A Not-So-Marvelous Monday

Well, today was probably one of the worst days, as far as “bad mommy” moments goes. Keenan finally started feeling better Saturday evening and didn’t have a fever anymore, but last night and today were rough, to say the least! We went to Nevada City’s Victorian Christmas yesterday, and Keenan didn’t fall asleep in the car like we had hoped, so he was very cranky in the evening, not wanting to eat (spitting out his food, when he did take a bite), crying, screaming, etc. We put him in timeout twice, but after the bad behavior continued, I took him upstairs for a quick bath and bed without dinner (not a great moment in my book). After his bath, he kept asking for dinner and saying he was hungry, so we went downstairs and he calmly ate his dinner.

Today, he woke up his happy and cheerful self, but a little while after breakfast, while I was cleaning house, he started acting the way he did last night…wanting something, then not wanting it, crying, screaming if he didn’t get something and throwing his toys. I put him in 3 timeouts (each one longer!) and still his behavior continued. At lunch time, he didn’t want to eat anything and was spitting out his food, as he did last night. Dinner tonight was a replay of last night…wanting food, then not wanting it, spitting it out, screaming when we tried to help him eat, etc. After multiple timeouts, he went straight to bed without dinner (with the understanding that he will have to eat his dinner for lunch tomorrow). It was awful! I still feel bad for putting him to bed without his dinner and no story. He loves stories, as that is a part of our nightly bedtime routine and I know he had to be hungry, since he didn’t have much for lunch and only had a little afternoon snack. So…I certainly feel like I have earned the worst mom award, tonight! As I am writing this, I have tears in my eyes, because I feel so bad. Did my husband and I make the right choice? Is our choice of disciplining the right approach for his age, his personality? Does he understand the consequences for his bad behavior? My husband is usually a lot more strict with rules (and was quick to enforce tonight’s actions), but Keenan doesn’t seem to push his luck with us. Keenan is usually a sweet and happy child, so I don’t know why he has been acting this way. I’m not sure if it is related to him being sick over the weekend and he still doesn’t feel 100%, or if it is the lack of sleep from not having a nap yesterday afternoon (and waking up early this morning) or his teeth (second year molars coming in?). Ugh…I just want to wake up and start this day all over again.

On a more positive note, the competition was a lot of fun this weekend. Even though we had two workouts in pouring rain, it was a blast! There were four WODs, two indoors and two outdoors. Since there wasn’t that much room in the box, everyone had to camp outside. Since my husband didn’t come, I forgot our tent/canopy or anything to keep us warm. It was a cold day! We did really well and took fourth place overall (almost third, if it wasn’t for a few missed reps from a questionable judge). It was the first time the four of us worked together, and we made a great team, supporting one another and communicating well. I can’t wait to do another team competition!

Yesterday was a nice recovery day. My husband made us a delicious spinach frittata with pumpkin pie lattes (topped with the last bit of his homemade whipped cream!). In the afternoon, we headed to Nevada City, which was a lot of fun (though very rainy!). We enjoyed some hot cocoa, Kettle Corn, carolers, seeing Santa and walking around and looking at all of the vendor booths. Keenan enjoyed listening to all of the musicians play and waiting for his “Rudolph balloon” that came undone after five minutes of being in the car on our way home!

Such a great post competition breakfast!

A nice treat in our new large mugs, thanks to a bargain at Marshalls!

This morning, “Peanut” was found on the couch reading one of Keenan’s books, “If you Give a Mouse a Cookie.” Surprisingly, Keenan wasn’t too irritated. He just wanted to read the book himself!

Reading!

Yesterday morning, she was playing with Keenan’s fire truck and Lego man, which Keenan was actually okay with, though he kept saying. “Mommy, get my man!”

Enjoying Keenan’s favorite toys!

For breakfast this morning (before the day turned south), we all three enjoyed “piggy” pancakes from Grandma. My in-laws gave Keenan an early Christmas gift, since we leave Wednesday for Montreal. In the gift was a pancake maker in the shape of a pig, as well as some multigrain pancake mix from Trader Joe’s and two little spatulas for Keenan’s kitchen.

One little piggy for breakfast!

Since we are leaving very early Wednesday morning, it is time to start packing and wrapping gifts! We are doing a little early-Christmas with Keenan after he wakes up from his nap, tomorrow, so we don’t have to cart his gifts with us, and nothing is wrapped!

Questions: As a parent, how do you know if you are doing the right thing? How do you not feel bad for disciplining your child? Does it ever get easier? My husband and I are pretty consistent with our disciplining approach, but if it is not working, what is the next step? If the behavior is due to Keenan not feeling well, do we still enforce the same rules?