Geuss Who's Been Peeing His Pants Lately?

Answer: Mr. Isaak! 

Not taken today, but I thought it fit the post well.

It's been happening at Grandma and Grandpa Spiehs' house. I take that back, it's just noticeable at their house. At our house, it's not as big of a deal. We have all wood floors.

I called to check on him at lunch time. His holiday program for preschool is tonight. They had rehearsal this morning. I was talking on the phone to my Mom (Grandma); and heard my Dad (Grandpa) scolding him in the background. Isaak had to wipe up his mess. That is how it should be. When they spill or have accidents at our house, they have to wipe it up to.

As far as scolding him goes, he's old enough and trained enough to know better. I've been putting the little punk a monk on the potty since he was 1 1/2. He A) Is my lazy child. I do have to give him credit for picking up good {when he wants to}. Aunt Terra used to give him a choice of walking or riding in a stroller, he'd pick the stroller almost every time. He would sit in the stroller, instead of play on the playground. We don't give him an option at all now. He also refused to participate in the stretching at the YMCA. B) His is after all three years old. I found this to be much more challenging than the terrible two's; with both Mica and Isaak. C) Has been acting emotional and stubborn lately. He gets pouty lipped and won't tell you what is wrong sometimes. Maybe he has the holiday blues.

I kind of wonder what goes through their minds sometimes.

Terrible Three's

I had to balance out my Happy post of the day with this Grumpy one! If you want something to read that is more uplifting, skip this post.

Who's the grumpy one? Why Sir Isaak! Ever since we cut off his hair, he's turned into more of a punk! HA I know that's not why. It's just a coincidence.

Isaak's a major bear when it's time to wake up from a nap and in the morning time.

When Mica went through this at Isaak's age I just yanked his clothes off and dressed him as quick as possible, while he screamed in my ears. I also put him to bed at 7. So early, but hey he woke up GRUMPY! When none of the above worked out I put Mica in bed with us for 15 minutes for cuddle time and he was much better about getting up. Daddy didn't like it, but it seemed to work with Mica not being in a FUNK. I'm not sure if I'll do this with Isaak or not. I have mixed feelings about it. Sure it made him less grumpy, but it also allowed him to think it was ok to come in our room to cuddle every morning.

Advice? Please don't say, "Beat your child to control him!" That's the advice I got from my co-worker, and I wanted to beat his face in. Not really, I just shrugged it off; thinking I won't do that. To make his advice worse, he mentioned, "That's the only way to control children. Isaak needs to know who's boss!" Oh and his kids never acted that way because he spanked them to control them. Two parenting polar opposites! Ya we kind of clashed.

To us, kids and parents need to respect each other. I'm not going to spank my child for not wanting to get out of bed. I don't even want to get out of bed. There has to be another reasonable answer to fix Isaak's grumpy stage, or at least get through it. Mica went through it, he got over it. Isaak will to. It's just a matter of how to deal with this stage, while it's present.

I even remember my sister, Aunt Terra going through this stage. She's 5 years younger than me. I used to have to get her up on days that my mom was at work once or twice a week. Terra would not get out of bed! This is crazy, but worked: I pretended that we were trapped in an episode of She Ra. You know, "The princess of power." I was belittled to that! HA Hey like I said, it worked! Princess Terra otherwise known as She Ra got up to get ready to save the castle.

Sometimes I puppy bark to get Isaak to smile when he wakes up. Silly again, but he likes puppies. Reverse psychology works on him to. Daddy says, "Isaak don't smile!" Generally he does.

It's not just about getting out of bed. Isaak's determined to let his punk side show through at other times to. Thanksgiving weekend at Grandma and Grandpa Apel's: Grandma Apel offered them many different things to drink all weekend. At home it's water or milk. For breakfast it's juice and on the weekends it's homemade juice. They aren't allowed to have juice at any other time of the day. He thought he could have Limeade for breakfast. Daddy bent a bit by pouring in 1/4 limeade and 1/4 water. NOPE! Isaak had a melt down! He cried in the back room with Daddy for 1/2 an hour over the deal. Sure we could have let him have his way. We wouldn't. He doesn't get his way all the time. Melt down it was. Daddy stayed with him, so he wouldn't feel abandon. We were at someone else's house other than our own. I was wondering what Grandma and Grandpa Apel were thinking? Were they thinking like my co-worker? A different generation, a different outlook. I'm not sure. It doesn't really matter. We didn't let him have his way, but we weren't spanking him either. He got a giant Super Nanny time out until he cooled down enough to have breakfast.

