Caleb, as cute and adorable as he is, has been a little naughtier as of late. He bites (which is a result from teething, I presume) and he throws his food and milk on the floor. Actually, he tips his sippy cups upside-down and makes patterns on the floor with his milk/juice/water. I'd say about 99.9% of his time outs are because of spilling food and drink. People who have had experience with this: When does this stop?? I mop up spill after spill using towel after towel. Is it possible to get it through to him that spilling is naughty or must I wait this phase out?
To make matters worse, it seems like every time he does something naughty or sits on a time out, he smiles, like he's proud of himself.
Example:
Throwing food on the floor.
Smiling about it when I say, "Caleb, don't throw food on the floor."
Am I missing some vitally important tidbit of information that all parents but ME know about?
Any advice?
On a better note, I took Caleb on a walk a week and a half ago for a photo shoot. Here are some of the pictures I came up with.
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6 comments:
Lori, I love the photo shoot pics, I think my fav is near the fence post. Glad to hear you're doing better! Doesn't it seem like these little guys teethe every other week? Hope things are going better,
Sarah
I remember hearing about the "terrible two's" when you kids were 1 1/2. I thought, "How can it get worse?" But it got better--so we'll call it the terrible ALMOST two's.
This too shall pass.
Caleb--Shape up!
G-ma N.
1.5 to 2.5 is actually the range of "Terrible Twos." apparently there's another big shift at 2.5 or thereabouts that throws them more into the 3 year range, developmentally.
So yeah.
When Sophia shakes her milk/juice cup, I simply take it away. I calmly tell her that we don't shake our cups because it makes a mess, and she may not have it anymore.
With the food thing, I tell her "we don't throw our food" but that if she doesn't want xyz food that she's throwing (or smearing on the wall or the oven door next to her), then she may put it in her bib trough. If she won't stop, then I take the food away. Once she's at the playing-with-her-food stage of the meal, it's doubtful she's going to eat more anyway.
I also give her AMPLE time to play with water in appropriate situations - like the bath, or "washing" her hands at the sink. That way she has an outlet for the desire. Because it really is fun to play with water!
Oh, and for the biting, I try to redirect her to something that's appropriate to bite. Given the fact that it's probably teething and it feels SO good to bite on those sore gums, we still have those baby teethers you keep in the fridge. She's welcome to bite those, or her "biters" (what we call pacifiers, which she doesn't suck at all). If nothing else, the task of going to get those objects will derail the biting! :)
Oh, also? I don't know if this is an incentive or not, actually, but I ALWAYS have Sophia help me wipe up her spills on the floor (when she's spilled her water on purpose - not at mealtimes because she's already a mess, but just from her water cup).
hope that helps. As you can see, it hasn't ended for us yet, so you can look forward to a little longer with Caleb too! Ha!
p.s. go enter my contest if you haven't already!! :)
I am wondering if you might need to do something more strict than time out... different kids respond better or worse to different forms of punishment, and we for one feel very strongly that "sparing the rod spoils the child". Just a thought...
Sometimes busy moms just need a break once in a while and then can come back re-energized to deal with a sometimes trying toddler. Wish I could be there to help out! :( G-ma F.
Adorable photos! Look like professional! Congratulations! I hope that you start feeling better soon. As for the food thing we went through many suppers of taking their food/milk away for 2 minute intervals and listening to them scream; they finally caught on; Trevor doesn't throw his food anymore and he is just 9, just kidding, after being strict about it for a week it usually subsided, but does not make for fun/relaxing meal times.
Enjoy! Tracy Kollis
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