the whining

Oh the whining. The incessant whining from a 3 yr old. It's like nails on a chalkboard. I feel like all I do all day is correct whining. Will my efforts ever come back fruitful?

I know by watching other friends with girls that are older, that this is a phase. It will not last forever. She will one day be patient and it will click that all this time whining doesn't work and what you want with your whining is even that much further away as a result.

I had a wonderful friend tell me, "never give into whining, EVER". Those words ring loudly in my head when the whining starts and it is the only thing that gets me through the moment when all I want to do is cave so that I no longer have to hear the offending noise.

This morning she woke at 5 a.m. whining about her books. She needed books. I compromised for the sake of the others in the house at not putting her in time out. Time out is DEVASTATING for little miss Eloise. It's as if the world has ended. It works, just not at 5 a.m. when the rest of the house is peacefully sleeping.

When she woke up this morning I asked her if she was having bad dreams. She said she was having a bad dream about whining. Hmmm...that's funny, so was I. We had a talk about books and that mama was no longer going to get books for her b/c she was whining. She was big enough to get out of bed herself and did not need mama. We'll see if that sinks in.

In the meantime, I'll be here fighting the fight to end whining. I'm hoping for a small respite between Eloise and Lily, or that Lily might just watch what happens to her sister. We'll see.