Payton is back to her old self! Thank you to everyone who sent their prayers and well wishes for recovery. She was sick for about 4 days, but after that became much better. Having a sick child is the worst! She was starting to get the hang of throwing up in a bucket though and not all over the floor, so that's a win I guess.
Unfortunately, when I say that Payton is back to her old self, that is also synonymous with being quite naughty. Well, maybe I should rephrase that. Payton likes to be in control; since I don't let my 3 year old make very many important decisions, it's a constant battle. She's been talking back a lot and being very defiant, which I know is very typical of her age, but also very frustrating. She's pushing boundaries and buttons, and there are days when I think "is it 8:00 yet??" I have a friend who gave me a book on discipline, and I liked the premise, so we've implemented a "ticket" system. Payton gets five tickets at the start of every day. The book says to start with one behavior, so if Payton commits that misbehavior she automatically loses a ticket. No warnings, no second chances. If she loses all of her tickets in one day, she has to go to bed immediately after dinner, no stories. I tweaked that a little bit, because I've already been having problems with her waking up super early lately (more on that later), so I didn't want her to go to bed at 6:30 and be up at 5am. So if she loses all of her tickets, she has to spend the rest of the day and evening in her room, by herself, until bedtime. The first time she lost them and I sent them to her room, she didn't really seem to care. After about 45 minutes she wanted to come out, and when she realized she couldn't she had quite the tantrum. I was kind of glad though, I needed it to affect her so she had some motivation not to lose her tickets again! The misbehavior that she loses a ticket for is not doing what I ask her to do; if I ask her to go brush her teeth or get her coat on her something, and she tells me she needs to do something else first or ignores me. Drives me crazy! I just recently added another misbehavior, and that is talking back, or being rude or defiant. When I tell her something she doesn't want to hear her favorite reaction right now is to say (in a very snotty tone) "you're not going to be my best friend an-y-more!" Or my personal favorite "you need to be nice to ME!" Ay yay yay! She knows when she does it too, because as soon as she misbehaves she says "how many tickets do I have left?". I consider myself a pretty patient person, but man she really pushes me! But then there are the days where she comes up to me, gives me a hug, and says "I love you mommy, so much!" And somehow my annoyance just melts :)
Like I mentioned, an unfortunate aftermath of Payton being sick is that she's been trying to get up earlier. I don't know why, she's always been so consistent! She always wakes up at 7am like clockwork, and has for years. Occasionally there would be a 6:30am wake up call, but there would also be mornings where she would sleep in until 8 or 8:30, so no big deal. Well, she started to try to get up between 5:30 and 6 every morning. Kyle and I were like what the heck?? We need our sleep! So I have a friend who suggested putting a clock in her room and telling her when she can get up. I thought why not try it, so I went out and bought a digital clock with really big numbers that she could easily see it. I explained to her that when the clock shows 7:00, that is wake up time and I will come get her then. I didn't really think it would work, but the next morning right on time Payton started chanting "it's the number! It's the number!" I thought we had finally found a solution! But then there was the morning she woke me up at 6:37 because she saw the number 7, and one time I went in her room at 6:55 and she was out of her bed, standing in front of the alarm clock and staring intently at it; she then turned to me and said "I don't think the number's coming mommy". I wondered how long have you been standing there waiting for the clock to turn?? We put her down at night between 7:30 and 8:00, and if it's before 8 she'll try to tell me that it's the number so she can get up. Ugh! The other night she chanted "it's the number!" for almost a whole hour before she finally just went to sleep. I was always so proud of Payton for being such a great sleeper, but for some reason she's regressing a little bit. Hopefully it's just a phase!
Carter, on the other hand, has become a very good sleeper! Thank goodness! He still usually gets up once at night to eat, but it's not usually until at least 4:30 in the morning. We put him down around 8:00, so not bad at all! There was one glorious night where he went to bed at 9:00 and slept until 8:00 the next morning! We couldn't believe it! I was hoping he would just start doing that all the time, but no luck yet. Still, I usually get an 8-10 hour stretch out of him at night, so this momma is not complaining!
Although he was not a very easy newborn, Carter has become such a little LOVE. He is so sweet, smiley and content. It was like he flipped a switch around 3 months old and is now a very happy baby. He really only gets upset if he's hungry or tired, or if someone startles him by making a loud noise. He startles pretty easy, he's very sensitive! I call him my gentle giant, because he is a BIG boy. He started wearing 9 months clothes when he was just 3 months old. It's getting hard on my back carrying him around!
Alright folks… I know what you really like to see are the pictures. Please don't hate me, but this blog has taken me until 10:00 to write, and my eyes are drooping… I PROMISE I will upload a blog with pictures from Halloween to Veteran's Day, and all the cuteness in between. Tomorrow, I promise! Until then, I'll leave you with this little gem:
Becoming very aware of (and loving!) his big sister!
I know there is very little blog opportunities when you are the mother of 2 little ones, so this is very appreciated! Sounds like you have your hands full. Isn't amazing how smart they are at such a young age and can hold their own in battle rather well?! Had to laugh when you said she asks how many tickets she has left after doing something. So good to hear Carter is a happy little guy and the difficulties he was having are over now. Makes life so much easier. You're doing a great job as a mama. Keep up the good work and remember to breath!
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