…is tough love.
disciplining is hard business. drawing that line between spoiling the monster and wanting him to try and understanding why we say “no” to some of the things he does. sometimes, it is hard to remember that this little fella is only 1.5 yo and that it will take a while to truly understand the concept of “no”.
the monster has been testing his boundaries and despite pulling him away, sternly saying “no”, frowning at him, he will still persist. Touching the fan, leaning & pulling the glass sliding door are the major issues. If I frown long enough, he would attempt to diffuse the situation and making funny faces at me. In the end, he will come to me, bury his face against me and want a cuddle.
basically, he wants everything to be right again. happy, laughter and fun.
but yet, he will still persist. frowning does seems to work most of the time, for him to stop momentarily. but frowning is hard work. seriously. it is hard to keep frowning when inside you want to laugh at the silly things he does. hey, Ollie needs to know mama is upset with him.
then we have a little chat.
D and I were discussing about discipline, sharing and how others, together with Ollie & E may react to situations in toddler socialising. Both Ollie and E seemed to react similarly when E was where Ollie is now. Ollie wouldn’t really mind if someone sorta grabs an item away from him. He would pretty much go look for another thing. However, if it was really something that he wanted (like watching videos on our phones), it would involve some screaming until another alternative or a distraction is offer. But with another kid..I dunno. He hasn’t started screaming yet. He would be just happy with the company to play.
but what if the other kid grabbed the phone? Hrm, I haven’t really thought up of an appropriate response to tell Ollie. We have sorted out some ground rules at home..but socialising ground rules..may be when he is a little older.
most of the times I am pretty relaxed about how things are at home, apart from the whole fan an sliding door thing. He has a lot of freedom at home. Toys are strewn everywhere, he gets some tv time and loads of reading time. We chillax on the couch, have some fruit, eat some snacks and crackers. we sometimes play silly games.
and then sometimes I wonder if I am spoiling the monster. judging by the new toys *innocent look* that I recently bought him on Amazon. Ai. I dunno if I bought those toys for my sanity (so he is more occupied) or if it is really to stimulate him. Well..at least they are not toy figurines. They are..fake food. Haha.
It’s crazy when I think about it. Cos Ollie’s got toys probably enough to last him a while. He has got a couple of boxes of Lego already. And he is not even 3. Gah. Okay…I think I need to rotate the toys. Time to keep some away. I can imagine when I have two kids, and one is playing with Duplo pieces and the other is playing with teethers or something. Two sets of toys lying around.
Argh. Housekeeping is gonna drive me nuts.
speaking of which, I reckon we need to do some fingerpainting tomorrow to keep this mama sane and to curb the spending she does when she goes out. oh wait..may be we may make a trip to Ikea for another box and a shoe rack..haha