because I have 4 kids now, that I know something about kids. After 4 kids, all I can say with certainty is that "they all come out different".

    We are still trying to figure out all our kids.
    Kid 1: Shy and quiet but stubborn (gosh I hope she doesn't read this)
    Kid 2: Smart but very emotional (these are harder to deal with I think)
    Kid 3: Average....in every way (we're very nervous about this one....no highs no lows)
    Kid 4: Unknown....Friendly but strong-willed?

    So I do say this with some jest because each kid is great and each kid is ??? when they are in their moment. What I've been telling myself is that if you can help them embrace their positives and also help guide their negatives, they will turn out as decent as you can get them. What I'm finding is that I often blame myself for each and every one of their bad habits, characteristics, and behavior. But it's not my fault!

    The goal here is to 1) Don't blame yourself; 2) Try all different kinds of solutions to your problem - you're bound to find something that works well enough and very importantly 3) Don't try to solve all problems!

    I let my baby girl eat dirt (just a little) and try to drink rain water on a picnic table the other day. I just gave her a bath when she was done. She didn't eat too much dirt and she didn't get any stomach bug from the rain water, so it was fine. I would have NEVER let my first child do this but I no longer blame myself for not watching her-I had my eye on her the whole time. To my credit, I did try to stop her a few times by re-directing, and eventually she lost interest in it anyway.... I don't think this is about being lazy...it's about being OK with imperfection. Your children will never be perfect, neither will you. As long as they are safe and not starving, you're doing a good job. And goodness, if you are asking yourself if you're doing a good job - then you are asking the right questions and you shouldn't be concerned. This is a good guage!
    Good luck!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Malay, I love this!! I guess I haven't been great at getting my notifications on comments, because I'm just now reading this one, too. I wish I would have read this before, though. I think it would have helped me to realize what I realized in today's post earlier. Thank you for sharing your wisdom with me. Your mommy resume is highly respected - 4 kids of your own! Thank you for sharing. I truly appreciate it.

      Delete