The Honeymoon is Over!

So the honeymoon is OVER! Isaac’s honeymoon period didn’t last very long. He began testing me about two days ago when it was bed time. The first time he shut down completely and dropped himself down on the floor. I had to pick him up and drag him to his room. I finally got him to go to sleep. Then last night he did the same thing only this time when I got him in our room he began to weep on the bed. But today was final straw.

One of the ways Isaac is testing me is by ignoring me. I will ask him to do or not to do something and he will walk away from me and ignore me completely. (As a side note, I use to do this as a child as well, so I guess I had it coming!) I know that he is just testing me, but he pushed me too far. So today I asked him to take off his nice polo shirt before he got in the pool, but he ignored me and did it anyways. I grabbed him to take him in the room to talk to him about it, and he threw a complete fit.

So I punished him and he went nuts, I mean screaming and crying. I think I killed his ego and pride more than anything. I let him do his crying thing and had to walk out the door because I almost lost it too. My mom was so right, it hurts us (the parents) more than it hurts you (the child). But after that he listened to me, at least for today.

Baby steps right. Isaac is this amazing child; he is sweet and so affectionate. But I truly believe that he is terrified that I am going to leave him, just like others have done. He is guarding his heart, so that it doesn’t get shattered again. So tonight we tried something different. About 3 hours before bed time I told him that we only had 3 hours to play and then it was time for bed. I told him every half hour or so how much time he had. Then when it was time, he was like “okay” and walked with me to our room. He got his teeth brushed then we watched about 15 minutes of “Jumanji” and then he went to bed.

So thanks for the tips mom they worked, the countdown helped a lot and Katy, I’m enforcing the “co-sleeping” which I think is also going to help.

Today we went to church, and then I took Donna and Patty out to lunch at the Golden Beach Restaurant, Isaac spent most of the time searching the beach for rocks. Donna left for the airport; she was finally able to get a flight home from Liberia. For those of you who don’t know, getting on a flight this week is almost impossible.

As Isaac and I were getting into bed tonight he said to me, “Next Sunday we go to America right?” “Yes, next Sunday we will get on a big plane and go to America” Then he said, “and G-mom will have balloons for me in America?” “Yes G-mom will have balloons for you in America.” “Okay, goodnight!”

You have to love the innocence of children. To Isaac America is balloons and grandmother who love him, and lions and monkeys (thanks to Jumanji, he thinks there are lions and monkeys in America!)
Everyday there is something new coming out of his head. I feel so privileged to be apart of that. Temper tantrums and all!