Not Again !

Food Fight, Part 2 :

I'm telling you, I'm not really loving this whole discipline thing. Who knew it would start so early ? Elaina is truly the very best baby you could ever ask for, but when she's tired, she goes into wreckless-monster-mode.

This is how our dinner went tonight. Elaina was enjoying her dinner and being quite content for as tired as we both knew that she was. As I began talking to her, complimenting her on how good she was being, she threw her food to the floor as she looked at me for my reaction. I grabbed her hand, putting it back onto the highchair tray and as I began to tell her "No" she gave me an immediate " Pbbblllttt ! " spitting from her mouth. Oh no !! We are not going there ! Before she could even finish, I smacked her mouth, letting her know that she was quite through with that behavior. (Again, Mother's Oath - I did NOT hurt my baby !) She was so surprised and devastated that her tears were immediate. I hurt her feelings again ! BAD !
We were both surprised that our little, sweet angel came up with this defiant, little act that our mouths hung open in disbelief. But, for the sake of being consistent, action needed to be taken.

A few minutes into her meltdown, Eric wiped her down and carried her straight to bed. Like last night, we both knew that she was tired ( Eric layed down with her only an hour earlier & she didn't sleep) and she was just losing touch with her little self. I checked on her about 15 minutes later and she was in her crib, wide awake, sucking on her binky. As another 10 minutes went by, I checked on her again to find her still laying in her crib, eyes wide open. I pulled her out with a tight hug and I rocked her while sweet- talking her with apologies and kisses. We made up and we're happy again !

Let's get this lesson learned soon so that we can be done with this behavior and no more food fights !!