Even keel

Went to parents' night at Seth's day care this evening.  Our first open house, it was fun.  It was nice to be around some other parents who have kids Seth's age.  I have a lot of online friends with kids but not many in real life unfortunately.  They had little discussion groups led by the various toddler class leaders and we sat in on the "Positive Discipline" session.  It was really interesting.  I could go on and on but the one thing Mr. Bill said that really stuck with me was "try to keep an even keel."  He said toddlers are often after your attention and they don't discriminate between good and bad attention.  I'm so bad about staying calm when Seth is ... (throwing a piece of pear across the room immediately after I've told him not to / throwing wooden blocks at the tv / using the entertainment center as a jungle gym) .... being naughty.  I'm a reactor.  I react.  Sometimes badly.  I guess my motivation is to avoid that ashamed feeling I get after I totally lose it.  The reality is that MOST of Seth's "bad" behavior, er - frustrating behavior, is completely natural for kids his age, especially boys.  Throwing and climbing are skills that he's proud of.  Mr. Bill said I might have to tell Seth 100 times a day that it's not okay to throw his toy cell phone at my head.  I just have to keep telling him, and try to stay calm in the meantime.  Yikes.  He really is a good kid, though.  ♥ him!