Ballet day

Thankfully, today went much better than the last ballet class. I've reconsidered the disowning.

Because of last Monday's fiasco (which I don't think I'll ever even be able to talk about entirely on here), we've worked on revamping some things....like time-out in her room instead of the time-out chair (thus eliminating further "look, I'm getting out of the chair" power plays), quiet time instead of nap time (eliminating the fight over a nap, and resulting in her putting herself down about half the time), putting her food where she can get at it herself when she wants it (in a lower, reachable shelf in the fridge, eliminating the "now you're sitting down with J latched on and milk letting down, I think I'll ask you for my juice!" stuff), and just generally trying to not be quite as compulsive about control as I have been for the last three years!

She's enjoying the independence, I'm enjoying the lack of headache, and things are going much more smoothly at our house. And when battles that deserve to be fought (like not laying on Baby J, going to bed at bedtime, etc) come up, they seem less like a crisis, are more quickly resolved, and leave us both with energy to talk about them instead of just getting mad.

So while it was a painful day a week ago, it has resulted in good and (I think) inspired things. At least something productive came out of it all!