A Hit To The Head

When Gilberto got home from work last night, Gabi grabbed his lunch box and hit him squarely on the side of the head. Hard.

It's times like these that she has great aim. When we're at the park tossing a ball, not so much.

I don't know what on earth possessed her to do such a thing, as it was really out of the blue, but off to the time out step she went.

While Gilberto watched her to make sure she didn't get up, I headed to the kitchen to clean up from making dinner and pack Gilberto's lunch for today.

When I was done I sat down at the computer to check email and... okay, I really sat down to try and whittle down my Google Reader. With over 200 unread posts, I had a lot of catching up to do!

After a while I asked Gabi to do something for me.

Gabi: Mommy, does that mean I can get out of time out now?

Huh? Ohhhh.

We had both totally forgotten that she was in a time out. She'd been sitting on that step for well over 20 minutes. Gilberto had the excuse that he'd just been hit in the head! But me, I had nada.

I remember thinking to myself how well behaved she was being while I was on the computer. Anytime I get online or pick up my cell phone, she rushes to attach herself to my body and starts competing for my attention with incessant chatter, so I was really enjoying the harassment free computer time.

The miraculous thing is that she stayed there for so long without saying anything, considering how much she hates it. There is usally quite a bit of protesting involved. This one should go down in our Time Out history.

I've developed quite a good poker face since becoming a mom. Luckily, my surprise, and subsequent guilt, didn't register for Gabi to see.

Me: Yes, Gabi, that means you can get out of time out. I don't want to see you ever hit your daddy again, do you understand?

Gabi: Yes, mommy.

Me: Now please go do what I asked you to. After you give your daddy a hug and tell him you're sorry.

And then I read her an extra story for bedtime.

I think we need to invest in a timer. The kind that dings. Pretty soon I'm going to have to talk into that little hand held recorder thing to remind myself where I parked.