John's First (self-imposed) Timeout

I was late this morning. Not that running late in itself is unusual for my crew and me but this morning it was all my fault. Yes, I know that most of the time it is technically my fault but only because i have forgotten something for the kids. This morning was not that kind of late. I called my Grandmother. I probably could have waited but better to do things when they cross my mind. If i wait it will be another week before i get to it. So after some good conversation i started Ella's preschool. Only an hour late. :) While we are working John is going crazy. If it isn't a pencil ticking him off, he and Jack are fighting over one green chair when there are two sitting there. I have no idea what all the screaming was about since the issues kept changing. Maybe it is just time for this "stage". Utter frustration because he can only partially communicate and can't quite do everything he wants just yet so he gets mad. He has no patience and after about 20 minutes of him not knowing what he wanted and screaming about it my patience had run out too. I try to ration my patience through the day. Finally, as he was standing in front of me crying i just told him the same thing i tell the other two. "If you don't settle down you are going to time out. That is your warning". In my head i am thinking that it is a good time to start him in timeout. Realistically, i am putting myself in a big hole. Trying to get a one year old to stay in a corner while working with Ella. What was i saying??? I can't not follow through now. Apparently John knew just what i was saying. He began to push a little chair across the floor. I am thinking he is pushing it to the living room which is fine as long as the screaming stopped. Wait, no not in the direction of the living room but the timeout corner. Maybe he was going to stand up in the chair and look out the window. No, he is sitting down, facing the wall and crying! Did my son just take himself to timeout and stay??Why yes he did. Is this awesome or foreshadowing that maybe timeout isn't really a good discipline for him? He stayed over a minute. Actually, he stayed until i told him to get up. Then i gave him a stern talking to and told him to say he was sorry. He said something and off he went. I am very pleased with myself. My one year old knows that what i say is what i mean and i have been consistent enough with the older two he already knows what to do! I thought i was going soft since there are some many of them to keep up with. I guess they don't see it that way. Patting myself on the back for being a consistent dictator. :) Did timeout work for John? The long lasting effects of consistent timeouts is yet to be seen but for this instance (even though he put himself in the corner) it was a success. No screaming since. Probably doesn't help we took away his pacifier. He is to old for it now. We were going to ween but it looks more like we are going cold turkey. Maybe his moodiness is the withdrawals. I am loving every minute of them growing up!