Summer parenting
The past week and and a half of summer schedule has given me much more time at home with the family, which is very nice. In particular, Peter and I have been spending more time together the past few days, both doing fun stuff and dealing with necessary stuff like naps and time-outs. A couple of interesting events:
* We rode the train yesterday to the MOA to see Cars at the theater. Peter has been to a number of movies, mostly as a small baby with Amy, but also a few for him to enjoy - Polar Express, Madagascar, and Wallace and Gromet. But in general it's a new experience for him. He'd read a book at my parents' about Cars and he was excited to see the movie. Unfortunately we didn't make it past the previews. We came in to the dark theater which was showing the trailer to Jack Frost. Peter got weepy as soon as we reached a seat and clung to me in fear. He pointed to the back of the theater and said, "Over there, over there!" I comforted him for a few moments, hoping that he was just upset that the screen wasn't immediately showing speeding cars, but then walked back out the door. We could still see the screen, so I tried to explain that this was just part of a different movie and that Cars would be on soon. But he was crying and pointing down the hall away from our theater, "Over there, over there!" Me: "Don't you want to see the cars?" Him: "Nooo!" I thought, let's just wait until the movie actually starts and see if it draws him in. But after the "Feature Presentation" screen there was a non-cars Pixar short! So I gave up and got a refund. We walked around the mall and Peter went on his first kiddie-ride. Very cute, but disappointing. We'll try again with more family members and skip the scary previews.
* We've been using timeouts to discipline Peter's misbehaviors (like biting or hitting Leo). He's learned the consequence and will walk to the corner himself when told, but often will get up before his time is up. So recently I've held him there firmly if he won't stay. He dislikes it enough to cry and scream "Go way, dada, go way!" over and over again. Ah, the pains of disciplining one's child! The same thing was required today at naptime to keep him in bed. It's hard to do (who likes his 2 year old to scream "Go way, dada!"?), but after the minute of unpleasantness it led to good sleeping.
* Tonight at bedtime Peter was not at all in the mood to sleep, although he would stay in his bed and talk/sing to himself. Our usual routine is for me to read a book of his choice, then a Bible story and we pray. I then sing some songs and sit on the floor until he is asleep, about 15 minutes. But recently Peter's been taking longer to fall asleep, and I decided tonight that I can't start sitting in his room for over an hour every night. So after some singing I told him I was going into the next room and that he should stay in bed. I went next door where Amy was in bed with Leo and read for a while. Peter fussed briefly and returned to his talking/singing to himself. But after awhile he interspersed chants of "Miss you, dada, miss you. Miss you, dada, miss you." I was sure he was fine, but it just about broke Amy's heart (we are generally not of the "cry-it-out camp"). After 5-10 minutes, Amy said that I should go back in or come and nurse Leo so that she could. So I went back in to sit, but ended up lying down on the floor and falling asleep - a danger to sitting in a dark room at night. I woke up just in time to head to church at 11:45. We'll have to work on this process a bit.
Anyway, it's been a good couple of days with the family and fun with Peter. He was happy waking up from his nap today and cuddled up to me for a few minutes. I told him I loved very much and he gave the appropriate male response of smiling and jumping roughly on top of me. I do so enjoy these kids!
* We rode the train yesterday to the MOA to see Cars at the theater. Peter has been to a number of movies, mostly as a small baby with Amy, but also a few for him to enjoy - Polar Express, Madagascar, and Wallace and Gromet. But in general it's a new experience for him. He'd read a book at my parents' about Cars and he was excited to see the movie. Unfortunately we didn't make it past the previews. We came in to the dark theater which was showing the trailer to Jack Frost. Peter got weepy as soon as we reached a seat and clung to me in fear. He pointed to the back of the theater and said, "Over there, over there!" I comforted him for a few moments, hoping that he was just upset that the screen wasn't immediately showing speeding cars, but then walked back out the door. We could still see the screen, so I tried to explain that this was just part of a different movie and that Cars would be on soon. But he was crying and pointing down the hall away from our theater, "Over there, over there!" Me: "Don't you want to see the cars?" Him: "Nooo!" I thought, let's just wait until the movie actually starts and see if it draws him in. But after the "Feature Presentation" screen there was a non-cars Pixar short! So I gave up and got a refund. We walked around the mall and Peter went on his first kiddie-ride. Very cute, but disappointing. We'll try again with more family members and skip the scary previews.
* We've been using timeouts to discipline Peter's misbehaviors (like biting or hitting Leo). He's learned the consequence and will walk to the corner himself when told, but often will get up before his time is up. So recently I've held him there firmly if he won't stay. He dislikes it enough to cry and scream "Go way, dada, go way!" over and over again. Ah, the pains of disciplining one's child! The same thing was required today at naptime to keep him in bed. It's hard to do (who likes his 2 year old to scream "Go way, dada!"?), but after the minute of unpleasantness it led to good sleeping.
* Tonight at bedtime Peter was not at all in the mood to sleep, although he would stay in his bed and talk/sing to himself. Our usual routine is for me to read a book of his choice, then a Bible story and we pray. I then sing some songs and sit on the floor until he is asleep, about 15 minutes. But recently Peter's been taking longer to fall asleep, and I decided tonight that I can't start sitting in his room for over an hour every night. So after some singing I told him I was going into the next room and that he should stay in bed. I went next door where Amy was in bed with Leo and read for a while. Peter fussed briefly and returned to his talking/singing to himself. But after awhile he interspersed chants of "Miss you, dada, miss you. Miss you, dada, miss you." I was sure he was fine, but it just about broke Amy's heart (we are generally not of the "cry-it-out camp"). After 5-10 minutes, Amy said that I should go back in or come and nurse Leo so that she could. So I went back in to sit, but ended up lying down on the floor and falling asleep - a danger to sitting in a dark room at night. I woke up just in time to head to church at 11:45. We'll have to work on this process a bit.
Anyway, it's been a good couple of days with the family and fun with Peter. He was happy waking up from his nap today and cuddled up to me for a few minutes. I told him I loved very much and he gave the appropriate male response of smiling and jumping roughly on top of me. I do so enjoy these kids!