Time Out

The defiance has begun. Cadie has been throwing, not accidentally dropping, food off of her high chair. Telling her "no" has not been effective. Swatting her hand, also not effective. This week past week I tried something new - Time out - it really works. When Cadie threw her food I said "No throw food. Time out." I then took her to our half bath (of course removed the trash can, toilet paper, etc.) and shut the door. She screamed like she was being left for good. It was HORRIBLE. I only left her in there a few second and then hugged her, told her how much I loved her and calmed her down. We had two full evenings of so many time outs in a row that Cadie got so upset that I didn't even end up being able to feed her dinner. She is just so defiant! After the first time out, after I calmed her down, I put her back in the high chair to resume dinner and she put her little hand under the plate and flipped the whole thing at me just because she was still mad which, of course, resulted in another time out. I hate doing it to her. But after two nights of the time outs (Tues. and Wed.) I think she is over it! She tried once at DD and Big John's, I think just to test me, and I put her in time out at their house. That is the only time since Wednesday and she used to throw half her food on the floor. I think she is really scared of time out. She accidentally dropped some food on the floor at breakfast on Saturday and she looked at me with such a scared face. I told her that I knew it was an accident and it was ok. I am sure this is the beginning of a long discipline journey...

Just a pic of Cadie hanging out with Dad and Aunt Whitney today before lunch; during which you will be happy to know there was no food thrown on the ground.