"Naw-nee Corner"

I got put in the Naughty Corner tonight. No, this isn't a "special perk" of my marriage: it's where bad boys and girls go to reform.

I figure this form of "punishment" is working since we've been sticking The Boy Kid on the stairs for 6 months now when he's done something naughty. The People Who Know Everything About Raising Toddlers suggest leaving them in time-out for as many minutes as they are years old. Thus, The Boy Kid, age 2, should be put in time-out for two minutes. That's laughable. The People Who Know Everything obviously don't know my kid. But I digress: while he lets himself out of time-out whenever he pleases, the punishment is working and this is how I know:

The Boy Kid loves his baths. It's near impossible to get him out of the bath once he's immersed in bubbles and toys, and frankly, who can blame him. Needless to say, watching my kid in the tub isn't the most exciting portion of my evening, plus it's Sunday and I have 10 other motherly tasks awaiting me outside the bathroom. As we do every night at bathnight, I pulled the plug and he knows that when that water's gone, his time is done. This sent The Boy Kid into fits, to which he told me I needed to go to the "Nawnee Corner".

The last time I was sent to reform, I was folding laundry. He's quite the little helper and wants to do everything mommy and daddy are doing, so I always give him a basket with unfolded clothes and let him "fold" his own pile. On this particular day, I was finished folding the monster load and reached into "his" basket. Let me mention that when he unfolds my folded laundy, he gets in BIG trouble. Nothing is more annoying than having to fold laundry twice, especially when folding laundry is one of God's worst earthly tasks. Apparently, The Boy Kid also hates it when I mess with his "folded laundry". This led to my first trip to the "nawnee corner". He took me by the hand and put me on the stairs. So I sat there, and wondered how long he was going to keep me in exile. After about a minute, I asked, under the crack of the door (just like he does), "can I come out now" and he opened the door and said "now say you're sorry".

So I know we hit success with the naughty corner for the time being. But I also got a taste of what it's like on the other side of that door. I missed the little fella, even if it was just for a minute.