Lessons Learned--Still In Progress

Well, Abigail is almost 17 months old. She has started to say quite a few words--Daddy, Mommy, Aubrey, Puppy, Diaper, Poopy, Keys, Hi, Bye-bye, Airplane, Papa, Mama, Belly Button, and Eyes are the majority. She hasn't learned the word NO yet--which I think I am glad for but for her sake she should learn it quickly to get her point across to her older sister. You see Aubrey will push Abigail's buttons (just like any other big sister) and Abigail hasn't learned how to tell her to back off with words. Abigail will squeal which is definitely her way of saying NO! It is now up to Aubrey to learn that when she squeals it means BACK OFF! We have been pointing that out to Aubrey over and over again. She is "getting it" most of the time and will then leave Abigail alone but there are those times that Aubrey doesn't.

Unfortunately, in those times and when Abigail doesn't get something she is wanting she has started to hit the other person involved and that is definitely something that we don't want to get out of hand. So, the other day Aubrey was bugging Abigail when the "squeal" was let out. Aubrey ignored Abigail's communication attempt and then Abigail hit her. It was at that point that Aubrey was put in time out for not listening to Abigail but Abigail also experienced time out for the first time for hitting. (I always ask myself if they understand time out at this young age but I thought we would give it a try.) As you can see in the picture below Abigail wasn't too upset that she was being held in the same place for one minute.
But she quickly changed her tune when she realized she was in trouble.
Abigail has gotten much better at not hitting and Aubrey is starting to back away from the squealing little girl much quicker. There is still a lot of work to be done but I guess you always have to start somewhere. Discipline is the hardest thing--consistency is the key (which I am not real good at). My goal is to keep my sweet little girls somewhat sweet!