Old Yeller

At some point over the last few weeks, I went from the Father who "loves too much" to the Father who "loves to yell". Not exactly sure when it happened, but I've got to admit that I'm kind of digging it.

Actually, the first part is not entirely true - I do have a pretty good idea of when it happened. It was roughly about the same time that Finn's primary mode went from "unfathomably adorable" to "constantly whining & crying".

Of course, we know how do deal with whining, being adepts at Positive Discipline. It's all about giving the child choices. For example, I'll say: "I like to give ice cream to kids that say 'please'." At which point, he can either decide to say 'please', and get ice cream, or he can get yelled at.

But that's an easy one. The right answer doesn't always result in ice cream. For example, the other day, Finn developed some sort of "crying injury" in his general foot area. To try to get him to calm down, I offered him the following options:

1. Stop crying
2. Have your foot cut off by Daddy

It worked. He stopped crying. Very effective. Next step, "I'll give you something to cry about!"

I'm getting good at this, but I'm not going to get a chance to flex those yelling muscles today. We take off for a week in Belize tomorrow and Finn's not invited. He'll be crashing at Layla's, which will cut down on his morning daycare commute considerably.

When we booked this trip a few months back, the idea of spending a week living like a grown-up in a tropical location sounded like heaven, but now it sounds like sad. This will be our first big trip away and all I'm thinking about is how we're going to video chat with Finn from Belize. And I'm equally certain that upon our return, Finn will have absolutely no interest in coming home with us and will insist upon living at Jena & Scott's house with his girlfriend.

Excuse me, I think I need to go yell at myself until I feel better.