What Do I Do With This Child?

When I was pregnant I would exclaim that I was going to have a well-behaved child. My child was NOT going to be one of those kids that had no discipline. I read parenting books. I watched some Super Nanny. I was equipped.

I was a fool!

If you are a mother then you will know what I'm talking about, and if you aren't, you will one day see that you can't teach discipline until you know your child. There is no one size fits all when it comes to disciplining children.

Jack is not a handful, he is two handfuls. That sweet precious angel face is really a little tornado. He's quick. He gets into one thing and while you are cleaning that up he is getting into something else. He rarely plays with his toys but instead does all the things he isn't suppose to do like he is doing a circuit.

I'm that helicopter mom that I never wanted to be but it's because that dang child has no fear. He is two and loves doing flips on the couch and getting on the back of the recliner and making it fall backwards. Oh and he also loves to climb. I pray this child doesn't get a broken bone. When he isn't getting into something, he is putting something in his mouth. Yesterday he pulled a metal piece that keeps the shelf in place out of the entertainment center and was walking around with it in his mouth. He did that while I literally ran to the bathroom. Luckily we can say "thank you" and he'll give you what is in his mouth.

Here are some pictures of Jack in action:

Here he is climbing on top of the dining room table. I left the room to throw the clothes in the dryer. The laundry room is ten feet from where he was sitting at the table eating a snack.

All the other kids were eating their food so nicely and then there is Jack.

Oh here he is climbing again. This time he was focused on getting to that Dr. Pepper.

Jack decided it would be a good idea to rearrange the bills in the desk. 

The presents have been all opened so the hell with the tree says Jack.

One of Jack's favorites is waking up in the middle of the night to party with mama.

I gave my nephew a piece of cheese and Jack took it and did this piece of art work. 

Even when I am sitting in the room with him, he still doesn't let up. For example, he knows he is not suppose to hit the television. Last night he took his truck and hit the tv while looking at me smiling. i took the truck, got down on his level and told him (for the millionth time) that we don't hit the tv. He did it again using another toy. I put him in time out for 2 minutes. He did it again as soon as he could get up. The whole time he is doing it he is looking at me smiling. I put him in his crib with no tv on. I went and got him after 5 minutes and sure enough he did it again, still smiling at me. I tried to distract him but all he did was worm away to do it again. 

This is seriously what I deal with. He is the definition of a strong-willed child. I'm in the process of reading books and doing research on discipline for a strong-willed child. For Jack, doing what he has set his mind to do is greater than any punishment. Even when he does stop one behavior that I've disciplined him for, he just goes to the next thing he isn't suppose to do. The whole time he is doing what he isn't suppose to do he looks around the room for someone to get up and do something about it. 

Do you have a strong willed child or know one? What are some of their characteristics?