I've decided that although he is young, he is obviously advanced in terrorism skills. He also seems to have Britneyitis aka not giving a shit whether or not people love you or hate you as long as they are looking at you (strangely, I can relate to this). Therefore, I am going to try 1-2-3 Magic again.
123 Magic
is a book that recommends giving no reaction at all. The first time they act up, you say "That's 1"...let them get to three and they get an instant time out. No discussion, no "why did you do that", no lecture, just time out.We tried it with Big Kid when he was in his public humiliation tantrum phase, but unfortunately he did not give a rat's ass about any 1-2-3 bullshit when he was in the midst of one of his dramatic meltdowns.
I started first thing this morning and he caught on immediately. As soon as I say "That's 1" he starts stomping his feet and whining and he can not resist checking out what will happen for 2 and 3 at that point. So he has been in time out 47 times so far this morning. Fun, fun. Baby bootcamp should be a blast.
He has written on himself with a pen, poured caramel on the dog, rolled the office chair to the door in an escape attempt, chewed the end of the hose and bit me over an M&M, but all in all, I think I'm seeing some improvement. A slight improvement.
At least in myself. I do kind of enjoy the time outs.
