Kaitlin and I had a battle-of-wills this weekend so to speak. It all began on Saturday afternoon when I asked Kaitlin to pick up her toys in the living room and she refused. This has been more and more of an issue lately. The girl has an arsenal of toys and it takes minutes for the living room to look like a bomb went off through which you must travel at your own peril, but she never wants to pick them up. At 4 1/2, she's getting a little too old to not be willing/able to pick up after herself.
So, I said she wouldn't get any supper until she picked up her toys. She commented several times that she was hungry (hinting for mom to make her some supper) over the course of the late afternoon and evening and I responded with, "All you have to do is pick up your toys." She simply refused.
Well, guess what...she went to bed without any supper...for the first time ever, I think - other than a time or two when she wasn't feeling well and didn't want any.
My thinking was, "Well, she'll certainly be hungry by morning and will pick up to get breakfast, right?"
Nope...still as stubborn as all get out...where does she get this tenacity??
Lunch time came and went and she STILL hadn't picked them up, so I told her that in 15 minutes I was going to pick up every last toy that was on the living room floor, put them in a box and into the extra bedroom they would go - in other words "OFF LIMITS" for an unknown period of time.
Nothing.
So in 15 minutes, I was picking up the toys and in the bedroom they went.
She was NOT a happy camper...I believe there was some screaming and slamming of doors involved (Kaitlin, not me, in case you were wondering).
After she had calmed down, I went into her room and she apologized for not listening to me and said she promised to pick up her toys from now on. Then she asked, "Can I have some lunch now?" quite pitifully.
How can someone be so frustratingly obstinate and adorable all at the same time??!!
So, of course, I made her some lunch. After all, she's got to eat! I'm telling myself that this one was a draw (although I think I might be deluding myself a bit :-))...she didn't pick up her toys, but she also won't be playing with them for a few days...and even then, I don't think that all of them will be coming back out of the extra bedroom.
Hmmm...not sure I'm looking forward to the teenage years! :-)
