My little niche

We're enforcing a new rule in the house: If you're whining, go in the other room.

When Amelia starts whining, either Tom or I will say, "You're whining, go in the other room."  She runs out of the room. In a minute, we hear, "But I don't want to be in the other room!"  Our response: "Stop whining."

She does.

Dude.

The last week has been better for whining because a) it's not right in our faces and b) it's slowly extinguishing the behavior. We had previously told her to stop whining, but she didn't get enough negative reinforcement. Removing her from the fun of the moment is really working. :)

The little cold that Amelia had late last week has been passed to Katie. Katie passed it to me. I'm just feeling a little run down with a rough throat. Katie's running a fever, drooling and snotting like a crazed person, and she has a very rough cough. If she's still running a fever tomorrow (day 3), I'll take her to the doctor. Me, I'll linger for a couple of weeks and end up with a sinus infection.

Mom's still in the hospital. She's spending her nights crying and her days bemoaning the lack of good care she's getting. (The care is fine. She just doesn't want to be there.) I'm calling her twice a day because she needs to hear I love her, but oh my goodness would the whining please stop?

Amelia is grumpy that Katie needs to be cuddled so much. Katie's grumpy because she hurts. Mom is just needing more than anyone can give her.

What do I need? A week long vacation away from everyone but Tom. However, that's not happening any time soon.