Getting into Mischief

Yesterday was not a good day for Dominic as far as getting into "mischief."  In the early morning, before Lauren and the hubby woke up, he knocked a lamp off an end table in the family room.  Luckily, it didn't break, but I gave him a stern talking to.  Since we have been working on Dominic being able to express the correct emotion and also him being able to recognize other people's emotions, I asked throughout the day, "how did Mommy feel about the lamp falling over?"  He said, "mad."  Well, at least we're making a little bit of progress or so I thought.  Later on in the afternoon when Lauren and Dominic were playing with a video game, Dominic started getting frustrated and shoved Lauren more than a few times. He then screamed really loud.  I took him upstairs and sat him down on his bed and told him that what he was doing to Lauren and the screaming was not acceptable. After a little bit, he got the message.  I made him apologize to my husband, Lauren and I since we were all around when he screamed. Things were going okay until the early evening, when we discovered that Dominic had been in the basement awhile by himself and we didn't hear him.  That is usually not a good sign. Well, sure enough, he had used a small screwdriver to totally disassemble one of Lauren's toys that a special friend had given her when she was little. Even though she hadn't played with it for a long time, it still had special meaning to her.  She was pretty upset about it. It was beyond repair, so we had to throw it away.  I told Lauren that I was sorry, but the apology really should have come from Dominic. We brought him upstairs, sat him down on the family room couch and told him what he did wasn't very nice. He apologized, but the hubby said he was acting like he didn't mean it.  We made him apologize a few more times until it became clear he was being sincere.  Later on the evening after I got done doing the dishes, I went out to our garage to throw a bag of trash out.  When I tried to open the door back into the house, I found that Dominic had locked it!  It wasn't too cool, and when he let me back in, I told him that wasn't very funny and to NEVER do that again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It was like five degrees in our garage! Remember that old nursery rhyme of Mother Goose's?

What are little boys made of?

Snips and snails and puppy dog tails,

That's what little boys are made of.

What are little girls made of?

Sugar and spice and everything nice, 

That's what little girls are made of.

I think Dominic was definitely made of "snips and snails and puppy dog tails" yesterday! While he behaves himself most of the time, he definitely still has his moments like a few summers ago when he tossed this bucket of water at me :)  Look at that mischievious expression on his face!!!