Time Out!

This week Will turns 19 months old. (I am told by fellow mothers and those silly books I still read that I can begin referring to Will's age in years when he turns 2...thank goodness because 25 months sounds like complicated math!) One really great thing I have noticed in the past couple of months is Will's growing independence. We have completely shed ourselves of the Mommy attachment phase (they all said it would end and it did...eventually). At church or play groups, we tour the room and check out all the toys and once he has found the BEST truck, he waves bye. It's great. Will also eats almost exclusively with his fork and spoon and enjoys reading his books on the couch for quiet time even when I am in the kitchen doing something else.

With his growing independence has come surprisingly little conflict. However, it does appear from time to time. On Friday, we had our second time out. So far, time outs are going really well. In this instance, Will threw off the magazines off the coffee table with reckless abandon. I verbally reprimanded him and gave him the chance to pick them up...and he finally did. But a few minutes later, he did it again! And this time he looked at me and smiled and refused to pick them up. Well! I marched him into his room and made him sit by his bed. He was sobbing! I told him to stay and shut the door to his room. I counted to 30 and then went back in. I could tell on his face that he knew he did something wrong. We walked back out to the living room where all the magazines were still on the floor and he looked at them and shook his head and said messy and then he cleaned them up.

He hasn't touched the magazines since and I have shown him how to carefully take them off the table so he can play with his trucks. So its working so far. I get this guilty pleasure out of reprimanding Will. Not because I like to hear him cry (it's the saddest cry in the world), but because he really gets it and so far we are on the same page. I wonder if this will work when he becomes a teenager?