No Muffins!

Rachel has decided that she's going to start testing limits and seeing if I really mean what I say. I've noticed that I've started wanting to threaten to take things away, for instance, we were at a store and I told her we would go see the fish when we were done (this was a planned activity with my mom's club). After telling her for the 3rd or 4th time to stop touching stuff or to put it back, I caught myself almost saying "If you don't stop touching you are not going to see the fish!" But I stopped myself knowing this wasn't true, I wanted to go see the other mom's and kill an hour looking at fish and the other pet store animals. Not wanting to deliver an empty threat I shut my mouth and didn't say it. I've caught myself other times too.

This morning however, I did it! I delivered the threat and followed through. It was tough, I felt so bad. We had made muffins for breakfast (one of her favorites) and while it was cooking she asked for a banana. She was just about finished the banana when she started throwing pieces of it on the floor to the dog. After the first time, I told her not to do it again and she did. But all the banana was gone so I shot her a look and went back to washing dishes. I look over and she found another piece. I started my "do not throw it on the floor" as she lifted up her hand to put it in her mouth and then as she heard me telling her what not to do paused to listen to the rest. So I continued... If you throw it on the floor you will not get any muffins. After a second of contemplation as to what she wanted to do, she threw it on the floor! After many tears I held my ground and didn't cave, even though I wanted to. Being a mean mommy is no fun! Hopefully, she'll learn quickly that when I say I'm going to do something I mean it.