A night out. A neat concept. I finally got one. I hardly know what to do with myself. I actually do know what to do with myself but the problem is, when I only have one evening and about 3 years worth of stuff I would love to do. So I packed up my new netbook and a new parenting book I just got in the mail today from Amazon, came down the road to a coffee shop, am sitting here facing a fireplace, catching up on Facebook and eavesdropping on everyone behind me! Tee hee! And, I'm only on phone call number four from my family. Not bad!
I am so thrilled. This handy little netbook is so tiny it fits in my purse, it has up to 8 hours of battery power, there's a little port for my memory card for my camera....!!!! What more could I ask for to keep keeping up on my blog? Now I hope the coffee shop doesn't close at 9pm like I'm afraid it does cause that only leaves me 15 more minutes to get my pics on here and blog! And I didn't even get to that parenting book I just got. It's called, Parenting With Love and Logic, by somebody. And somebody else. I've heard a lot about it and I've tried two little tactics from it that my sis-in-law told me about....and they worked!!!! I'm sold already!!!! And I have the whole book to read! :)
One of the tactics that was so fun to try, and it's worked everytime, is with my 5-year-old. She has gotten into these little (or kinda medium or even big) temper tantrum meltdowns. She gets upset about something and right away starts to just fuss and whine and cry and throw herself about. Our rule is, "It's okay to fuss. It's okay to get upset. Angry even. Just take it somewhere else. When you are all done, you are welcome to come join us again." That though usually was followed up by, "One. Two. Three..." as they're even more frustrated but running down the hallway to their room cause they know that they need to have some good progress toward their destination by the time I reach three.
With this new tactic however, it's, "Umm, dear? It's okay to fuss. It's okay to get upset. Angry even. Just take it somewhere else. When you are all done, you are welcome to come join us again." Followed by intensified fussing. Which is followed by a very calm, sweet, "Uhh, would you like to go to your room with your feet on the ground or would you like to go to your room with your feet in the air?" The first time she didn't really pay attention to what I said, apparently, cause she didn't respond. I just as calmly said, "Hmm, I take it you would rather go to your room with your feet in the air." And calmly went to pick her up, making a point of having her feet straight out in front of her so she could see her feet in the air. Now, it takes a moment for it to register, then she howls even louder and takes off trotting down the hallway to her room! 'Cause she just wants to be in control. Even in her outburst. Gotta love it!
K, just got two pics uploaded and got kicked outta the coffee shop... They're closing, I guess!
5 comments:
Oh! A new post - how fun!
It should be a crime for coffee shops to close early. Not that I really ever get out to coffee shops, but it is irritating when you want to go have a cup of coffee and relax and you get kicked out.
I love seeing blue in your picture:) What a handsome little guy. He looks so big already.
Does it drive you crazy that I'm always so fast to respond? Feel like I'm breathing down your neck? (Don't forget to check in on my lil' updates from time to time - no pics, and not enough updates, but ... breathe down my neck, will ya? I'll feel better about being Mrs. Ever-Ready! :-)
Anyway - your BABY!! My nephew!! Little Baby Johan is not that wee infant we all picture him as still! Goodness, gracious - he's half growed-up already! Amazing! And what a handsome guy he is! Now I have to go back and see what the other picture is ... got so excited when I saw the first, I forgot to see what else there is! The girls are still as cute as can be, too! :-)
Ahh - 'the coffee shop' ... I wanna go too! Can't wait till I can enjoy that type outing again some day! Sounds just delicious! Brings me vivid memories of strong ambitions from a couple years ago! :-) Still paying for those coffees, I guess ... hey, we've gotta connect soon, by the way, and figure out where I stand with the financial end of that. I know ... I owe!
K, I'll let you go!
I'm like you-- those days are so rare that I try to cram waaay too much into them. It doesn't help that the cafe wasn't cooperating! How fun for you, come out more often!!
I know, Joni, I thought of that last night. I think the last time I was at Caribou with a computer was with you, planning and scheming business stuff! Although things didn't go as planned, I still have no regrets. And, no, it doesn't bug me at all that you comment quickly.
And I agree with you Kristin and Geri, coffee shops should either stay open longer or at least have special priveleges for moms to stay as long as we need, as long as we clean up after ourselves, turn out the lights and make sure the door is locked after we leave! :)
Ha! I wouldn't know how to cram everything in that I would want to do either if I had a free day! Today, I got a few hours to myself and I went shopping at Walmart. That was my exciting time to myself! ha! I need one of those netbooks! That would be awesome. I have a laptop, but it's way too big to take anywhere. That's horrible that they coffee shop closed so early :(
I love what you say about it's okay to get angry, just take it somewhere else....I'm going to have to try that!
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