Jenna and Sarah

It happened. I’ve become a spanker. I’ve always said I would never do that. I thought (and still do think) it’s stupid. I hate to do it and I know there has got to be a better way, but I haven’t found it. Jenna does not listen. At all. Today she ran away from me twice in parking lots and that is a NO-NO. I won’t put up with that. But when that happens (in a parking lot or anywhere else), I call her and tell her to come back, and she just laughs and runs more. So what did I do today? I spanked her. Not hard, but hard enough to make her cry. Jay & I had decided that we’ll do it when necessary because we don’t know what else to do. I have been researching online a little, and it’s a joke. People who write those spanking alternative articles must not have kids. If I could reason with her, I wouldn’t have to spank her in the first place! She is not completely out of control in all situations. I have some strategies that work, but when she runs away from me and refuses to come back, I have to run after her. And that is not going to become a regular occurance here. I have several friends who spank and it works for them. Fine, but it doesn’t work for me because I really, really don’t feel good about it.

I have decided that my conversion to a spanker is short-lived. I’m not doing it anymore. I know there’s got to be a better way and I’ll just keep working on finding that, but any and all suggestions are welcome!

Wow. I thought Elmo was the equivalent of toddler crack until Jenna discovered Dora. Girl is obsessed with Dora. She wants to watch it all the time. We have about 10 of them on our DVR. I don’t let her watch Dora all day long, but it’s like a new sense of freedom. I can put on an episode and have 20 minutes to myself! “Dora? Dora?” “Si!”

I’ve been lazy with the pictures lately. I’ll download some and post soon. Wait–I guess I need to take some first…