Babies

My babies are pretty much the most amazing things in this world!!! They have been so sweet lately and I am so thankful for it. I have kind of fallen behind on everything...facebook, tv shows, blogging, cleaning the house - anything and everything that I am used to spending time on...the last two weeks I have just used that time with the kids. I must admit, that now I feel a little ashamed...although I never felt like I just sat around all day before - I look back and think, hmmmm I could have been playing with the kids a little more. Dont get me wrong, I still played with them, but over the last two weeks I have spent a lot more time paying attention to the things they want. Anyway, they really are so incredibly special, and I just dont want to look back and think, wow - I missed it because I was too focused on something else.
Now, as sweet and wonderful as these little children have been...it doesn't mean they dont have their tantrums. I am trying to teach Landry early, NOT to talk back..NOT to give me attitude...but man, that little stinker already has an attitude...AND she already has "the look". When she gets in trouble, she just looks at you with those big blue eyes that seem to water on cue, and her expression is just so sad - Freaking adorable...but I try to resist!!! If she gets mad at something she has the death look down...the girl can GLARE!!! Hahaha Most of the time she is just so sweet and loving..she will crawl up beside me and rest her head on me...or crawl up in my lap and just cuddle! How lucky am I?
Logan on the other hand...I didn't not start early on the whole attitude thing, and let me tell you - he has a BAD attitude when things aren't going his way. The other thing is, if you tell him no - or you get on to him in the smallest way, he just starts crying. So I got to the point where I ignore the cries - but when I ignore them he gets angry. He throws stuff, he screams...and if I ignore that, he goes back to crying. So now, he will be playing with his toys and maybe he is too loud, and I will say, "Logan, your too loud...use a smaller voice." And then I will demonstrate...sometimes he is okay with this and other times he just starts crying...so I feel like my new thing to say around the house is "stop crying" or "no crying" I have done time out, spanking, ignoring, talking to him, distracting, giving him a bribe...nothing seems to work. When he wants to throw a tantrum...I haven't found one thing to stop him. But for you other mothers that try to distract or to bribe...let me tell you a little story:
Yesterday, I went into Austin for an interview, I met up with JR and he drove the kids around while I went in. When I was finished Logan was sleeping in the back seat and Landry was screaming. We took JR back to his truck and drooped him off and the kids and I headed home. I had to massage Landry's feet with one hand and drive with the other, because it was the only thing I could do to get her to stop screaming. we pulled into the driveway and Logan woke up..He says, "where's daddy" I tell him that daddy had to go back to work, he follows with, "NO NO NO NO...I WANT DADDY" He is yelling this to me. I tell him that daddy will be home later - no go..Logan is now SCREAMING, "I WANT DADDY" I try to get Logan out of the car, but he wont budge, he is still screaming. I grab his bag of toys and begin to take one at a time, "Here, do you want to play with Ironman?"
"No, I want Daddy."
"How about spiderman?"
Louder, he says, "NO, I WANT DADDY"
"Here's Hulk."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO....DAAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDY!"
"Here...Here's Woody and Jessie, and Bullseye"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...."
So I realize that this is actually only pissing him off more, so I tell my son who is screaming so loud that I am seriously thinking that some of the neighbors may come out, to get his behind inside before I spank it. I reach for his hand and he starts kicking at me. Now, I try really hard to be patient enough for him to make the right choice on his own - but I drew the line at kicking, so I pulled him out of the car and spanked his butt and I told him that kicking was a NO NO! I tell him to carry in his toys...He is still screaming that he wants his dad, he wont take his toys, so I pretend to throw them in the trash...nothing - he doesn't care he just wants his dad. i go to get Landry out of the car, Logan is trying to block me, all the while saying, "Mommy get in the car and take me to Daddy!" Oh if only I could!!! LOL I get Landry and start walking to the front door, but Logan is trying to push me back to the car...Once I open te door and get in the house, he refuses to come inside...at that point I am tired of the shenanigans, so I pick him up bring him in, put him in time out, where he sits screaming, I tell him that he can get up when he stops crying. After a few minutes he starts to calm down, And just as I am about to let him up he starts crying that he wants an ICEE from the corner store...OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!! (And this is why bribing is no bueno...we used to say if your good, I'll get you an Icee.) ANyway, he finally calmed down...but it took about 10 minutes. After all was said and done, we talked, he said he was sorry. When JR got home, he was so freaking happy to see his daddy...Geez!
So the point is, be careful on bribing your kids...if you do it too much, they will start to ask for something everytime they do what you ask...and for those of you who have a child like mine - where nothing really works except for having the patience to wait out the tantrum...Good luck!