An empty room

 **This blog post is for Emily's future information and (hopefully) entertainment**

Emily had a little experience with creative consequences this week.  After repeatedly ignoring multiple, reasonable requests all day to pick up some things in her room and the items from her room that she dumped in the middle of the bathroom, I decided that Mommy would just have to pick up for her.  After supper I calmly started removing every single toy and book from her entire room and putting it in the attic. The only thing left was a lamp, her water bottle, a box of Kleenex and her CD player.   Emily was in some kind of crazy mood, because she did not question or protest the entire time, but continued to jump on her bed singing Sunday school songs like "Great Big God" at the top of her lungs.  She didn't say anything during bath time either.  It wasn't until it was time to go to bed that she casually asked why I put her toys away.  Then things really hit the fan when she realized all the books were gone, too, so we wouldn't be able to read before bed.  Austin & I calmly did the rest of her bedtime routine, turned on her music and left her bawling/screeching.  She continued this for a full 45 minutes before I went upstairs with a bowl of dry cereal* and told her that we would put her things back and try again tomorrow when she would hopefully make better decisions about listening and obeying when Mommy & Daddy ask her to do something.

*Side note: Part of the problem was that Emily was likely starving at bedtime because she threw a huge fit at supper about homemade chicken nuggets using Shake 'N Bake rather than frozen ones out of the bag.  She protested loudly the entire meal while eating nothing but some grapes and a few bites of plain noodles.  Austin was almost done with the dishes before I issued the final ultimatum (something about going straight to bed and eating it for breakfast) before she finally gave in and took the requisite one bite.

This is a picture of Emily's empty room in the morning.  She is smiling because we're getting ready to put everything back.  At least it was a good excuse to dust everything really well and vacuum up all the dust bunnies in the corners and under the bed!  The whole experience seems to have also left a strong impression on Emily, which was the whole point.  I think John Rosemond would be proud. ;o)