Living with Relatives

As many of my readers are aware I recently moved.  What you might not know is that we had to move in with my husband’s Dad and step-mother.  They were nice enough to take us in when the economy took a dump on our careers and income.  They gave almost the whole upstairs of their house up for us and our toddler.  I’m not even sure there are words in the English language to express how thankful I am to them.    

But that doesn’t mean that it’s easy.  Kaylee has just entered this stage where she’s very adamant about everything she wants.  She knows what she wants and she wants it yesterday.  This includes playing with Granddaddy’s guitars, drums and the cat that hates kids.  She’s already been whapped by the cat and ended up with scratched all up and down her arms and repeated butt whaps have done nothing to impede all the other bad habits.

Yesterday she managed to fall off a chair, fall into the wall and fall onto decorative bricks in the living room.  This has resulted in our child looking abused.  She has cuts and scrapes, a fat lip and her eye is a little swollen on the right side.  Yes, she has acquired my accident proneness.

But I never realized how hard it was going to be having her in a non-toddler proofed house.  I thought I could teach her to not play with the stuff she shouldn’t and that eventually it would sink in.  But I believe this is not possible.  My child is aware that she can form her own opinion and thinks she can make all of her own decisions.

So, what on Earth do you do with a child that refuses to be disciplined?  I’m not sure how to affect a timeout, short of buying a chair to strap her in which I think is too much.

I’m so thankful to have a place to call home, but my child is causing new gray hairs every day.  If my mom were still alive would tell her just how sorry I am.