The Timeout Tango

At a play date today, I was talking about this with a friend and thought I would share it with all of you.  It is both interesting and funny... and a bit of a conundrum I suppose.

It would be accurate to say that the number one reason my son ends up in time out is for being mean (usually hitting/pushing) his younger sister.  Now, the whole point of time out, in my mind, is to separate the child from the situation, give him a chance to cool off, and to think about what he did wrong or might do better the next time.  It's a teaching tool.  Now, I realize that's asking a bit much for a 3 year old but that's the idea behind the whole thing.

Almost the instant my son resigns himself to his timeout spot, my daughter happily joins him.  Now if my son is really angry about something, this only serves to anger him further.  But most of the time, he thinks it's funny, and so she thinks it's funny, and then before you know it the two of them are laughing, playing, and having a good ol' time in timeout.

Now seriously, what am I supposed to so?  I mean, he really should be sitting alone in time out.  Timeout is pretty ineffective if he has playmates in timeout with him and is having a great time, right?  But on the other hand, a timeout isn't meant to be punishment so much as it is to be used as a teaching tool.  And if they are getting along, isn't that really what I wanted to begin with?  So I mean really, what on earth is the "right" thing to do, if there is such a thing?

One thing that I learn over and over, is that parenting is a very humbling experience.  As much as you feel like you know, as smart as you feel like you are, it is often difficult to discern the "right" answer.

Sincerely,
The Condundrum-ed Mother (Yup, I totally made up a word...)

Dimples, and Pimples, and Nipples, Oh My

So the other day, my son and I were sitting on the couch together, just hanging out.  I told him to look at me and smile.  I was trying to figure out if he had dimples.  I know, you are probably thinking, 'how do you not know if he has dimples'?  Well, I was looking back at pictures of him when he was younger and thought I could see some tiny dimples, but I didn't think he really had any.  Weird, I know.

So anyway, I'm looking at his face.  He asks me what I am looking at.  I say to him, "I'm looking to see if you have dimples."  And then just to be silly, because my son loves silliness, I said, "Or maybe I am looking to see if you have pimples."

My son gets this excited look about his face and says, "Look mommy, I DO have pimples!"  Then he proceeds to lift up his shirt, and point to his nipples.

I couldn't help but laugh.

Sincerely,
The-Silly-M-O-M

Commitment, Commitment, Commitment

So I have been away from my blog for about a month now.  Honestly, it was both sad and freeing to take a step away.  When I set out to start a blog, I didn't realize how time consuming it would be.  Keeping up with my blog often meant that I didn't have the time to scrapbook, which is my true love.  I have fallen quite behind in my scrapbooking and I really want to get it caught up.  But I also miss blogging (and being able to write, which I also love) and sharing the craziness that is my life with all of you.

The goals I have set for myself for this summer are:

• To get caught up on my scrapbooking
• To get all of our homevideos on DVDs and to write a short description for each (so we can find something when we are looking for it)
• To send my book out to all the literary agents I can find.  If I can't find someone to publish it by the end of the summer, I'm going to let that dream die
• To blog 3 times a week

It's quite a lot to commit myself to and I feel as though I have over commited myself, but I am going to try to accomplish these things.  There will be a small change to my blog, however.  As much as I love the Problem of the Week, it takes quite a bit of time to do that and I would like to commit that time to other projects.  Plus, it didn't seem as though that many people were interested in it anyway.

So get ready M-O-M fans.  This blog is back.  And it should be a good summer!

Sincerely,
The-M-O-M