Buttons and Buttons...

Mr. Manipulation visited this morning. I have to admit I was not so very cool about that. Missy dressed herself perfectly fine yesterday and this morning she "could not" button up that same dress. She wanted someone else to do her buttons.

Sometimes it's hard when to know when a child is trying to control me and other times it is quite clear what the game is about. This morning I would say it was VERY clear what was up. There's something about that smirk...

Somewhere along the way I have figured out that letting these kiddos have that kind of control is in the end very unsettling to them. It makes them feel insecure and they go into hyper vigilant mode seeking every opportunity to control their world rather than enjoying life.That's a theory I am kind of going with at the moment. Feel free to disagree and point out why that is not so. I'm all for learning.

I waited patiently for awhile and then reminded her to get with it because breakfast would be over soon. Another LONG wait and Missy had accomplished nothing.

I told her to please wear a different outfit - a T shirt and pants would do just fine for her occupational therapy class, but of course she wanted to wear the dress with all those buttons. I waited some more.

You could say this is where patience took her leave.  I bodily took the dress off Missy and gave her the T shirt and pants. She started screaming because her little plan wasn't working out as she intended. I was so not into screaming. Steve had to take over.

For the next hour or so, she sat in time-out doing and redoing all the buttons and wonder of wonders she "found out" what I knew all along. She is quite capable of buttoning that dress, but she still had to wear the T shirt and pants.