Proud Mama

Well, I had two instances during the last week where I was extremely proud of both my little boys. The first one started with Dakota. In one of my previous posts I explained that Dustin inadvertently pushed Dakota in the bathtub causing him to fall backward under the water. Of course Dakota was completely freaking out and had a terrible scare. Well, that was two weeks ago. Last Saturday we were over at my Dad's house and it was bathtime again. This time I was in the bath with Dakota. When I leaned him back to get his head in the water up to his ears (so his face was out of the water) he started to stress out and started whining. Well, I continued to tickle him and smile at him while he was laying back and we repeated this process several more times. By the end of the bath he was comfortable having his ears wet with me only supporting his head while the rest of him floated in the water. I was so proud of Koots for relaxing and learning that the bath could be fun again. It was amazing. He was such a trooper. I could tell that he was learning to trust in the bathtub and he was able to overcome his fear. Later today we will be back over at Dad's and will repeat the process (I only have a shower at my house which is the reason we don't typically take normal "baths"). Typically we only use the toddler bathtub which they can comfortably sit the entire time. I'm putting this in as a note because I do bathe my children more than once a week. But typically there isn't a lot of water in the toddler tub at any given time due to its size. We aren't that archaic. :)
On Monday I went to pick up the boys from the daycare. I put Dakota in the car and went to put Dustin in his seat. Well he switched his seat four times alternating between sitting right next to Dakota in the middle to wanting to sit next to the window. Finally, I got annoyed enought that I just strapped in his seat and he started screaming bloody murder. He screamed for ten minutes straight. Once we were at a light I turned to him and told him that he would be getting a spanking when he got home. He started screaming louder. Finally he stopped screaming and throwing a fit. I told him that when he was naughty that the nice thing to do would be to apologize and to say sorry. I told him that he had to be good. I asked him if he wanted to play when we got home. He nodded his head. I told him that he needed to be nice. I asked him if he was going to be nice. He nodded his head again. Of course once we got home these memories faded swiftly. We had dinner. Dustin's newest obsession is to take hostages into his room and play with them. This includes dogs, or the cat, or he will drag Dakota down the hall and into his room. Well despite my insisting that he leave Dakota alone he drug him down the hall and into his room anyway. I was attempting to finish my homework at the time (the last few assignments before I finished my Masters) so I just kind of let Dustin finish. It wasn't until I heard him dump his ENTIRE ginormous bin of toys on the floor that I become incensed. (Sunday he had done the same thing and had taken all the clothes out of his drawers as well so we had just gotten done cleaning it up). Anyway, I ran in there and gave Dustin a swat on the butt and took Dakota out of there. I told Dustin to pick up his toys. That's when he started throwing the mother of all tantrums telling me he wanted to play. I repeated that he needed to pick up his toys. He started screaming bloody murder. I went out to the living room and sat down with Dakota. Dustin screamed for about five minutes. Finally he opened the door and instantly became quiet. He padded out to the living room where he said to me, "I sorry Momma, I sorry. I nice... I nice. Please help." I was so amazed. Dustin has never come out and apologize for anything. Evidently our conversation in the car had enlightened him. I was so proud of my Bug. Of course I got up and went and helped him pick up his toys. I'm sure he just figured out that his screaming wasn't doing the job and he thought of an alternate method to manipulate me into doing what he wanted. But, the point is that I was so proud that he apologized.
What an awesome week for my boys! They are both growing up so fast.