Disciplining the Dancing Queen

First, we went to Stella's friend Nana's birthday party. It was a "Baby Loves Disco" party at a very hip club/restaurant called Dragon-I (www.dragon-i.com.hk). It was too dark and chaotic for me to take photos, but there was a photographer so Nana's mom will email out photos later. We had a great time. We woke Stella up early to get there at a decent time so it took her a while to get into the groove. They had mats on the floor with toys and a DJ spinning dance tunes. Stella was a little bit zoned-out on the mat trying to figure out where she and her friends were but she sat on her knees and swayed to the music, while looking around. The parents thought it was funny. She had done a lot of dancing and socializing by the time we left. In fact, I don't think she was ready to leave except that it was past dinner time. Nana's cake was very fancy and had all of things she liked on top of it, including a tube of Puffs. It was a big cake, because there were a lot of people there.

We have a very busy week ahead, including lunch at Dragon-I after Panda Junction school on Wednesday with some of Stella's Panda Junction friends. Dan laughed about that. Grandma and Grandpa Dillon arrive Thursday after Gymboree and Thursday coffee. Friday is Stella's birthday. Oh, and Tuesday Stella is getting her hair cut--FINALLY. It's starting to look pretty bad, actually, so we'll head to the LRC to play and go to the salon. We have a little bit of party prep to do for Saturday, but it's no where near as much as I would have to do if it were at our house in LJ.

We are having some problems disciplining Stella. She thinks "no" is funny no matter how harsh our voices get. She likes to grab the baby proofing corners off all of the tables and touch her diaper champ, the grossest thing in the house! We tell her no constantly and use all the tricks in my books about disciplining strong-willed children. But, she does it over and over and over again. Stubborn as hell, she is. She does really get upset if Dan and I both tell her no at the same time. It works though. She used to swipe the food off her placemat and we both told her no pretty harshly. She freaked out and screamed her head off afterward but she's not done it since. That happened today with the plastic corners. We both told her no, twice, and she had a melodramatic meltdown each time. She was very tired and fragile when she went to bed. But, other than that, she was very good today. We met a friend of mine with a 6-month-old baby today. I forgot how little Stella was then. Stella stood next to the baby and held her hand at one point. Stella played with her toys on the floor of the coffee place and was mostly smiles except for when she hit her head on the table toward the end.