Abi's 5 Month Photos & Isaac's Discipline Technique

Abi turned 5 months old a couple of weeks ago, and I did get pictures done, but in true mommy fashion, did not get them posted anywhere to share until now. She is a doll and we are loving EVERY minute with her! As of lately she LOVES interacting with Isaac, whether sitting beside him as he plays, laying on the floor beside him, reading books with him, and even sitting in his lap today. Her latest thing is getting SERIOUSLY upset if she drops her toy and can't reach it-like tears upon tears just for that toy!

The Tale of Isaac and Discipline:

A little back info: When it comes to disciplining our children, we understand that each child might need to be disciplined in different ways. Now, we do spank Isaac as the serious discipline if he's really in trouble, but we also talk him through why he got his spanking, what to fix next time, and remind him that just as God loves us and disciplines us when we disobey because He loves us and wants us to learn to obey Him, we must discipline him when he disobeys. So, we spank from time to time.

But haven't lately.

Why? Because it doesn't phase him ONE Single BIT. He could care less if he gets spanked, and as soon as we do, he usually goes directly back to his disobedient task at hand. 

Until this month when I started time-out. The first time I put him in time-out he thought it was fun. "Ooh, Mama! I get to sit on my own stool! Cool!!" was the expression he gave, until he tried to get up in the midst of me explaining why he was in time-out. When I said, "Ah-ah-ah, no no no, sit back down. I didn't say you can get up yet, " did he lose it and realize he was in trouble and this was his punishment. 

Last week he threw a toy at his sister, which is an immediate time-out as we've been working on throwing toys in general, and especially when he throws them at his sister. So he sat there, patiently on the stone by the fireplace until once again he just got up when he thought time-out should be done, and was frozen in his tracks when I said, "Nope! Get back there! You're not done yet." He did NOT like this. He pouted, gave me puppy dog eyes, said, "Yes, Mama," and I let him kiss me and say sorry. 

And then there was tonight. He not only took a toy his sister had, but when I stopped him and told him to give her the toy back (similar to a cop writing a warning), he proceeded to throw the toy directly at his sister (and there's the ticket!). I sat him in time-out by the fireplace. He got up 3.6 seconds later and said, "All done!" But Mama had other plans. I told him to sit back down and he proceeded to pout as I explained why he was in time-out. He got up from time-out (all the while I was saying to sit back down!), came over to me, and with tears in his eyes said, "Do dees (this) Mama! Do dees!," and was 'spanking' himself! He picked up my hand and tried to make me spank his bum!! He SERIOUSLY wanted me to spank him instead of time-out-like a quick band-aid ripped off, he wanted the shorter but more painful punishment than the longer but more comfy time-out! I told him no and made him sit in time-out again. Let's just say he was LESS than happy with me. 

So it would appear that time-out is the key to this child changing his behavior these days (...and probably because Mommy's spankings really are more like love pats ;). 

*Author's note: I SERIOUSLY had to keep from laughing when he was 'spanking' his bum himself!

New Year, New Blog Posts!!

Welcome 2012!! It's a new year, and my resolution was to start blogging pictures of the kids again for family and friends. Good thing my resolution wasn't to stop being late about stuff or procrastinating on stuff!! 

To start us off, here are some recaps from our lives in January and February...

Alan had a Youth Leader's Retreat to KC at the end of January, so the Houston girls made a trip down for some fun!! Aunt Jill played hide and seek with the little guy, Ali let him have control of her "hello" (phone), Grandma Bff (you know that beep sound Skype makes? Sounds like "bffff--bffff--bfff", well, Isaac named his Grandma Sherry "Bfff" after that sound). 

And below, a few favorites from Valentine's Day (Abi's first!!). Daddy started the day off by putting Isaac in the "Pretty in Pink" bib, which he wasn't too fond of. Abi made it her personal goal to eat her tutu (that was the day before V-Day...yep, she wore something with hearts and pink all week!) For Valentine's, Isaac got some new bath toys, and Abi got some new hair clips ;).