Plain old update

So, back to the kids…

The boy has graduated to the high chair, even though he hasn’t started eating food yet. Yesterday I put him in it while I was doing the dishes, and Ruby helpfully brought over every single toy he owns and dumped them onto the tray. He flailed about, knocking each item off onto the floor until he was left with just a couple that he then pushed out of his reach.

Repeat. Until the dishes were done. At the end of four days together, I was thankful that Ruby was particularly angelic yesterday. I think that the new parenting techniques are actually beginning to pay off. In addition to the positive reinforcement stuff, I have also been steadfastly ignoring her when she cries because she isn’t getting something she wants (whether it’s actually something or to do something or for me to do something). It’s been hard, because it’s been a lot of crying and screaming, and it’s really hard not to get frustrated. But the whole point, of course, is to not reward the screaming with any attention at all, so I give her much less attention than I normally would, and even try to be effusive with it when she isn’t crying.

But she is incredibly stubborn, and obviously can’t be expected to be fully in control of her emotions at this tender age. But, I can reinforce dealing with those emotions in certain ways, and so…I let her scream and don’t react, and she is starting, I think, to change her behavior.

I hope, at least...