January 21

Time out. Naughty chair. Punishment. No matter what you call it, we use it with an ever growing frequency these days. Liam is a big fan of pushing the limits. He gets in trouble for two reasons, he's testing or he's bored. I can see his wheels turning as he does whatever it is he shouldn't be doing. Will I get away with it? Am I really not supposed to do this? What if I try it in another room/with another toy/on another person? The long arm of the law is pretty good at catching up with him. Our "prison cell" is an average wooden dining room chair. It gets pulled up to the wall and Liam sits for two minutes while he thinks about what he did (a mother can dream, right?). I've heard various things come from Liam while he's in time out. Most are requests to get up or murmurings about what got him in trouble in the first place.

Liam, from time out...fourth trip today: "I'm going to listen now, Momma. This chair isn't very comfortable, you know!"