Not part of the plan ...

Well, yesterday Jinglers did the trick as far as getting Maggie to cooperate and obey. Today was an altogether different story! Her behavior was awful ... she's usually passively disobedient, continuing to do whatever it is she wants, regardless of what she's been told. And in those cases, a stern warning or threat almost always does the trick. Today, however, she's been willfully disobedient and has even been talking back, something she rarely does. Her favorite response when I tell her to do something (or not to do something) has been one of two statements: "That's NOT fair!" or "That's NOT very nice!"

Not even the threat of Jinglers has been enough to force compliance. (And don't get me wrong ... I'm not doing the elf thing simply to make her behave for one month out of 12 -- I don't think that teaches her the real lesson, nor does it show her how to obey for the right reasons. I just thought the elf concept would be fun, another way to make Christmas magical for her. But I seem to remember something about desperate times ...) Whenever I'd mention Jinglers' reports to Santa as a response to her bad behavior, she'd simply say, "Oh don't tell him!" and go back to doing whatever was getting her in trouble in the first place.

The day was capped by a nice tantrum on the bathroom floor. I was taking a bath -- and let me tell you, it's pretty darn relaxing to be in a perfectly heated tub of bubbles with a screaming 4-year-old lying on the floor, kicking her feet against the tub -- and she was mad because Bobby was going to brush her teeth instead of me. Long story short, she ended up going to bed with no bedtime stories. I HATE taking story time away from her, but it's often the only thing she really responds to ... we start with the three as our norm and deduct as needed. It's usually a really bad night when one is taken away, so you can just imagine what led to the total wipeout.

Maybe it's to be expected? (Or maybe that's just wishful thinking.) But the way I see it, she's had a major academic breakthrough in reading, so might it stand to reason that 1) her emotions are working really hard to keep up with her intellect, or 2) she's progressing in one major area and regressing in another? She also had a couple of potty accidents today, and that never happens anymore. Regardless, I found myself trying to have a three-fold conversation as I rocked her to sleep ... consoling her over the loss of storytime, trying to use said loss as a lesson about actions having consequences, and simply trying to ease her sometimes-fragile emotions, telling her, "Sometimes it's just better to go to sleep and start over again tomorrow."

And now if you'll excuse me, I have a warning email from Santa to forge ...