Time Out

Amelia continues to bite & scratch from time to time. She hadn't done it in a while so I thought we were in the clear, but the other day she did it again and I put her in her crib for a "timeout". I was hesitant to do it because I didn't want her to have bad associations with her crib since she is such a good sleeper at naptime and bedtime but I didn't know what else to do. She fussed for a couple of minutes and then played. After a few minutes I went in and got her out and there was no more biting or scratching.

Tonight when I got home from work the house was really quiet and I asked where Amelia was. It turns out that she had been put in timeout just a few minutes earlier for scratching. She had fussed at first and then was fine. She heard me asking about her and squealed and I went and got her out and she was her happy self. Daddy, though, was feeling really guilty about it, and she wasn't helping by kind of ignoring him. I assured him he had done the right thing because, as he pointed out, she needed some time to re-set and unwind. Throughout the evening he made a few other comments so I know it was still bothering him and he was relieved to learn that other people put their kids in timeout at younger ages than Amelia is now. (I think it's kind of cute how bothered he feels about it - poor Daddy!)