Happy Thursday!

Hayden's really into stacking things lately. Often I'll walk into the kitchen to find things like this. Hmm...ok. Kind of Poltergeist-ish - I'm half expecting to find all of our chairs stacked in odd ways on the table.

Hayden had really been moody this week. We've been "battling" all week. Guess it doesn't help that I'm cranky this week..ah cramps...how I didn't miss them all these months.

Yesterday I put myself in "time-out" on the porch. If I had duct tape lying around you may have had a picture of Hayden taped to the wall today. But, alas, no tape. I believe some might call my toddler "strong-willed". Yeah, that's it, strong-willed...

He's also going through a very frustrating phase of hitting himself whenever he gets frustrated or angry (or both). He hits himself in the head and says "NO!". Argh. Apparently, this is very common in toddlers. But it's still hard to see your kid smacking himself in the head. The more I try to stop him the more he does it. It seems to help if I just ignore the behavior instead of letting it upset me. I think he likes the reaction I give when he does it, so I'm trying not to react.

We've also stopped showing all movies (except for Veggie Tales). He mimics everything he sees on these movies and it comes out in him trying to hit, or getting really wild or throwing things. Veggie Tales seem to avoid showing negative behaviors (even if they are depicted as "bad" he still mimics them because he's too young to follow the storyline) and is less stimulating. At younger ages he just loved the music and sounds of the movies, but now he's "acting" them out and that's just not acceptable.

And I'm only showing movies during breathing treatments or other times I need him "occupied". Mostly, I'm trying to redirect his behavior either by playing outside, room-time, book-time, or an activity. Some weeks he's really difficult to handle and I know this is mostly my fault because we don't have a good routine in place and have been watching way too many movies. I need to work hard to curb his negative behaviors or I will definitely go insane.

Tonight I'm going to the movies with a friend!! We're seeing Australia. I hope it's good. (Don't tell me if it's not!)

I'm just so happy it's almost Friday because this week has been ROUGH.