Stumbling A Little

I think La Luz has finally peaked in the terrible twos phase. Generally speaking, disciplining La Luz has been easy, and maybe that is part of the problem. I haven't ever had to yell or scream at her, never reprimanded her in a major way, never spanked or grabbed (not that I necessarily ever would), and never used 'time out'...until tonight.

I came home from work a little bit early, 6:00. Wow, I know, how nice of me. I was totally excited to see La Luz, particularly since I knew I only had an hour of play time before the bed and bath routine was supposed to begin under the new regime. Because I was excited to see her, I guess I sort of got up in her face a little and she said, "get away from me" and sort of swatted in my general direction with a limp hand. I backed up a bit but continued my probing questions, "what did you have for dinner? was it delicious? are you feeding your baby? how nice of you. how was school? are you ready for your thanksgiving feast tomorrow?" It was, apparently, too much to process and she did it again, this time with more exasperation and force. I decided that 'time out' was in order. I really had to think on my feet. I improvised and decided that the steps would be a good place for her to sit and think. I remember seeing the steps used in an episode of Nanny 911 once and it seemed to work well. So, I put her there, stifling laughs the entire time, and she cried. I left her there for two minutes and begged for contrition but, at the end of it, she wasn't all that remorseful, which kind of made me laugh. I know it is important to establish rules and boundaries but I am wondering if I have the first kid who is resistant to such things. Maybe it just won't work on her? Maybe this was just a fluke? After all, how could someone that looks like this


possibly merit punishment, ever?