I thinked about it

Gillian refused to eat dinner tonight. We sent her to bed without finishing her dinner. In order to drive the point home, I took away all of her princess and fairy dolls. This got her very upset and she cried in her bed. I let her cry for a little while and I went to check on her. She said "I'm sorry." I said "You are a big girl you need to understand that your actions have consequences. You need to think about that. I took away all of your princesses and fairies and when you are good you will get one back. But if you are bad you will lose them all." She said "But I thinked about it." I asked "About what?" Gilly said "You told me to think about it. And I thinked about it. Can I get out now?" I told her "No. You need to stay in bed until it is bathtime."

Daddy checked on her later. Gillian said "I thinked about it. Can I get out now?" Daddy questioned "What did you think about?" Gillian told him "Mommy told me to think about it. And I thinked about it. I thinked. Can I get out now?"

She was allowed out of her bed, but she has not earned her dolls back yet. 

Typical night

Daddy picked up the kids from school tonight. When Gillian and Daddy picked up John, Gillian went running into the gym to find him. She hugged him and they bumped heads. When she retold the story to me later she said "We bump heads. I cry. But I no go to timeout!" 

I got Gillian out of the car tonight. She laughed at me and pointed at the lapel of my coat. She said "Your beard tickle me!" I was sure if I heard that right, so I asked her to repeat it. She grabbed the lapel of my coat and said "Your beard! It tickle me!"

I tucked Gillian into bed tonight. I gave her a squeeze and a kiss. She wiped the kiss away. She thinks this is hilarious and loves wiping kisses off her face. I told her that it wasn't nice and that she was going to make me cry. I gave her another kiss and again she wiped it off. I walked out of her room and into John's. He said to me "Do you want a replacement?" He is so sweet. 

Stupid

Stupid is a bad word in our house.  Anytime the kids say stupid they are sent to time out.  Tonight at dinner, Daddy was saying that he felt stupid.  Gillian looked at me and said "Daddy say stupid."  I said, "Yes he did.  Daddy, please don't say stupid."  Gillian wasn't happy with that response.  So she said to Daddy, "Daddy, stupid is not nice.  Mommy, Daddy said stupid.  Daddy, don't say stupid.  Mommy, I tell Daddy not to say stupid." 

Gillian and Baby

On Tuesday night, I went to check on Gillian and John before I went to bed.  I found Gillian sleeping like this.

Gillian and Baby were both tucked in and snuggly in her bed.

Last night, I went to check on the kids and again I found Gillian and Baby in Gillian's bed. 

Notice where Baby got stuck sleeping, at the end of the bed.  When I woke Gillian up this morning, I asked her why Baby was so far away.  Gillian said "Baby hit me! She hit me here (Gillian pointed at the bridge of her nose) and here (Gillian pointed at her top lip)."  I guess Baby was so bad that she had to be moved away from Gillian so she couldn't hurt anyone else. 

No nap

I picked the kids up from school today. In the car on our way home, I asked the kids about their day. Gillian said "I don't wanna talk about it now!" She crossed her arms and refused to talk to me. I asked John about his day. He said "It was great. Mom, can I tell you something?" I said of course. He said "I saw Gillian in timeout today. I was walking past her classroom and she was in the hallway." I asked Gillian if she went to timeout today. She said "No!" I asked John if he was sure she was in timeout. He said "I think so. She was all by herself in the hallway. And then she took a nap." I said maybe that was the problem. Maybe she didn't take a nap and she was in the hallway because she was making too much noise. Gillian did you take nap? Then Gillian burst into tears. She calmed down and John and I stopped talking for a little while. I looked back at the kids and told them that they looked like sleepyheads. Gillian said "Not me! Johnny is sleepy! Not me!" I said you look sleepy to me. She again burst into tears "I not sleepy. I don't wanna nap!" Clearly someone did not nap at school today. 

Bedtime secrets - take two

My post on Monday night was about Gillian and how she admitted that she was a little bully. She told me that she his Dorlisa with her lunch bag and she pushed Gavin. On Tuesday, she told me that she pushed Gavin again. I was a little concerned that she was having a problem with Gavin. I asked her teacher on Wednesday morning how Gillian was behaving in class. She told me that Gillian was doing great. I asked her about Gillian and Gavin. She laughed and said "Gavin is on vacation. He hasn't been in all week!" I laughed and said did she hit Dorlisa on Monday with her lunch bag? And her teacher said, "Yes. On Monday!" Not sure why Gillian would tell me she pushed her friend when he wasn't in school. Daddy thinks she just makes stuff up.

