Originally written 04/16/07

Oooooh...Sacrament reverence issues...  Yeah, we've had some of those with little Mr. William allright.  He's gotten a lot better recently, although we do still have occasional problems with him.  I'm not sure if what we've been doing is the best thing, but it seems to be working somewhat at least.  What we do is this: when William starts getting cranky, we offer him a cracker or a piece of popcorn, but we whisper to him that he will only get it if he calms down.  If he calms down, then he gets the treat, if he doesn't calm down, then we take him out into the foyer.  Now here's the deal in the foyer, no matter what the other kids and parents are doing, he is NOT allowed on the floor, or even to do anything besides sit in our lap.  If we can't keep him in our lap, then we walk around holding him and pointing to pictures of Jesus and asking who it is.  If he calms down, then we ask him if he wants to go back into the sacrament room.  If he says yes, then he has to pass the test of walking reverently all the way back holding our hand.  If he fails this test, then its back out to the foyer, where there is no playing or treats.  In the sacrament room he is allowed to play quietly and to get treats as long as he is reverent.  Otherwise its out to the foyer where this is no fun.

     Aaaaahhh...yes, tantrums...we've had, and continue to some degree, to have those as well.  Although, again, not nearly as frequently as before.  Since Jenny and I don't want to spank, and William is hard to hold in time-out, we usually just put him in his bedroom with the lights out and the door closed for at least 2 minutes or so.  (He's a big social guy, so being alone in his room is not his idea of fun.)  Also, when he throws tantrums about food, we do the same thing, take him from the table and put him in is room while the rest of us eat.  We leave his food at his place, and if he says he's hungry, then he's allowed back to his place, but he has to at least eat a little of what was served him before he can have bread or crackers or anything.