Parent Training #1 - Homework

I managed to catch Joey at a good time and we played his interactive DVD game, "Planet Earth". We ended up playing this for 30 minutes or more. It was a very nice time together. I was glad I did it. Joey seemed very happy also. Our quality time has been greatly reduced since the end of my pregnancy last fall and then especially after the birth of the baby.

It was hard to not say "parent-like" things while Joey and I played. I slipped once and said, "Okay...be quiet now so I can hear the questions". He didn't even seem to pay attention to what I said anyway so I don't think I ruined it. I was good for the rest of the time and fought the urges to say things. It actually was very peaceful to just let the little things go and not have to argue and battle over them. I know Joey appreciated it.

For the 2nd special time, we hid Easter Eggs. Again, we spent about 30 minutes or more since 15 minutes seemed so small. Joey was so happy. It made me very happy to see him so happy. I was mad at myself for not doing this sooner. It seems like it would've been so obvious to me that this is what he wanted from me and if I took the time with him, he would be happy. Sounds so simple! I believe that I thought that if I started doing anything with Joey that he would get upset when I had to stop no matter how long I spent with him. I didn't want to go through the battle, so I just never started. He didn't do that to me though. It all went just fine.

I was going to bake cookies with him for the 3rd special time before the next training session, but then the baby decided it was HIS special time to be grouchy. We ended up baking the cookies tonight though. Again, it went much better than I expected. It probably really does go so well because I make a conscious effort to not instruct, correct, or say anything remotely negative. I just let him "be" and try to be the perfect friend for him for a while. He really enjoyed it. I don't remember any difficult times with him this evening. He once whined about his DVD not working right and one time I caught him wearing his heelies in the house. He knows he's not supposed to wear them in the house. But I just calmly told him to take them off and he just did it.