Today, Daddy picked up the kids. In the car, Gillian told Daddy "I go to timeout today!" Daddy asked her "What did you go to timeout for?" Gillian replied "Two minutes!" She told me later that "I hurt Dorlisa. Because Christian a monster!" I'm guessing that Christian was pretending to be a monster and Gillian got scared and Dorlisa was in the way. Poor Dorlisa!

Extended Timeout

Nothing much exciting going on in our house for the past couple of days. Daddy and I are having a hard time with getting the kids to listen. We will tell them something as simple as, don't stand on the furniture. But then minutes later we will see the same behavior. Tonight I sent John to timeout for jumping from couch to couch. While he was in timeout he proceeded to kick the wall and talk to Gillian. His timeout got extended longer due to both of these infractions. Then within 5 minutes after he was released from timeout he stood on his chair. And that was the last straw. I sent both of them to bed. I just couldn't take it anymore. John pouted the entire time up the stairs. He insists "I was so excited about watching your movie that I forgot." He couldn't talk himself out of this one. Both of them were sent to bed and John was again told that he is a big boy and needs to work on his listening.

How was your day?

I picked the kids up from school and I asked the kids "How was your day?" John said "Good." Gillian said "I hit Dora." Let me give you a little backstory first. Dora is Gillian's best friend at school. Her name is Dorlisa, but Gilly calls her Dora. We correct her and she says "Noo! Dora!" Anyway they are best friends. They hold hands in line and play together all day. I was a little surprised that Gillian hit her best friend. Unfortunately it's a little hard to get any good information out of a two year old. When I asked Gillian why she hit her friend, she said "I dunno." John took this opportunity to tell me "After nap today I was putting my blanket in my cubby and I stopped to say hi to Gilly. And Gilly's teacher said her was in timeout. I think that Gilly hit Dora during nap. Maybe they were laying next to each other." Great. So now John is a spy (and a tattletale). Later tonight when Gillian was telling Daddy about her day, she added "Rock wall." We think they were playing by the rock wall outside and that's where Gillian hit her friend. But I will get the full story tomorrow when I talk to her teacher.

I talk

I picked up the kids today and I asked John about his day. He couldn't remember much so I had to keep asking him questions, like "did you play outside today?", "what was your job today?" and "what did you have for snack?" As I was questioning him, I could hear Gillian say "I talk." She was whispering and I could barely hear her. So I asked her how her day was. John replied for her "Her got one timeout today. She was keeping all her friends up during nap. I know cause I saw her sitting at the table when we were done with nap." I asked Gillian if this was true. She nodded and frowned. Based on her reaction I assumed it was true. Not a good week for the kids.

At dinner, I was telling Daddy a story about work. Gillian started yelling "I talk! I talk!" I tell her that Mommy is talking and when I am done I will listen to her story. She waited patiently and then tells me "I all done!" She thought she was finished with her dinner, but I made her eat some more. She finished her chicken and again told me "I all done!" She then asked for some applesauce. Can't really complain if she wants applesauce after dinner instead of dessert.

Green Meadow Farms

Today John's class and the Dinosaur class went on a field trip to Green Meadow Farms. John told me all about his trip. "First we got on a bus! Adriana was in my group and my chaperone was Miss Denise." I asked him what happened when they got there. He said "Then we got to pet and feed the animals. We got to feed them on the inside." I didn't understand what he was talking about. He meant the inside of the fence. They got to go inside the fence and feed and pet the animals. I asked what kinds of animals he fed. He said "Cows and sheep and geese. And what says 'gobble gobble?'" I told him a turkey. He says "Yea a turkey and ponies." He kept telling me animals and I could hear Gillian say "I like ponies!" He tells me that they fed the animals and then they got to pick their pumpkins. "At the end we got to go on a hayride. And can I tell you something? I got in timeout by accident." Now it's been a long time since John has been put in timeout at school. So I ask him why he was put in timeout. He says "I accidentally hit Ryan." In my opinion you don't accidentally hit anyone. I asked him what happened. He said "He was pointing at me!" We had a long talk about how hitting is way worse than pointing. He then admitted "I hit him two times. One time because he was pointing at me. And another time because he wouldn't let me move the wheelbarrow." Again we talked about how hitting is wrong and that he would get no dessert and no television shows tonight as punishment.

No ice cream

Once again on our way home from school, the kids and I discussed our days. Gillian was a good girl today. She napped (yesterday she didn't nap). John proudly told me "I had no timeouts today!" He paused and then said "But I have something to tell you. I was on the yellow light today." I said well you know what that means, and before I could finish Gillian says "No ice cream!" She was right. No dessert for little boys that are on the yellow light. John tried to talk his way out of it. "But being on the yellow light isn't bad. I just talked when the teacher was talking. That's not bad. If I was bad I would be on the red light." Meanwhile, Gillian is saying "No ice cream. No ice cream. No ice cream." Sorry Johnny. No ice cream for kids on the yellow light.

