1. While walking down town with Aiden I taught him the when to cross the street. If we’re anywhere near a stoplight he’ll remind me by shouting “WHITE GUY” or “RED HAND”!
2. Never under estimate the power of a timer with a toddler. Changing activities is so much easier with “when the timer beeps”. Bed time, the end of work, and the dreaded time outs are easier with a timer.
3. We’ve also been using counting when a time isn’t always necessary. For example “when I count to 10 I’m going to turn the water off”. There is mad dash to fill up his cup one last time and usually no whining when the water gets turned off.
4. Speaking of time-outs; is it effective if you child puts himself in time-out? Aiden threw Ryan’s laptop frisbee style across the living room, yep his laptop. Ryan yelled “Aiden” in that stern tear inducing Daddy voice. I picked the sobbing mess off the floor and put him in time-out. That afternoon he did it again, and again the first “Aiden” from Daddy turned him into a sobbing mess and with the second stern “Aiden” sobbing he walked over and put himself in time-out. Luckily he hasn’t thrown the computer since.
5. Aiden’s favorite phrase currently is “What’s dat?” Curiosity has hit.
6. When playing with his stuffed animals Aiden never talks louder than a whisper, but then he’ll wrestle (body flop) then, followed by “morning kisses”
7. Embarrassing moment of the week: Aiden has a hitting problem. His popular target is baby Ben and Emma. They’re smaller than him. He knows it hurts, he knows it is wrong, I’ve done everything I know to do to try and prevent and punish the situation. However at an outing Aiden hit a little girl (probably 18 months old), an open hand hit on top of her head. I was trying to stand near them so I could catch him before it happened but the other mom cut me off right before he hit. The little girl lost it (which is great because it helps him realize he hurt her) I immediately told him it was naughty, that he hurt her and that he needed to say sorry. He refused to apologize so I removed him and put him in time out. The other mom freaked. She went blabbing to all of the other moms in the room “that horrible little boy just hit her!” I guess I’ve been blessed with wonderful friends who understand that I’m trying to stop him, and don’t make me feel horrible. After time-out he went and apologized to the little girl. Thankfully the mom said “that is nice” but news of a hitting horrible kid had already spread. I don’t know what is worse; feeling like a bad mom, or having bad things said about my son to all of the potential clients (it was a work related mom meeting). Any tips on getting him to stop hitting?
8. Aiden thinks cowboys are awesome. If he sees a cowboy (any guy where a cowboy(ish) hat) he’ll holler out “COWBOY”. Last night at the restaurant the conversation when a little like this “Cowboy, cowboy, cowboys (loud!) cowboy hats, cowboys, cowboys take jackets off, cowboys talking, cowboy….” craziness.
9. Aiden has his first “chore”. It is his job to put the dogs in their kennel in the garage and give them each a bone, he counts to make sure he has two. He does it every time we leave the house and it is enough motivation to get him moving on slow days. Although now he has learned that he can climb into the kennel, naughty.
10. Aiden and his God Parents on our visit last May 1st
Wow–I can’t believe another mom would be appalled by a hitting kid. . . and to say what she did. It’s not like you were encouraging him to go hit or not watching him. Geesh. You are definitely not a bad mom–you’re a great mom!