let's have a pep rally!

As in:

Who's more stubborn than toddlers?

WE ARE!

Who's impervious to whining?

WE ARE!

Who sends them to time out over and over again even if it messes up the whole rest of the day?

WE DO!

Can we do it?

YES WE CAN!


Ugh, seriously, Ivy has picked today to be her day to experiment with "What happens if I just stand there and stare at Mommy when she asks me to do something?" Usually I ask her, give her another chance with a countdown, and then make her do it (since it's stuff like getting in her seat for lunch or lying down for a diaper at naptime), which she hates, so it's usually a sufficient consequence. Today she's been so awful that I've started sending her to TO after the countdowns.

And then after TO she's distraught because she wants to turn back time and listen. "Want to LISTEN to Mommy!" And I tell her, "OK, here's a good chance to practice, you can listen now: Ivy, please _____." Then the same old thing. TO again.

Rinse, repeat. :headbang: :drown:

And usually she's the little people pleaser who just does whatever I ask her to, and Andrew is the one who gets the devilish gleam in his eye and runs off - and today he's been just a mellow little angel.

And he is SO sweet - during Ivy's multiple TOs, he kept wanting to go get her, and invariably when it was time to get her, he'd run ahead of me and dash right to her with a big grin, and she'd brighten up just looking at him. :wub:

Sigh. Just had to vent... :faint:

 

It's catching!!! It's "good-child-goes-bad" week here at TS!

Jack has entered the phase of whining and screaming every time I tell him no, while Tom - who was a PIA all snowed-in weekend - is all sweetness and quiet light. This is one of those things that you totally don't understand if you don't have twins: it totally rocks your world when they switch places, way more than it feels like it should.

Not to mention how tough it is when they act completely irrational. I TRY to remember that the disconnects and contrariness and failure to choose are all developmentally appropriate, but SHEESH!

Anyway...

PATIENCE! PATIENCE!
YES WE CAN!
TAKE A DEEP BREATH
AND SAY IT AGAIN!

 

LOL! I so need this! Mine both have double ear infections, but the sickness hasn't stopped their whining and tantrums. Like my good friend (mom of 4 yo twins, a 2 yo and a new baby) told me a few weeks ago, "They're only 2.5. Even combined, they're only 5 years old. You're 29. You can take 'em!"

 

:rotflmbo:

 

Ooooh, Little Miss Independent huh? You just described Lauren. When threatened with TO I would get "I want to go".

She has thrown a FIT on more than one occasion because she missed an opportunity to do something (like perform for her recital last May) but chose not to and then got TICKED OFF that she couldn't. She also does it with tasks when she realizes she's in TO.

I just posted something in Stacy's thread about choices. That has helped in this house tremendously!! I will tell her "Time to get your shoes on, we're leaving". If she resists, I tell her "You have a choice, either I put them on for you, or you do it yourself". More often than not, she wants to do it herself and she knows that I will stick to my word. I do this with just about anything I can. "You can choose to go to your room and cry or you can stop crying and do _____". Emma always chooses to go to her room, Lauren always chooses to finish task at hand.

This was a very long-winded way of saying, I know right where you're at!! :hug: It does get better!! :hug:

Love this!! :clapping:

 

I will join in on the pep rally for sure! After Cooper was in TO 8 times today, I am ready to :gah: !!! He has gotten baaaaad about screaming "no mommy" and "stop it" in a demon voice. There are times when he can be so sweet, but when he decides to be head strong and stubborn watch out!

I am repeating Zabeta's chant over and over right now. :lol:

 

Oh man, this used to work for us all the time! It used to be so simple - "Ivy, you can come get your shoes on or I will bring you over." And immediately she'd come running, because she wanted to do it herself. Then when she got stubborn I'd give her a countdown to 3, and it would work. If she didn't do it, I'd make her, and she hated it. But today was just out of this world - when I'd try to make her do stuff, she would thrash and flail so much that it was physically impossible for me to do whatever it was. So - lots of TO.

And classic Ivy - after her nap she was happily narrating to me how she went to TO because she didn't listen to Mommy - as matter of fact is if she was talking about what we sang at Music Together this morning. :faint: (Not in a defiant way, more like cheerfully talking about cause and effect.)

:rotflmbo: Love it! (Though if I were a drinker I'd probably be replacing one line with "Have a stiff drink.")

Oooh, I like that kind of math! :laughing:

 

:wavey: I am in! :headbang: