Saying 'No'

When he does things like that...

and then looks like this....

How do I say 'No'???

Discipline is something that Sean and I are starting to discuss and figure out. Sean is the type who can look Aiden in the eye and say "NO" and Aiden takes him completely seriously and just stops. Me on the other hand, because I'm the one who is responsible for entertaining him 90% of the time, have to find a different method. When I look at Aiden and say no he smiles coyly and keeps on going. Maybe it's because I don't have the imposing physical presence Sean does, or maybe it's just hard to take mom seriously when she was busy pretending to be a puppy a minute ago. I don't know. What I find works for me is just talking him through it. I'm always saying things like "Aiden we can't stand on the chair because we might fall off and hurt ourselves" and I'm not sure if he understands me or just gets so bored by my mini lectures but, either way, he usually stops.

The problem we're running into is figuring out what Aiden can and cannot understand. He understands that we don't stand on chairs, it's pretty simple and a matter of safety. However, he might not understand that he shouldn't throw food off his high chair, because sometimes he's trying to say "I am full people why won't you stop shoving food at me already???" and has no other way to say it, and sometimes he just likes to see that vein in Mommy's forehead. It's these situations that make the whole discipline issue so sticky. Sean usually assumes that Aiden knows what we're talking about, while I have to stop and question if it's just our difficulty in understanding him that leads him to do things that drive us nuts.

In the past couple of months he's become so coordinated and strong and curious, but he still can't communicate that well. He wants his independance but doesn't always see the bourdaries we set. Sean and I just try to stick together and be as clear as possible, while paying attention to what he's trying to tell us, even when we feel like we need a baby Rosetta Stone.