The Twos.....

We're here, at that notorious stage, the (you know what!) twos! Actually, they're not too bad, I guess - my mom assures me......but then again, my child can do no wrong in her eyes! But there does seem to be a large number of tantrums lately, making me, once again, bring the whole punishment plan into question (timeouts, spankings, positive reinforcement, treats/rewards.....).

I still haven't spanked Mackenzie, but I definitely have moments of wondering if I should. Mainly, I find it extremely difficult to punish her when we are out & about. Like today, when we were leaving Chick-fil-A after lunch with our friends. We were talking outside, so I let her stand on her own and told her to stay next to me. Which she did......for a few minutes. Then, when I told her we had to go & hold my hand, she went running in the direction of one my friends. This makes me nervous (very nervous) to have her running away from me where cars are driving. I ran & grabbed her forcefully & said very sternly not to run from mommy and a few other directives. But I wonder if this is enough. There is no good 'timeout' spot in a parking lot. We've already left the playground friends, so I can't isolate her further. It's hard. After being yelled at, and subsequently having to be carried to the car, she began tantruming and thrashing about - hitting mommy. I then, held her hands while walking. While carrying all my baby gear in a big bag. Oh - and I'm like 7 months pregnant. It's hard. Welcome to the twos (well, we hit this technically before two, but who's counting!)