Timeout

Lately Gillian has been putting her babies in timeout. She puts them on the stairs, whispers something to them and walks away. After a few minutes she will go back to the babies and take one out. I like to ask her why the babies are in timeout. She replies "Pushing." Sometimes she says "Baby hit. Baby not nice!"

Today I picked up the kids from school and I was informed that Gillian was not a good girl. Gillian pushed one of her best friends. You could see Gillian was guilty of pushing her friend. She is too much like Mommy. She can't hide her emotions well. Anyway, I told the teacher about how Gillian puts her babies in timeout for pushing. Her teacher said its because Gillian hears the boys get in trouble all day long for pushing.

Smiling

I picked up the kids from school today and Miss Chris, Gillian's teacher, told me that Gillian had a bad day. In the car I asked John how was his day. He proudly reported "I was in the green all day." I looked at Gillian and said I know you didn't have a good day. She immediately burst into tears. She knew she was bad. I told her that I was very disappointed in her and that she needed to be a better girl. And she just whined. I fear the terrible twos are here.

Tonight at dinner John was refusing to eat his cheeseburger. "But my tummy hurts." His tummy didn't hurt. He was his giving me a hard time. So I said John stop fooling around, it's time for you to eat dinner. John looked at me and said "I'm not kidding. If I'm smiling, I'm kidding. If I'm not smiling, I'm not kidding."

Grumpster Dumpster

When John is cranky at school one of his teachers calls him a Grumpster Dumpster. Today John was a Grumpster Dumpster. He was practically in tears when I told him he couldn't have milk with dinner. I told him that he could have soda instead of milk. Any other kid would be ecstatic to hear they could have soda with dinner. No. Not John. "But I want milk!" I explained to him that if they had milk with dinner we would not be able to have milk with breakfast. "But I don't want milk with breakfast." He always has to argue. Finally we got him to go and get a can of soda. Then it got worse. Daddy told him that he needed to share with Gillian. John stomped his foot and burst into tears. I sent him to timeout. He was there for an extra minute because he stomped on his way to timeout. He came back to the table. And once again was in tears. Daddy teased him and only put 3 noodles into his bowl. That's all it took. Normally John wouldn't put up with Daddy's jokes but not tonight. Such a Grumpster Dumpster.

Timeouts

Every night on our way home from school, I ask John how many timeouts he had during the day. Lately he has been on a good streak of no timeouts. But Gillian always wants to be involved in our conversations. So one night I asked Gillian if she had any timeouts. She said "No!" But she had a guilty look on her face. I'm very suspicious of that little girl.

Today I picked up Gillian early from school. She wasn't feeling well. John decided to stay at school while I took Gillian home. Gillian was at school for about three hours. On our way home from picking up John, again I asked him how many timeouts. He said "zero!" Gillian had a big smile on her face. I asked Gillian the same question. She replied with her little finger in the air "Two!" She paused, then she said "Four! Six!" I'm not sure she understood the question.

I know why

I picked the kids up from school today. Before we were out the door, John started telling me about how he, Nick and Logan were inside while everyone else was outside. Before they got to go outside, it started raining. I said John why were you guys inside while everyone was outside. "I don't want to talk about it." I said well I want to know why three boys were inside while everyone else was outside. "It's okay Mommy! I know why!" John that doesn't really help me to understand why three boys were not outside with the entire class. He then freaked out and said "Mommy, I don't wanna talk about it now!" At this point I gave up asking him any more about it at school. I did get information out of him in the car. He said that they were talking during class and not listening. We had a long discussion about how important it is to listen to our teachers and to follow directions. I just hope that tomorrow is a better day.

On a positive note, we discovered that with a little prompting Gillian can count to four. We were counting John's last three bites of breakfast this morning. As we said three we heard another voice go "four!"

timeout

we use timeout in our house as a form of discipline. we base the length of time in timeout on the age of the child. john is four years old and spends four minutes in timeout.

i had to put one of the kids in timeout tonight. i know you are expecting that i had to put john in timeout. not tonight. my sweet little gillian bit her brother. he was sitting on the couch with me and she wanted to get in my lap. as she was climbing on the couch she leaned over and bit his leg. i immediately put gillian in timeout while daddy examined the wound. gillian's timeout spot is john's chair. it's soft and easy for mommy to keep her in the chair. as i am trying to keep her in the chair (for the whole minute and a half), john comes over and tells me "mommy you are punishing her and thats not nice." he continued "it's not nice to punish her in someone else's chair."