Thursdays

Thursdays are my morning to sleep in. Instead of waking up at 4:45 am to catch a quick work-out before work, I wake up between 6:30- 7:00 am to exercise before Isabela rolls out of bed at 8 am, she sleeps in too. On Wednesday nights, I normally have a solid plan in place for Thursday. This season, it's about making it half-way across town to swim class by 10:00 am. It can actually be a bit difficult to get myself ready along with Isabela. She has her own ideas on what to wear and insists on blow-drying her (dry) hair, after she applies her rosy blush on her cheeks. We have to take turns in the vanity area! However, today, her swim school called to cancel as something was wrong with the pool. I admit, although I was understanding about it, I did not like having to recreate the schedule. I was worried to lose precious minutes. I really need to work on not stressing out about "wasting time". So, I came up with my plan as I spoke with Daniela on the phone, as I had invited her to join us for some shopping.

I drove to pick up Dani and Diego for our planned 2 hour stroll through the Galleria. Diego was awesome. He slept, played and had lunch on Mommy's lap. However, Isabela's patient behavior lasted about an hour. By the time we left Ann Taylor Loft, she earned two time-outs at home. One was for pulling on clothes after being asked not to and the other one was for a disgruntled verbal response to me after redirecting her behavior. I thought about Jennifer's advice after I had told her that I have trouble with knowing how to handle time-outs when we are in a public place. She suggested that she should be old enough now to be able to still remember her errors once we got home. It made sense, but I was afraid that I would forget once we got home. Well, by the time we got home today, we were up to 3 time-outs. So, needless to say, her time-outs were remembered by me, they have been executed and she did remember every single disobedient act!

I told Daniela today that at work, I have a reputation for being really good in handling the most difficult elementary grade of them all, 5th graders. I can also manage kids w/ ADHD and any other challenging behavior. My principals count on me for teaching and testing kids that most teachers would give up on. Plus, I enjoy it. BUT, I have soon realized that when it comes to 3 year olds, I feel clue-less! They are definitely a different breed....well, at least Isabela is. Don't get me wrong, she's really harmless, I am being dramatic about it. But, this stage surely requires a lot of consistency and attention in a much different way.

Anyhow, we did our shopping. In order to avoid the unbuckling and buckling of one child, I left Daniela in the car with two children to grab our Thai Food lunch (that was a nice relief). We then dropped off Dani and Diego as we headed to Sammy's Downtown office for a surprise lunch and to visit his coworkers. There are so many ladies that have been carrying Isabela's name in prayer for healing for several years now. There were tears, laughter and mostly an assurance of hope when they all saw Isabela in her 3 1/2 year old body. They have known her since she was weighing in at 4 lbs. All 10 women stood around her and it was obvious that they were quietly talking to their God, thanking him. I am sure we were among different religions, maybe even a different God, but within that 4 foot diameter area, there was a common plead and appreciation for Isabela's life. It was certainly a very good lunch for me. Isabela never said a word in 45 minutes, but as soon as we got in the car to drive home and I got on the phone with Jennifer, the previously restrained words came out at high pitch with no end. That was how she earned the 3rd Time-out (for not respecting me).

I really don't want to "research" on how to handle Isabela's defiant behavior. I do not want to get lost in the slew of people's ideas with many different goals/theories. I do realize that this is an appropriate developmental stage in which she is testing me and her Papi. I am praying that I will find the right way for Isabela without losing sight of what the goal is-respectful, loving human being. Actually, she has the loving part down, she never hits, bites or screams, she's a huge kisser and talks with loving words. We just need her to obey instructions consistently. For now, I will just listen to what my friends have to say! :-)

Side note: She actually is pretty cute when she is defiant, it cracks us up!!!! (the pic is where she actually placed herself in time-out, quite easily, too)