Wake Up Call

As I lay in the bed slowly waking up, I hear Logan "talking." This is usually a great morning because usually he just cries, and is ready to get out of that crib! However, days like today come few and far between as my little man was just cooing, calling out Mama, ba-ba, and laughing. When Luk was this age, I would give him about twenty minutes to a half hour to just chill in the morning and play. He was an early riser, and this helped me get focused on the day ahead. Luk, now, will sleep as late as Logan will let him, which is usually 8:00ish. Unfortunately, my four year old didn't think that Logan's talking was enough to get my attention. So... the sweet sounds of Logan's chit chat turns into hearing Luk saying "cry, cry, cry, cry, cry, cry, cry!" Do you get the picture?

Inside Head thought:

Shocked, maybe. He was going to some great length to make him cry in my book.

Sure enough the water works descended, which for Logan Tender-Heart is not very hard to do. He is 100% Momma's boy, and he is ultra sensitive. Example- loud noises (vacuum, sirens, etc) tears start flowing. I leave the room, or try to hand him over to dad; tears. So, is the beauty of Logan's heart. With the chanting of "CRY!" from Luk, I enter the room. Luk immediately silenced. He knew he was in for it.

Dialogue between me and Mister Let's make my brother scream:
M: L, why were you screaming, "CRY!"
L: Because... (looks away as if ready to lie)
M: You know that if you lie to me you will get into more trouble than if you tell me the truth?
L: Yes, Mama. I'm going to tell the truth.
M: Okay.
L: Well (this is he catch phrase at the moment), I wanted him to cry so that I could get up and play.
**side note** Luk knows that in the mornings once Logan is awake, he can play with Logan and his toys.
M: You know you are allowed to get up and play once Logan is awake, so why are you doing that?
L: Well, I don't know.
M: Logan is your brother. You are to love your brother, and you making him cry and yelling at him is unacceptable. I am upset that you were doing that to make your brother cry. God did make you to be ugly and mean to your brother and to others. I want you to repeat after me: "I will not say mean things." I want you to say that three times.
L: "I will not say mean things. I will not say mean things. I will not say mean things."

Surprisingly, Logan stayed quiet and just watched. Luk later yelled something to me, and quickly said, "I will not yell. I will not yell. I will not yell."

We are starting the day off pretty good. I hate to yell at Luk, and it seems that it happens everyday at some point. Logan is attached to me. If I try to put him down to laundry or anything he will literally cry and following me pulling my pants. In addition to that, Luk is asking redundant questions after he has gotten the answer "no." So, I decided I needed a change in action, and it has worked today. We will see how it goes. I know that everyday will not be like this, I know that I will have to practice self-control when it comes to raising my voice, but I am happy to see that Luk is getting it.

As he begin his segment of ask mom the same question over and over again. I said to him, "Luk are you obeying and listening?" He said, "No. I will be a good listener. I will be a good listener. I will be a good listener."  It is nice that without prompt he knew that I was going to say something about it. He is practicing his self-control, which has led to a pleasant morning. Thanks to Tristan for posting on "Taking Emotion Out of Discipline" over at Our Busy Homeschool, she reminded me that I wanted to implement some of these things after reading Duggar House Guidelines.