Weekend Re-Cap

Eli had a pretty good weekend, considering "the teeth". He got his Elmo fix on Friday night, then on Saturday he got to help Daddy clean out the garage. Then the two of them went through some old clothes and Eli found his first Halloween costume, among other things. Of course he asked to try it on. Saturday night we went out to dinner and the waitress gave him a balloon. This was a first, so Eli was totally thrilled. Afterwards we went to a nearby park and let him run off some energy. After his bath, he and Daddy sat on the upstairs couch and watched a few minutes of the Cubs game. When I finished feeding Maddux, I joined them. Eli insisted I sit in-between them. Then he got all cuddly on me. He snuggled into my arm and played with my hand the whole time. He loves to watch the Cubs, and he is usually very good about sitting still and not getting too hyper during the inning or so we let him watch. We went to church on Sunday and then ran a few errands after his nap. That was when I had to make a few more split-second parenting decisions.

Eli loves the Depot. He goes ga-ga for their carts, and anytime he can be surrounded by hammers and drills and mowers and grills, he is in heaven. We had a few things we needed to pick up, so the four of us piled in the car and away we went. Lehr drove, which meant I was sitting in front of Eli in the car, which also meant I was the one to take him out of the car when we arrived. Eli did not like that. He wanted Daddy and made sure we both knew it. I told him too bad so sad because Mommy was taking him out today. He squirmed and whined, so I told him to get some self-control. We were about five feet away from the car when he started to hit. Since this has started to happen more often, that was the last straw for me. I told Eli that he does not hit Mommy, and then I informed him he would not be visiting the Depot today. I took both kids back to the car and let Lehr run in for the items we needed. Eli was so stunned, he didn't even fight me as I strapped him back in the car seat. I put Maddux back in and started to drive around the parking lot. After about a minute, I stopped the car and turned around to remind Eli what he did; I then asked for an apology. He said, "I 'tarry, Mommy." as he nodded. I told him that he was forgiven, but he had lost the privilege of the Home Depot cart today because he hit. As we drove around for the next ten minutes, Eli tried to rectify the situation at least five more times. It went something like this: "I 'tarry, Mommy. Dee-po?" or "I 'tarry, Mommy. Cart?" Each time I said, "thank you. You are forgiven. No Depot today because you hit. Next time we will work more on self-control so we can ride in the Depot cart." I found it quite amusing how he thought an apology meant he would get what he wanted. I'm glad I didn't give in and let him go after his first 'tarry! Given how insistent he was about the cart and how sad he seemed that we were not in the Depot, I think this 'punishment' got through to him.