Time In and Sick Kid

The moratorium on time-out continues.  Life is easier without it.  Time-out on time-outs had an unexpected side benefit:  It effectively took the "big" girls out of the discipline equation.  All along, I've asked them to let me do the disciplining, but I think wielding the power is pretty alluring.

For my part, the moratorium has caused a burst of creative thinking.  Some things kids do require a response -- when "The Captain" clocked his sister with a matchbox car (on the face by the way) I needed to respond.  I decided in the "natural consequences" world, if a car is a weapon, you therefore cannot have cars.  He lost his large collection for a day.  You have never seen a sadder boy.  I actually was starting to feel pretty guilty about it until the BRUISE showed up on her face a few hours later.

Most of the time however, a quiet word is all that's needed.  All in all, it seems to be working.

The Captain is sick.  I think he gets this stuff at school.  It's his second bad cold since school started.  Yikes.  I am trying not to imagine what is going to be like when cold and flu season starts.  Since I have never had a little kid in school before, I could use some disease prevention advice.  Should I just dip him in chlorine when he comes home? On the bright side, we did seem so stave off our inevitable "post doctor" illness in the little kids.  Maybe the diaper-wipe barrier plan actually worked!

The Blitz is continuing his hobby of emptying cabinets and drawers at lightning speed.  And Tink, having been revived by the lack of time-outs, has amped up her  hobby of stealing whatever anyone else wants to play with.  In response to several quiet talks about sharing, she now announces her intention with a loudly declared "My Turn!"

It's life as usual.  Come visit!