My Sunday at the beach (not really a day at the beach)

I'm so punny. :) lol

I've always been of the mind that at 2 discipline is pretty hit and miss. You try to discipline because well you can't let your kids run wild (or can you?). Anyway you do your best and just hope. I expect that everything I say remains in Sam's little head for about 2.3 minutes - about the length of a time-out. I am sooooo wrong about that.

Yesterday, I took Kamryn and Same to a big family picnic that friends of my parents hold every year. It was VERY close to home. My plan had been to take the kids in the morning and let them play, feed them lunch at the picnic and then run them home for naps around 2. That meant pushing nap time for Sam by just a little (on a normal morning where he hasn't been playing hard he goes down around 1:30).

So at around 1:00 I sat them down to give them lunch. My four year old sits down happily to eat. The moment Sam sees her get food, he starts to freak out that he wants some to. Okay give me a sec kid I have yours all ready I just got Kamryn set up first because she's easier. I take him by the hand and lead him to the other side of the picnic table. Sit him down and give him his little styrofoam plate of cut up hot-dog and bread. I got back around the other side to open up the cooler and get them their milk. In the cooler were juice boxes. I very rarely let my kids have juice - no better than liquid candy. Special occasions (like picnics in the park) are the rule. We don't even buy juice at home. Earlier I had given them both a juice box with their snack. He knows the juice is in the cooler and IMMEDIATELY refuses to eat and demands juice. I told him there was no juice for him and to eat his lunch and that I had milk for him. He looks me in the face, scowls and sweeps his hand rapidly across the table, flinging his food to the dirt below.

I, calmly, (quite proud of myself here - nothing like having a battle of wills with a two-year old in front of at least 30 people who knew you when you were two-years old!) asked my mother if she would keep my Kamryn for the afternoon - why should she have to leave the picnic early because he brother was in a snit - left instructions on the food in the cooler that Kamryn could have. Picked Sam up and left - all within 3 minutes. The entire time he is screaming at the top of his little lungs and as highly pitched as possible "manger picnic" (eat picnic). I walked to the car - he is screaming. I strap him in - he is screaming. I drive home (5 minutes) he is screaming. I even stopped along the way to give my parking pass to a shocked family that was just arriving - he is screaming. I unstrap him - he is screaming. I carried him upstairs and changed his diaper. Screaming. Put him in his crib screaming. The same phrase over and over and over again - "manger picnic." He is screaming this desperate, high pitched, "you will listen to me or else" way. I never said a word to him after my initial calm reproach that his behaviour was unacceptable. I closed the door and walked downstairs, screaming STOPPED -- like someone turned a switch. I waited 3 minutes and went back upstairs and he was sound asleep. Exhaustion is ALWAYS a bad deal with Sam. He's not giving up naps anytime soon. He slept for exactly 3 hours.

When he got up I changed him, fed him and put him in the car to go back to the picnic. We get about half way there and he keeps saying "ecouter" (listen). So I finally asked "ecouter what" Sam. He says to his stunned mother: "Ecouter Maman. Ecouter Granddad. Ecouter Grandma. Ecouter Kamryn" I laughed at the last one and told him he didn't have to listen to his sister. He went on. "Manger. Pas dégât" (Eat no mess). "Picnic."

Lordy - 4 hours later. He remembered why we had left. He understood the consequences. I never thought it possible.