Jude has a play kitchen that was handed down from his cousin, Chandler, as quite of few of his toys have been. He loves it. Unfortunately, he also loves to climb onto it, and stand on top. In general, Jude will climb anything humanly possible for his little body. I believe he loves the high vantage point; he proudly calls out, "Tall!"
I have repeatedly removed him from his tall perch, and firmly informed him he is not to climb on top of his kitchen. It seems he did not fully understand my command. You would think that the time he fell off and hurt himself would have reminded him to keep his feet on the ground.
Not my little monkey. So today, as he proudly grinned at me from atop the kitchen, I decided that it was time to take some action.
I took him to a chair that my impromptu decision made the timeout chair, and told him he was to stay there because he climbed onto the kitchen after I told him not to. He immediately climbed off the chair. I put him back on the chair, and told him to stay. Again, he climbed down. We repeated this process for a good 7 minutes, as he cried with frustrated confusion. Finally he stayed on the chair long enough for me to consider a minute (I'm sure it wasn't quite that long, but time drags when your baby's crying). I told him why he was in timeout and asked him to say he was sorry. His little voice chirped out a "sawry," and I got a hug.
I must say, I was proud of myself for this little act of discipline, but I know that there is much more to come. The journey has just begun. I'm a bit sentimental, realizing that he is truly a toddler. Long gone are the days of babyhood, where I only had to worry about cuddling, playing and feeding.
Later in the day, Jude said, "Kitchen...chair...cry..." He tells these little stories, with only a few words pieced together, but I understand him perfectly. Once again, we talked about why I put him in timeout.
At least I know it made an impact. For today at least.
