So, in the last blog, I spoke too soon. Lucas didn't get over his pacifier-less nights. I tried everything, and he was damaging the apartment, and keeping neighbors up. We decided we would give it back to him until we get a house early next year. I don't think he was ready for so much change at once and I honestly feel like he was very affected emotionally by that "Spirited Away" movie, that he feels like everything is being taken from him--he begs for us to stay with him...saying "pacifier..gone.." :( and he's also been rejecting going potty lately too. I feel like a failure, but I realize this little blip is going to mean nothing in the long run. Next year we will be able to reason with him better-plus, it won't matter if he has tantrums. He never had tantrums like this before, but now EVERY tiny little thing he doesn't get (i.e. his show or movie, or another book read to him, his diaper instead of underwear, the dance workout dvd being over etc) he screams red in the face for sometimes an hour...I have no idea what to do because my eventual reaction is to spank him and I don't want to. The tables have turned--Olivia is better behaved. I am going to keep pushing with potty training, but I am going to let him have his pacifier when he sleeps. So shoot me..
ANYWAY, we went to the beach in Galveston today, but didn't stay but an hour or 2 because of the heat. We got to park right by the beach, and I saw they had umbrella/chair rentals. I went and asked some guy standing at the "rental" flag, and he said just go sit at one and a guy will come charge me for it...okay?. he said the price was "negotiable". yeah. So we sat down and John brought all our stuff down. A guy with a clipboard came over and asked me to pay $10 for an hour, or $25 for the day. I said "oh, how about just the umbrella?" he said "$10 for an hour or $25 for the day." (yeah, real negotiable). So I told him we only had $8 cash and he said, "it's $10 for an hour or $25 for the day"...ugh. dick.
So we set up our stuff in front of the chairs and umbrella...He eventually huffed and puffed back over to move the chairs and umbrella since people wouldn't want to use it with us sitting right in front of it haha.
Anyway, I brought our little tent for the babies but they barely used it. I tried to keep them sunscreened and with hats on but it was too hot and sunny so we had to leave. We will be doing what all the other smart people did--buy our own portable canopy gazebo thing :)
She was confused by this water pushing her over lol:
Lucas fishing:
Having a snack:
The water was nice and we even saw some fish. The babies had fun in the sand, but we always hate leaving feeling dirty and sticky. Of course, Olivia likes being dirty---check out her snacking on her dirty foot in the car:
And Lucas whining about..who knows anymore...
We had a good time and it was free. Not too far from us either. Now I gotta vacuum all the sand out of the car ..:)
2 comments:
Samantha, as an experienced tantrum mom LOL, I have to tell you that there is no right answer. What is I mean is, you will have to experiment to find what works for Lucas. I don't resort to spanking, because it doesn't solve anything except make me feel better for a second and it gets him to stop and wonder why I hit him, but he will do it again in the long run.
Read my blogs called:
"Eddie's tantrums update"
and
"Tantrum update (A long blog-sorry)"
These blogs list the methods aka "ingredients" that I use in my anti tantrum recipes. Now, when I said there is no right answer, I mean that the ingredients have no specific order for each tantrum occasion. You will have to mix it up until you find what works for Lucas.
If Eddie was throwing a tantrum about his pacifier, I would start slow with him. Example: Ask Lucas to hand you his pacifier and when he hands it to you, say thank you and give it back. Do that every day for a week (or as long as you want.) Next step, ask him to give it to you and put it inside a box, give it back, right away. Next time, ask him to give it to you, put it in a box and hand him a new toy you found at the 99 cent store for example. Give him the pacifier as well, if he seems to continue to show interest in it. If not, keep it as long as you can. Next time, do the process again, but ask him if you can keep the pacifier in a box for a little bit, while he plays with his new toy. If he cries for his pacifier, get down to his level, look him in the eye and calmly say the words "Can I have my pacifier back please?" and give it back to him. Tell him, he doesn't need to cry or scream. Keep doing this until he trusts that you are not taking it away from him, but putting it away. Keep him distracted as long as you can until he is used to not having it.
As for the nightly need for it, I agree with you, let him have it at night. If it's destroying your apartment and upsetting your neighbors not to mention probably not letting him sleep well, let him have it. This doesn't mean he will use a pacifier when he is 30...remember that. It's not that serious.
Remember, it takes at least 6 weeks for toddlers to adjust to one new thing. It's very stressful for them, but as adults we forget how that feels because we have BIGGER things to stress about. So what they stress about, doesn't seem as important.
About the potty training, I recommend that you check out some books or videos from the library about potty training. What you are going through with the ups and downs is NORMAL. It's not the first time I hear that a toddler is successful, taking a step forward, only to take two steps back.
My friend's toddler who was a success at potty training, suddenly decided that pooping during bath time, would be a fun new thing to start doing. He was about 3 at the time!!! So you can imagine the size of the turds and the smell :(
My niece was potty trained (same age as Eddie and Lucas) about 7 months ago. She no longer wears a diaper but will still have poop accidents to this day.
Heck, even my nearly 4 yr old niece sometimes has #1 or #2 accidents! It happens. I think reading about it, will help you understand that you are not a failure. You are doing a great job! Keep moving forward ok?
thanks iris--i know you're right. i have little patience. going to try to have more self control!
Post a Comment