ATT-I-TUDE

Addison has been little Miss Attitude lately and has been testing us every chance she gets. Who knew that a 16-month-old could be clever enough to drive her parents bonkers?! Several weeks ago, she tried to start biting. It then went to head butting, pinching, and now she's on to hair pulling. I am adamant that we are going to nip all of this in the bud before it gets out of control, so she has spent much of her time lately in time-out. I know she's just testing the waters and some of these things she has seen other children do...unfortunately she's even tested out squealing at the top of her lungs like one of the little girls in her preschool class does. I have tried to be as patient as possible, but I admit that somedays I feel defeated. I worry that some of this stems from us talking to her about "the baby in mama's belly." Since my mom is her teacher at school, I have asked that mama also follow through with time-out when she acts out at school. Needless to say, she had to sit in time-out five times yesterday at school for pulling hair. Me oh my! What am I going to do with this hard-headed child? All I know to do is to keep being consistent with time-out and make sure she knows that the behavior is unacceptable. Do I sound like Super Nanny now? And don't get me wrong, she can also be a very sweet, loving child most of the time...we just need to get past this acting out phase. If anyone has any good advice, feel free to share. =) Isn't parenthood so much fun sometimes?