Saturday, July 3, 2010

Oh Behave!

I have noticed that Lily has gotten purposefully naughty lately. Before, she used to do naughty things, like eat paper or pull the kitty's (or as she says the "Ditty!") tail out of curiosity. She was really curious by what the paper might taste like or what the Ditty would do if she yanked that hairy thing that came from his bottom.

Now, however, it is a totally different story. She will go out of her way to find a piece of paper she knows she is not supposed to have, look at me, and take a bite.
The following scene generally ensues:

Me: "Lily! Give that to Mommy! Spit!"

Lily: Runs away as fast as she can.

Me: Runs after her, catches her, and says, "Spit!"

Lily: Spits, then lays on the ground and throws a fit (you'd think I'd just tortured her precious Fufu or something).

She is also quite fond of pulling my hair, and occasionally pinching and biting. For some reason, telling her "Owie! That hurts!" just makes her smile and pull/bite/pinch harder. I've tried to "teach" her that it isn't nice by doing virtually everything: ignoring her, moving her and distracting her with a toy, and, upon suggestion and frustration, even swatting her hand once. None of it worked. When she has the naughty desire, it seems she can't be swayed.

I'm wondering if a 17 month old is too young for an occasional timeout? My instinct is that she is, since she probably won't understand it, but I'm running out of suggestions...let me know, as you read this, if you have any magical "naughty-ness" cures...


Silly Lily--standing on her head
I do feel compelled to mention that, for the most part, she is a good and happy little girl--she just has an occasional streak of naughtiness that I'm sure she gets from her father.. :)

2 comments:

Unknown said...

And don't be afraid to comment!

Donna said...

She is definitely old enough and has enough understanding for you to start training her. She may find things cute because you and Brian may react that way to things she does, even when they are naughty. Every parent can easily do that because we adore our kids. Since Lily is very perceptive, you will have to repeat whatever discipline you put in place over and over to teach her you mean business. This is the age where kids want to figure out who is in charge and if they continue to do naughty things without a firm response, they end up in charge. If they don't see you in charge now, it will be really bad once she is a little older. Once they are older and without training, by age 5 it is almost impossible to change their view and behavior. It can get tiresome correcting over and over for one little behavior, but that is what you do until she gives in, then you know you have won that battle :)