Day #11: Baby Boot Camp

   Baby boot camp is what happens at my house typically after grandparents visit. During the visit my kids get what they want, when they want, how they want. In the real world (aka, my house) that just ain't how it works. Well, baby boot camp has commenced at the Silengo house in spite of the fact there was not a recent grandparent visit. All I can figure is that things started to slowly unravel in the midst of all the sickness and that is the source of sassiness.
    When my kids are sick, I cut them some slack. They are allowed to be fussy, they can eat cereal for dinner, and they just get their way more often. So all I can figure is I unwittingly let things get out of control around here and today I realized just how bad it was. I snapped. I had had it with the complaining, the back talk, and the lack of manners from Savannah. I was sick of Luke hitting everything and anything in his path, throwing everything and anything in his path, and sick of hearing him yell, "Ni" at me. Not "no", "ni". It's Luke's version of no, but I know what he means and when he yells "ni" at me, he has attitude. Major attitude. So today, I followed through on all of my empty threats of spanking, time outs, no t.v., and no fruit snacks. Yeah, I mean business when I take the fruit snacks away. Today it's going to be one fun day around our house, and by fun, I mean miserable.
    But the truth is I hate it just as much, if not more, than my kids do. It's hard to discipline and stay consistent all day every day. At the end of the day, I'm tired of saying "no" and I let things slip. When Tyson is home I have some reenforcement. When he comes home from work he can take over for me saying "no" and encourage me to finish the day out. One of my fears when Tyson is deployed is that he is going to come home and find his children undisciplined and out of control. I know that is extreme, but I just want them to be as well behaved or even better behaved than when he left. I don't want him to have to come home to pick up a mess I made. So now it's time to step up my game. Time to pull out the camo diapers and my whistle.