Our family life is finally getting back into a little bit of routine. Unfortunately that mean quite a bit of butting heads against the boundaries! Combine that with Stuart dropping his nap and it's all kinds of crazy...
Sabrina is really hitting the stage of testing the boundaries and if the consequence will really happen or not. Yesterday morning was a constant battle of "will I obey?" She was shouting no to me, whining just to whine, and being unkind to her brothers. We had to stop the van on Brentwood Blvd. for about 5 mins until she stopped screaming in the car.
By the time we got home, she could not practice any self control. I said, "Sabrina, if you don't follow Mommy's directions, you will go straight to nap without lunch." She decided to test that boundary by hitting Stuart (who actually didn't provoke her!) So I picked her up and said, "It's time for bed. You have to have your nap now because you hit Stuart." All the way to her room, "Yes, mama! Yes, mama! I don't say 'No, mama'. I habe a happy heart. I habe a happy heart!"
"Sabrina, it's too late now. You have to say 'Yes, Mama' when I give you the direction, not later."
"Yes, Mama! I don't say 'No, Mama'. Yes, Mama! I don't want to go to bed"
[So much funnier in her little, pleading toddler voice!]
When she woke up 3 hours later (!) She was much better. We sat down for lunch & snack and her behavior was much better the rest of the day.
At dinner, she kept telling Michael what happened. "Mama said, 'No, ma'am.' and I cried in my bed. But I habe happy heart now. I say, 'Yes, mama.' She said, 'No, ma'am.' I say,'Yes, mama.'"
She must have repeated the story 7 times! She was so cute, it was so hard not to laugh.
Hopefully, she started learning the lesson, not just the words!
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