Taming the Terrible Two's

I learned something new this weekend about my 2 1/2 year old Scotty. Now Scotty is a lovely, caring and loving and very hyper little boy. He loves his dad more than any other person in the world but as his dad works nights he tends to see him mostly on the weekends and I am his main carer during the week. So this week I have been working on trying to teach Scott how to keep himself calm and to play calmly and quietly. For anyone who knows Scott they will probably laugh at that but I must say I have had quite a bit of success. I just say to him when I feel he is just on the edge of starting to get over excited that he should sit down on the sofa for a couple of minutes and watch some tv or read a book or something calm for at least a couple of minutes and it sees to work! I was amazed at how much better our day goes when I make an effort to catch him doing things right, add lots of praise and treats and tell him to have a rest on the sofa occasionally.

Anyway, back to what I learned. This weekend, we were having a really good day and playing nicely until his Dad came downstairs for breakfast (as I said he works nights), and I noticed an immediate change in Scotty's behavior, he reverted right back to his hyper self and seemed to have a very difficult time listening and behaving and all of a sudden a lightbulb went off in my head! Now because Ron sees Scotty mostly on the weekends they are really happy to spend time with each other and they tend to play some really exciting games together, tickle fights, pillow fights, throwing up into the air, going to the park....lots of loud hyper games. I am convinced that Ron is 'teaching' Scotty's little two year old self that it is good to be wired for sound. I pulled Ron aside and asked if for at least a week he could focus on calm and quiet games only and completely eliminate the wild Daddy ride we have been on and there was an IMMEDIATE change in Scotty. As soon as Ron watched his language to make sure he was speaking calmly and playing calm games Scotty followed right along and we even managed to keep him calm on a 4 hour shopping trip including lunch up the town.....in a restaurant!! That is like a miracle for us.

I am so pleased to have this calm little boy who is super helpful with me in my days now. I am so privileged to be able to stay at home with my children and am sure that being close to them every day helps me to understand them and their needs better and makes for a loving and trusting relationship for us all.