Good and Bad Behavior

Thursday: We had a girls' (plus babies) night at my place while Hubs went to Mess Night with the rest of the guys from his unit. He came home drunk around 11pm, but we expected that! So, from 5pm to 11pm, I just sat around with Cat and Robin and talked and we ate some tasty pizza and some delicious confetti cake (Cat's pregnant request, haha). I got the house cleaned back up and got the bed made and went to bed myself.

Friday: Smidget woke up, climbed off of the bed, and crawled into the bathroom BY HIMSELF to use the potty. He's now getting good at removing his velcro diapers and takes them off whenever possible, especially when he NEEDS to pee (not when he's already gone). So, when he headed for the bathroom this morning, Hubby intercepted him and put him on the potty (he was wearing a snappy diaper) and he has peed on the potty three times today so far. He's down for his nap now, so we're at intermission :D I'm going to spend the time cleaning my bedroom. Then we're going to watch From Paris with Love and eat this delicious Pork Roast that I made and play with Smidget and shoot pictures until bedtime :D First, though, pictures outside :D THEN movie and dinner :D

Off to clean my bedroom!

Chores tonight:
Vacuum living room.
Sweep & Mop kitchen
Unload and Reload dishwasher.
2 loads laundry
Put away hanging clothes
Get showered and ready for church and pool tomorrow with the Roberts'

As for Smidget---He's been a cranky butt and last night was downright MEAN to Nathan when they were playing. He was refusing to share and hitting Nathan. So, we've got to curb that quick. My solution---Mama has to be a bit stricter AND we have to have more playdates HERE so other babies play with Smidget's toys!!! He doesn't like seeing other babies touching his stuff!

He also acts up in front of others because I don't like to let him cry around other people because they'll assume I'm not meeting his needs. That is backfiring because he now knows he can get away with more around other people than he can at home/alone.

And he's starting to hit and bite. I feel like its hypocritical of me to smack his hands when he hits another baby or to swat his butt. So, I DO NOT want to hit HIM as a means of punishment and then try to teach him NOT to hit anyone to get what he wants. Seems like people who do that are sending mixed messages to their children. Not that I'm against spanking, WHEN THE CHILD IS OLD ENOUGH TO HAVE THE REASON EXPLAINED TO THEM AND UNDERSTAND WHAT IS HAPPENING AND WHY. Smacking a 12 month old's hand? He doesn't understand. Although, people keep recommending for me to "bust his hand" or "bust his butt"---HE'S ONE YEAR OLD! I know he's as big as a 2 year old, but cognitively, he's still just a baby. So, spanking, NO THANKS! You do what you want with your kid, I'll keep not spanking mine.

I'm working on time-outs, but he's still too little to get it. So, I'm keeping the Pack N Play out and when he's being naughty ALL DAY I'll pop it up and when he does something bad like hitting or biting or throwing things (other than his ball), he's going in there. He hates it in there, but I figure 2 minutes won't hurt him and might teach him a lesson that redirecting and distraction aren't teaching anymore. But, I'm going to reserve that punishment for hitting/biting/throwing because other methods are working for other behaviors (like "NO!" and redirection works when he's trying to play with the heating grate or pulling cords or grabbing my glass when I'm trying to drink).

I'm asking some friends what else I can do, because the biting (me) and hitting (other babies) is NOT going to be tolerated.

Now, off to clean before Smidget awakes!!! Which could be any minute!