Playdates & The Week - The middle

I went home on Monday (while Eden rode in the 2nd Annual Buckingham Place Parade), but Ashley stuck around Jackson with the girls to visit friends.

On all of the visits with friends, Ashley was asking one important question - "How do you discipline a 3 year old?" which was prefaced with "Did your child completely change when she turned 3?" Eden has been definitely testing her boundaries more lately than in the past.

Of course it really turned into blatant, angry disobediance last week. At one point, she looked Ashley in the face, clenched her fists, and furiously yelled "NO-O-O-O-O!" at her. On another occasion, Eden furiously crushed a chip in her hand and stuffed it in her mouth while Ashley was holding onto her for dear life telling her not to eat the chip, all while holding Lydia. And another time, Ashley walked into the bedroom and nonchalantly asked, "Did you open the blinds?" to which E replied, "I didn't do it. No, I didn't do it, I didn't do it." despite that fact that her granddaddy had been sitting there the whole time and watched her do it.  Yes, Eden has always done the normal toddler disobeying, but last week it was angry and blatant. The kind that has to be followed up with something strict in the form of discipline. Ashley was just a bit blindsided and said she felt like she was playing catch-up.

So, we were trying to figure out strategies for how to correct this behavior and get our Eden back. Our main method had been time outs, which were only effective if you claim effective means Eden throwing a fit (with full arms and legs flailing and screaming at the top of her lungs) while crawling after you when you leave her alone. Apparently she does not like those, and she does not stay to "think about it" which completley defeats the purpose. After some reading, we found that the overuse of any one discipline method makes that method become less effective over time - hence the need for more methods, different strategies, etc. Hence the asking multiple people what they do. I'll let Ashley fill you in on what we learned and started trying later. For now, here are the people who took part in the week's survey.

First up, Sarah Nicholas ...

... her daughter, Mary Holland, and her son, Charlie. We met Sarah and her husband, Jeremy, when we joined a young married Sunday school class at Christ United Methodist Church in Jackson [pre-kids around 2003 or so].

Eden and Mary Holland played quite well together. The report was that Ashley and Sarah were able to sit and "talk and talk and talk" (Eden's words) while Eden and Mary Holland played. When asked how it was, Eden said it was fun. Looks like they'll definitely be headed back there.

One of Eden's new favorite things is to be a ballerina. Her Aunt Beverly sent "Lili" books, about a ballerina named Lili and her stage adventures. Soon after reading them, Eden had to dress up and pretend. She is pretty good at twirling, and even mimics the various positions depicted in the books.

All that play makes for a sweaty little girl ...

... and a sleepy sister...

The next visit was Jennifer and Josie, a return character to the Bodie Blog. This time, Eden and Ashley got to visit their new house! The report was that it is just great and has a red door (and that Josie has her own room with a closet and a bed).

Jennifer is due with their second daughter in a few weeks. We're hoping the new little bit Lydia are just as good friends as their sisters.

For some reason, Lydia likes us to stand up and rock/sway her while she falls asleep. While in Jackson, Ashley found a new "magic" position.