stern mommy

I have decided it is time to take action on one particular behavior that drive me nuts. Liliana has a bad habit about throwing things. Mostly her cup, plate and food off of the highchair but also toys. It isn't a casual toss but an aggressive throw. As far as the mealtime sport is concerned, I want it to end so she can be well behaved at other's houses or restaurants. When it comes to the toys, I just don't want her to hurt another child by hurtling a wooden xylophone through the air. So, I decided to enact the "naughty step" treatment. I have implemented this 3 times. Twice for highchair shot puting and once when she threw the wooden box of Melissa and Doug magnetic letters out of the toybox which landed squarely on my fourth left toe leaving a painful bruise. She is so obedient and good that when I pull her out of her highchair, explain what she did wrong, sit her on the step for one minute then come back she is still just sitting calmly on the first step with her hands on her thighs, waiting for me. At least the first two times. The toy box toss resulted in a loud scream from me (cuz that shit hurt), a not so calm yanking of baby out of the toy box and a stern plopping on the step. I explained and left. She was crying this time but she stayed on the step (she is so sweet). Bottom line is, I overreacted and shouldn't have punished her for that. I was reacting to searing pain. I feel so incredibly bad, almost 24 hours later about my behavior. It was such an overreaction and I am feeling so guilty that I scared her.
I am not good at doling out punishment. They say to be consistent but I can tell you, this is going to be really hard for me.

Angry

I am so sickened by this story. A mother left her 14 month old child in the bathtub to go do laundry and get chores done. I will be honest and say I haven't read her blog in entirety, and maybe I should before I post this, but I find the whole thing so sick and wrong. She is not a hero, she shouldn't be getting her 15 minutes of fame and I don't feel sorry for her. I feel incredibly sick for her child (children) and am so incredibly relieved that the baby survived, is home and appears to be doing well.
Come on people, NEVER leave a child alone in the bathtub! There are enough dangers that we need to protect our children from, and none of us are perfect parents. You all know about my postings where I have panicked over things that could have been dangerous, that Liliana gets into mischief sometimes, and I am not watching her like a hawk 24/7. BUT, there are those few rules as parents that everyone should know and I am naive and shocked to learn that they don't. Never leave a child alone in the bathtub, never leave a child alone in a car, and don't give a child a plastic bag to play with.
Please don't misinterpret any of this as my saying I don't make mistakes with Liliana and that there are times I don't feel extremely lucky that she hasn't seriously hurt herself. I just think some things are accidents and some things are pure negligence.
Here is a link to the blog
Update: I tried to read the blog from the beginning. I couldn't get through the first entry describing what happened. It is just so sad. I feel so horrible for the baby. I do feel a sadness for the mom too, I do. I think what I find so strange is her blog and the videos and pictures and she is going on national TV etc... I know everyone processes grief differently, and I love to put my shit out there too. That is why I have a blog and am on facebook etc...But it just does not resonate well with me, that is all I am saying.

Toddler Shift

Just a quick note to describe the disaster that ensued in the short amount of time I was unloading the dishwasher. After breakfast, Liliana went into the living room, which is currently, but not permanently, her play room. This has always worked out well for us. She sits and eats breakfast while I make coffee and start to clean the kitchen. Usually when she is done she goes off to play while I finish cleaning up. This morning was like any other, she wolfed down her french toast and banana as was ready to go play.

I left the living room a bit of a disaster last night with all her toys spread out and the toy box open. After about 5 minutes I came to join her in the living room to find every single book pulled out of the toy chest, her face and hands covered in blue marker, the last three pages torn out of her Knuffle Bunny book and blue marker on the hardwood floors. So far I haven't found any blue marker on anything permanent like furniture. It easily washed of baby and floor. Time to re-think my system!

For the Love of Hats

Budding fashionista

Filling the time

Okay, I confess I have a new obsession. Anyone that knows me knows I spend a bit of time on Facebook. I don't do Farmville or play Mafia Wars. I keep up with my friends in different states. I learn when someone I grew up with has passed away, I see pictures of my friend's babies and vacations. I see interesting OpEd pieces posted and funny clips from The Onion. I connect with people through networking that have become very good friends and confidants. There are a lot of good, no great things that have come out of my time on Facebook! I have decided to spend less time on Facebook though. I was at my dinner group on Saturday night and realized everything I talked about people already knew from my status updates. "Hey I joined a gym! Oh, you know already." "Hey Liliana tried salsa for the first time and loves it! Oh, right, I posted that on Facebook." Really kinda icky when you realize how much technology has replaced personal connections. So I am on a self imposed Facebook hiatus. I will still cruise it once in a while and comment where I want to but am not going to be terribly active about my own stuff.

Maybe breaking up with Facebook is easier because lately I have become a troll of the BabyCenter message boards! I joined the group TTC (trying to conceive) After Miscarriage. I have never been one to post or follow message boards because there are SO many posts and topics that it is impossible to follow. However, once you delve in you learn there are so many people who have the same questions, feelings and situations as you do. It can become quite addictive! I have also learned there are people who have suffered such great loss such as multiple miscarriages or miscarriages much farther along. It is sobering to say the least. It also surprises me what great comfort I am finding in getting support from total strangers. Then there are the complete dimwits on there who are using ovulation predictor kits as pregnancy tests and not understanding why they aren't working properly!

In addition to the computer activity, I have also started to exercise again and I feel great! We joined a gym and they were having a 2 months free promotion. Perfect for the unemployed! Plus, Liliana loves the daycare there. When I go to get her she is carrying an armful of stuffed animals and tea party fixins. She is impossibly cute. It is so perfect. Things are moving along nicely here and imagine I should have a job within a month! Life is good. Life is really good.