And nearly a year later...

Aarrgh, this is terrible! Its August, Sophie turned one yesterday, and my blog is only just about to be updated!!! : P Oh well, I console myself that the e-diary has been neglected at the expense of my two physical ones. I'm maintaining two seperate diaries for James and Sophie and have been pretty ok with regular updates (up to the past two months, when I managed one new entry a month!!!) I dunno , I still like wielding pen on paper - messier, but full of doodle opportunities. Sophie's diary has such memorabilia as her first toenail cuttings (I can see her really appreciating those one day - not!) and euaw - her dried up umbilical cord, yes I know its kinda gross.

I have a little plastic ziplock with James' first hair cut that I was going to stick into his.

So victorian and macabre!! I love it! : )

Anyways, I'm actually only updating this because I'm waiting for an upload to complete. Ho hum. Ok, lets see whats been happening...

1. Discipline

Sad to say, we have moved on to spanking, although rarely. James has improved dramatically - he's learnt we mean what we say, and that "No" is non-negotiable, so usually talking firmly to him works. When it doesn't, he goes in the corner - that might happen once a week, or even less. When the corner doesn't work, or if he is deliberately defiant, he gets taken to his room, and... I always tell him how many spanks he'll get (no more than three), and its administered by a wooden ladle, which I think spreads area of impact, vs a hand. Then we have a chat - well, I explain before, and again after. We'll pray and hug at the end. It works great when I retain full control of my temper - I think he's really relieved to be checked and for someone to be in control of the situation when he isn't. But it's very bad - whether I end up spanking or not, if I'm just using the corner or telling him off, when I lose my temper. It's true what a lot of books say, they really just want for someone to be in control.


2. Self-control

On a related note, my own self-control... Was very disturbed with the cycles of calm control to explosion of temper that I was experiencing. It seemed that every two weeks I would find my temper fraying, be struggling with constant irritability and sniping endlessly at everyone. Noticed that the crisis came about on the weeks when our helper was off and EH and I did NOT have our bi-monthly date-Thursday. So. I signed up for a regular exercise class at the gym (twice a week) and it has done wonders for my moods : ) - v relieved. Sometimes feel guilty leaving kids with mum-in-law, but I think the restoration of sanity makes it worth it.

OK, I really have to cut it off here ... : P