I will sit on you!

Tonight at our Ladies coffee I was a little desperate sounding for discipline ideas:) I must have been because my dear friend insisted I drop by right afterwards to pick up some cds and material she and her husband just picked up at a Love and Logic conference last weekend. I am willing to try anything. The yelling and playing the bad guy is just not cutting it anymore! MA and J seem to be getting the hang of things and know now that they won't be able to get away with bad behaviors like they were so accustomed to in the past. Of course it only took me sitting on J one time for him to realize that he can either sit in time out on his own accord or I can assist him with that. All the kids thought I was a little crazy that day but it worked. H, A and C on the other hand have seemed to have lost their minds. I know that it is all the adjustments that everyone is going through. No matter how much structure I am trying to pour into our days the truth remains that there is way too much change going on all at once. It was very poor timing when C decided to give up paci inadvertently by losing it. Along with this came giving up naptime which seems like a good idea until about dinnertime. Sweet thing is just not able to hold it together when his naptime is missed. It is really difficult to keep the other 4 quiet long enough for C to think he isn't missing out on anything and drift off to sleep. Another big factor is that C's love language of quality time is being encroached upon in a serious way. Who said that 2's were terrible? I think it should be the "trying 3's" for sure! H is also having a hard time with personal space and finding time to get away. After several days of biting everyone's head off we had a little heart to heart. We came to the conclusion that when she starts to feel a little overwhelmed she will let me know and I will tuck her away for some alone time in my bedroom or the downstairs guestroom. I wish someone could do the same for me:) Actually, I did get a little break this past weekend. I was leading worship for our Ladies retreat and D kept all the kids. This wasn't an overnight, away kind of retreat but I did get some time with adults without any Peyton pandemonium lurking around! I think D was trying to show off a little. For some reason I mistakenly took all the sets of keys for the suburban which left D and the kids stranded at the house. He seemed to make due just fine. When I got home for the evening he reported that they ordered pizza and that the neighbor friend was also staying the night. What a show-off. Not only was he ok with our rowdy 5 but he took on an extra one by choice! Needless to say the house was still standing on Sat. It is going to take me a little time to get caught up on laundry and house work but the time away in God's Word was well worth it. Now I just have to figure out a way to apply my Loving Well information into my life everyday. Good stuff, Beth Moore.