Other Punk Experiences:

• Yesterday Isaak wanted to wear his new short sleeve t-shirt without a long sleeve shirt under it. 
• That evening he refused to let me button up his jammies at night. He had to do it. It took twice as long, but he has to learn sometime.
• Today was a day where he didn't want to get up out of bed. 
• Grandpa Spiehs took cousin Elijah and Isaak for a walk. Elijah refused to wear his gloves and hat, so Isaak did to; just because Elijah wouldn't. They were freezing, but wouldn't wear their extra gear.

It's a Terrible Three stage! I can't wait to get past it.

It's a stage where they want to figure things out on their own. They don't have the coordination to do everything just yet. They are unreasonable and strong headed. Isaak's gone through this stage once already; it left and now it's back again with a vengeance.

Would You Like Some Cheese With That Wine?

Isaak has been incredibly fussy! Last evening he got mad because he wanted my help putting on his shoes; then he wanted to do it himself. I let him put his own shoes on; he gets mad because he can't get them on. Back and forth we go. I finally I just put them on; ignoring the wine. We leave Grandma and Grandpa's Spiehs' house. Isaak fell asleep in the car. This rarely happens. Daddy takes him inside, Isaak crashes on the couch. This to rarely happens.

When it was bedtime he got mad because of I don't know what. He was so worked up, I couldn't understand him. Daddy stepped in and calmed him down; I'm not even sure how.

This morning Isaak tried pulling on Daddy and hurt his own arm. He cried like he was in pain for awhile. Milking up all the attention from me as he could get. He always wants the parent that's not in the front line of his problem.

Then he fell in the driveway, busted his knee and cried some more.

Grandma and Grandpa Spiehs took the boy's over to Aunt Terra's house where they made homemade cheese. Isaak I ask you, "Would you like some cheese with that whine?"

Isaak's three and he's acting the part. Stubborn and sweet all mixed into one little boy. He wants to do things that he just hasn't masted yet. He wants to skip naps like his older brother, and can't function as well with less sleep. If I ask him what he wants for breakfast? He says, "What's Mica having Mommy?" I tell him, and he wants what Mica's having. Even though he really doesn't want what Mica's having at all. Yogurt goes left untouched. I won't serve him that for awhile! Food wasting isn't a habit I want to start!

Isaak secretly looks up to his older brother. Mica of course is blind to Isaak's admiration.

Cousin Elijah's Birthday

• We celebrated cousin Elijah's 3rd birthday this weekend. It's hard to believe Elijah and Isaak are that old already! Isaak will be 3 on May 19. 
• We got Elijah a German Shorthaired Pointer thanks to CSN|Stores. I was really excited to get the Melissa and Doug Pooch out of our closet. ;) He was so big, that I couldn't find a box to fit him in. I used the shipping box at Christmas time to wrap something else in. I went to 2 stores to try and find a big gigantic birthday bag to wrap the dog in with no luck. I should have just tried Factory Card and Party Outlet right away; but I didn't think about it at all until the party was started. So the German Shorthaired Pointer got shoved into a black garbage bag. 

A big boy trike from Grandma and Grandpa Spiehs
 

A Big Pooch From Us

Elijah gave hugs to everyone!

Mica was sleepy! Can you tell?

Isaak was shy at first. He always is when more then one family is on the scene. At present opening time he warmed up to everyone. He even sat on cousin Elijah and Evan's Great Grandma's lap {from their other side}. At the end of the night he called her "Grandma," which she's not his Grandma, but that's ok. 

Isaak was curious! It's like he's thinking, "I wonder if I can play with this ginormous dog?"

Everybody got a chance to play with the toys {if they wanted to}. Even Uncle Tyson enjoyed playing with the dog!

The night ended with Evan playing in the bike box, and Great Grandma Kent wanting him out of the box, stories of snakes, boy's playing and laughter.

Aunt Terra said this morning, "Elijah has been sleeping with the dog every night - good thing he has a full size bed - it takes up half of it!!!!"