The Current Lifestyle: Whine and Whine! Why can't I get a glass of wine?

Tonight on The Current Lifestyle:

Whine and Whine! Why can't I get a glass of wine?
Last minute learning ideas.

Whine and Whine! Why can't I get a glass of wine?

wrong cup

I swear to the ever loving Gods of children, if I have to go through another day like today I'm going to literally commit myself. (Chunky P for this article will be renamed Cranky P.) Today started like any other typical morning. Dear husband got Cranky P up and dressed and headed downstairs to make himself and Cranky P her breakfast. Between that and somewhere when I enter the picture, things apparently started to go down hill for Cranky P. I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure it all started with giving her water in the WRONG cup. I guess the gates of hell where shooting daggers at me or her who the hell knows, because that set the stage literally for everything we did today to result in a whine. Cranky P refused to use big girl words, as we call them. She also refused to listen MULTIPLE times as I told her and disciplined her on the spot when I asked her not to spit her water out of the cup and down her shirt. How many times can you put a kid in time out, or have them repeat back to you what behavior you do or don't want just to make sure they've understood it, only then for them to turn around 3 minutes later and do it again? We are all for redirecting, taking responsibility for your choices and proper consequences being given for those choices, but we are not a spank your child family. To top off this odd behavior for the day, it's as if shes really testing us to see what powers she holds. (If any.) Anything I said "no" to today resulted in a whine. For example: cleaning up our toys, diaper changes, lunch not ready when she thought it should have been, Ipad time was over, I suggested playing with her toys, waking up from her nap, and finally going off to entertain herself while I made dinner. Like WTH? I seriously couldn't win for losing today. The sad ending to this day was that Cranky P just wouldn't stop spiting her water out at dinner. Time outs weren't working so for the first time we sent her to her room. We could hear her crying after that, but it wasn't like she was dying or tantrum throwing. Bath time which happens after dinner was interesting. She normally has bath time with daddy but he needed help for the first time ever. I was down stairs washing dishes when he called down to me that, "this isn't working!" and I could hear the tantrum from Cranky P. So, when I got to her room, I helped dear husband get a diaper on our all of a sudden Hulk of a two year old and I held her in my lap for a few minutes while she calmed down. My husband at first was like, what are you doing? I calmly explained to him that sometimes when (and I'm not stating my kid is, shes been screened) Autistic kids have a difficult time, we hold them like this to prevent them from hurting others or themselves. The sensory hug hold and touch also helps make them feel safe and calms them down. After a 2 minutes Cranky P was able to calm down, and explain to us FINALLY in big girl words that she wanted to take her diaper off herself, not dadda. If an eye roll insert could be inserted here, oh wait.

Like really kid? This is what you were losing your marbles for? Now pause, husband then turns to me and says, "she wanted me to know when I came in here to get her for bath time how it was Kodi and Zoe, (our two cats) that were spitting the water out!............................................................................................................................................................................new thought, my kid has learned how to lie? Wait, is my kid calling me a liar?
Flash forward, dear husband is washing Cranky P in the shower and tells her to its time to clean up her toys because the shower time is all done, and AGAIN she loses her shit! Flash forward 10 more minutes, I'm getting dressed from the shower and Cranky P comes in all smiles and in her PJ's with her hair combed and my husband says, "I tried that hug hold and it worked and she then told me that she wanted to do a towel tent, so we did." (A game my husband invented by making a tent out of a towel.) Needless to say, she went to bed an hour early, surprisingly without complaint. To make it even better, I'm going to whine about not being able to have a glass of wine to wash away this day. And as I sit here typing out this long story, I've learned a few things today.

1) My kid now lies, where the hell did she learn that? And she pretty much called me a liar for sending her to her room because I saw with my own two eyes the water being spit from her mouth.
2) My kid chooses when to listen or not
3) My kid can make her own choices
4) We're in need of a more effective way to get the behavior we desire.

Now before the comments fly, because I receive so many.......NOT! We are not a spank or hit your child family. End of discussion. I am open to any comments or advice people have about non-violent consequences and discipline for young children. Yes, I also did check her to see if she was teething or if she had a fever, all clear. Also, yes, I give my kid plenty of one on one time. So, please don't write me and say I should get off of my phone or stop washing our laundry to play with her. Trust me, I do it and she honestly needs to get ready for entertaining herself a little more because once her baby brother arrives, her time will be different.

Last minute learning ideas:
The last point I made about playing with Cranky P brings us to our next topic. Today, I spent sometime with Cranky P painting and playing hunt for things that start with the letter B. She knows all of her letters already, but practice and repetition will help her tremendously when it comes time to read and start school. This probably was the best part of our day. We reviewed all of our letters, painted the letter B, searched for objects that start with the letter B, sang a song about the sound letter B makes and I wrote words and read them with her that started with the letter B. All of this I was able to create with paint, paper, brushes and imagination in like 10 minutes. We must have spent at least an hour having fun with the letter B. So, if you're looking for something to do with your toddler to keep them entertained and learning at the same time; try something as simple as letter games or you could do this with numbers or shapes.