of having a very independent child!
For the last couple months, our morning routine has become more and more challenging since we have a certain two year old who has to do everything on her own AND on her own time. The problem is when I have to be to work by 8:00 and she is so poky getting dressed! She has to pick out her own clothes, which is fine however when I tell her to pick them out, she won't!!! This battle goes back and forth, where I attempt to pick something for her to wear and she gets upset and wants to do it herself, then when I say, "Fine! pick something out!" and then she won't!!! SO FRUSTRATING! This usually ends with someone in a time-out (usually her!) and someone crying and very frustrated (usually me! Haha!) ;-) I have come to the conclusion that she is just not a morning person (I don't have ANY idea where she could have got that from!?!?!) and that she just needs more time in the mornings so that we are not so stressed and rushed! I have found that sitting on her to force clothes on her, swatting her (Yes, I am one of those parents!), or screaming at her (Yes, I found out I am one of those parents too!) hasn't been working so well or even at all! To prove that, the other morning after I forced her into an outfit and felt very proud of myself for doing so, she whipped them off a second later!
Since I have been running out of ideas on how to get her dressed in the mornings without such a battle, I decided to get some ideas from some of my friends! One friend said that maybe Santa needs to give our house a call! Love this idea. . . if anyone knows Santa's number please pass it onto me!!! ;-) The other suggestion that we tried this morning was a chart and a reward! Well, I decided I would start small and only have three days on the chart (my goal is to make it through the week. . . you've got to start somewhere, right?) Well, I started this morning out super early to give us plenty of time. 55 minutes later, she was dressed (and she did NOT let me help her!) in two dress, a denim skirt under it all, and a pair of tights. Oh how lovely she looked! I made it to work just in time and not a minute early! She did get her smiley face on her chart, however I am not so sure that she deserved it!
Here are some pictures!
This is her prize and chart!
Here she is at Dawn's! Notice the two dresses (and yes there is a denim skirt under the dresses!) And yes I know she isn't looking at me, that is because she is still mad that I didn't give her the prize that she wanted TODAY instead of on Friday! ;-) Oh how fun this is going to be!!! If anyone has any other suggestion that might work, please, please, please pass them onto me!
