Tightening the Reigns

Wow, it has been quite the week. Getting back into the swing of things is rather exhausting at 7 mo. prego. I think I am caught up on laundry but there are still piles of clean clothes to be hung up and put away, yikes! The most trying part of the week, however, has been getting Elijah back into the routine of things. For whatever reason we must have loosened his reigns, so to speak, while on our trip because I have had a heck of a time getting him to listen to me since being home! There have been lots of tears and fits and stubborn moments on his part and it is all because he somehow thinks he has more freedoms than he really does. We are all for giving our 2 year old independent spirit choices, it works really well for him to think he has a choice, but lately the time it takes for him to make his decision is the issue. For example, I will say "okay boys time to go" and ask Eli if he wants me to get his snow coat off the hook or if he wants to get it and he will wander around or just stand there for 30sec.-1min no saying anything. So I then grab the coat and he screams that he wants to do it, I say "tough, you need to listen the 1st time and make your choice quickly" and then I get to carry a screaming kid to the car and wrangle him into his car seat! So frustrating when you are in a hurry. I told Joe on of the 1st nights we were home that he(Eli) needed to do things more quickly when asked or he had to sit in the naughty spot and he agreed, it's been a trying week but I feel like we are making progress, he knows we mean business (me for sure, Joe is trying) and our naughty spot is getting lots of use, but the time he has to sit there is getting shorter before he is willing to comply. I'll take it! Oh the joys of independent, free spirited, stubborn 2 years old boys, wonder what 3 will bring...