Parenting 101: The Drama Continues

Hey, folks! Before I get into today's post, I want to ask for your thoughts and prayers for us this morning. Chase has a cardiology appointment at 9AM and we are very anxious to see how he does. He's NOT a fan of anything doctor-related and they will be taking his height, weight, O2 saturation and four limb blood pressures. All of this will make for one VERY unhappy boy. But after all of that, and waiting an undetermined amount of time in a tiny exam room, we'll head back for him to get an echo. I have no clue how we'll keep a mobile 15-month-old still for 20-30 minutes, but we'll be trying everything in our arsenal to keep him still so we can get good images for his cardiologist. Based on the findings today, his cardiologist will recommend whether or not we need to head to MUSC for a heart cath procedure this spring/summer. Please pray for good findings and for Chase to cooperate as best as he can. Thank you in advance for your thoughts and prayers!

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It's been a very tumultuous few days here. There's been a lot of thrashing on LO's part. And my goodness, is it ever hard for ME to completely change my parenting methodology essentially overnight. I completely understand and agree with Dr. Leman that, "Your child's behavior has everything to do with you." But wow. In order to get her to change, I have to change first. But not only change, I also have to be consistent. That's a tall order, friends!

A few days into our new parenting approach, we taught a pretty big lesson that I figured would make a pretty big impact. It was Sunday afternoon, and time for the kids to take their naps. Chase went down perfectly, as usual. LO, however, was a different story. I put her down and about 30 minutes later (30 minutes of playing in her room, mind you), she bounded out and proclaimed she was ready to go outside and play! The weather was perfect and we had already discussed during lunch that we were going to play outside after naps. Unfortunately, I had the not-so-joyous privilege of informing her that (A) she hadn't taken a nap, (B) she was going to go lay back down and (C) she lost the opportunity to go outside and play after nap time. As you can imagine, she wasn't very pleased.

Then came the joy of having to follow through with the plan. After the kids were both up, we got Chase dressed to go outside. When LO realized it was time to go out and play, she wanted to get her coat on, but I told her she wasn't going to be able to join us outside because she wouldn't take a nap.

Crazy. Drama. Pouting. Crying. Etc.

Hubs and I took Chase into the backyard and introduced him to some new toys (keep in mind these toys are all new to him, but they happen to formerly belong to LO... talk about rubbing salt in the wound, huh?). He got to try out the cozy coupe, the tricycle, slide and outdoor cottage. He had a BLAST! As if you needed proof, check out the pics below:

He LOVED ringing the doorbell... over and over and over and over...

So while Chase and mommy and daddy were having such a fun and wonderful time outside, enjoying the beautiful weather, what exactly was LO doing the entire time?

Standing at the glass door, watching and envying our every move.

Let me tell you this picture was taken about 10 minutes into our afternoon of outdoor fun. For the first 5 to 8 minutes, she was doing the "ugly cry" with every bit of wailing you can imagine. She was NOT happy about how things went down. But after we came inside, I was able to talk with her rationally and explained the circumstances again. I think she understood and I think it made an impression.