Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Intensive Behaviour Therapy


I haven't been posting much lately. Partly due to lack of time but partly because I've been involved in some Intensive Behaviour Therapy (another way of saying I've been disciplining him in a psychologically friendly manner) with my adorable son. I guess the Terrible Two's have hit with some kind of incredible fury.

We had four days at my sister's house where he was an absolute angel because there was ALWAYS something to occupy his time, including the ute which he is sticking his head out of in the photo above. So I believe this current phase may be due to boredom. I've dug out all my old parenting manuals and have been intently reading them for the past few days and putting the ideas into practice. They work for the most part. I've also figured out that every afternoon I have to take him to the park and wear him out otherwise he's climbing the walls between the hours of 6 and 8PM.

I've given up attempting to visit with friends, especially those that don't have small children or never have because unleashing Henry in their homes induces a look of shock and horror and I can see them calculating the minutes before we leave. They start glancing at their watches and muttering under their breath that they just remembered they had to be somewhere. Somewhere away from us. I try to leave their homes in the same state it was when we arrive but it's sometimes very hard to see EVERY piece of broken glass. Plus it's impossible to have a conversation in which one person is required to speak a whole sentence at once so visiting anyone for company is clearly out of the question. If I need to lay eyes on another adult human I simply go to the grocery store. At least there when Henry pulls all the baked beans cans off the shelf I can walk away and pretend it was someone else.

The parenting manuals all assure me that this behaviour is normal for his age and he's testing the boundaries etc but I'm not sure if I'll make it past this and come out the other end still sane.

Perhaps I need to buy a ute and leave it permanently parked in the living room.

3 comments:

Churlita said...

It must be weird going back to that stage after so much time. I have honestly forgotten what the two's were like for the most part. Be strong.

Meegan @ The Harvey Circus said...

Michelle, you (and Henry) are always welcome at our place. I don't there is anything here he could get into - Owen has done all of that for us!

It's just like having your very own cyclone... sometimes you get the calm, like the eye of the storm, but mostly you get the crazym terrible outside bit!

Claire said...

Meegan, I might just take you up on that offer. The same goes for you and Owen.