Balance

As we were all getting better from the head cold funk that made its way around our house and decided to linger longer than anyone really cared for it.  Collier decided to really see what boundaries he could push and pass and walk all over.  He has a new (very ugly and mean) face that goes along with a very bad attitude and often disrespectful tone.  This 33month old has decided to show his true TWO colors!  He has seemed to have a bit of aggressiveness that I have never seen before.   Because we have all been sick at one point or another I believe it elevated fast.  I have no idea if it was all of the medications that he was on or if it was just the beginning of a new phase.  But after several days of being consistent and persistent he seems to realize that he can not get away with this behavior.  We notified school teachers and bible study teachers and asked that they help us be on alert and correct this behavior.  It has thankfully gotten better but here is what we experienced.

The week before last when Mom went to pick Collier up from school...he was in time out.  To my knowledge he hasn't been in time out before.  He had thrown rocks at a little GIRL on the play ground.  Oh my goodness. 

When he doesn't get his way he would grit his teeth, wrinkle his nose, squint his eyes and pucker his lips all at the same time speaking in a mean tone.  When I dropped him off at school on Tuesday I was talking to his teacher about about his behavior to be sure that we are on the same page with them.  She assured me it is only a phase and suddenly that ugly face started.  I looked at him and told him we weren't going to have that face and to show me his sweet face...immediately he changed his expression and smiled a sweet smile.  His teacher was slightly surprised but I believe that she better understood that he does know the difference.  His entire last week was time-out free thank goodness.

He would tell us that he was going to kick or hit us and would sometimes actually attempt [succeeded from time to time].  He even told me that he was going to shoot me with his gun.  He also has tried to bite me a few times.  All of that to say is that any mention of him going to do anything negative toward us or anyone else....because he told me one morning that he was going to hit goofy and went to the TV and hit it next time goofy was on the screen.  So, we  started no toleration of any of this.  Even the ugly face would result in a time out.  We do both time out and spanking depending on the level of ugliness [this is my word for not being nice, disrespectful, mean, etc].  One morning, Justin was out of town, and Collier would not cooperate  and being ugly to me.  After three spankings, I lost it.  I put him in his room.  I cried.  I fell to my knees.  I prayed.  I went back into Collier's room and it really upset him that I was also crying.  I explained that I was very sad because of the way that he was acting.  He cried harder and we hugged and talked about the way that he had been acting.  It was just a rough few weeks.  

So, After a few weeks it [consistent discipline] has certainly helped.  He certainly pushed his limits from time to time but not like the one week where it was constantly.  He is such a sweet boy and I know that I often take that for granted.  I am doing a lot of praying for his heart and that God will lead Justin and I [and mom] in our parenting and raising of this sweet little boy!  We have a long way to go and I know that the next 'phase' will be tough too. But we will just take it one at a time!

Friday, I had several errands to run and took Collier along.  He told me he didn't want to ride in the cart.  So we talked about the rules of not riding in the cart....have to stay right next to Momma's leg, no running off, no touching or pulling items off of shelves... and if any of this was done then he would have to get into the cart.  I was SHOCKED.  He did amazing.  We went to Hobby Lobby,  Home Goods, TJMax and Joann's Fabric.  I was so proud of him and let him know that he was such a big boy and did so good.  Of course I had moments that I had to remind him of the rules but for the most part he did great!  I was so proud of him.

I worked on several projects for the nursery this weekend and I'll try and post about those this week.  Hope that your weekend was great!