Our Love and Logic Story

One of the first questions people often ask me about Love and Logic is how I heard about it. Well, My oldest (Cole) had just turned one and the parenting questions I had went from things like "is this rash okay?" and "what should his sleep schedule be?" to "why is he acting like that?" and "why does he keep SCREAMING?" And I found at the age of one is when behavioral issues really start to try any parenting skills I thought I had. So I began to look for books with advice on one-year-olds...and didn't find anything! There were plenty of books to help you get thru that first year, and lots of books for the "terrible" twos and beyond but nothing for what I needed.
Then my girlfriend Ashlee, who has a son one month older than Cole, was told about Love and Logic. I think we found the book at the library? And after I read it I was hooked. My first purchase was the Early Childhood Package from the Love and Logic institute. I listened to all the CD's and really started applying the principles little by little. The funny thing is that when I was listening to the tapes I was so excited to share them with my husband (Clint) and the best way I could find to describe the basic principle was "it's just so LOGICAL!"
After a few of us Mom's had all gotten into it and were discussing it more and more I thought it might be beneficial to see when a speaker was coming to town or what it would cost to schedule a speaker. So I called Love and Logic...talked with a real person...and after discussing costs of speakers they suggested that I just become an Early Childhood Facilitator and teach the classes myself. That was a no-brainer decision and one of my best ever.
Once I started teaching the class I began to see even more of a positive impact in our home. Not only was my son happier but for me parenting was all of a sudden easier and I had an immense amount of energy!!! I think Clint saw the most change in me...now when he walked in the door at the end of the day his wife was full of energy and ready to spend quality time with him instead of totally exausted saying "it's your turn." (by the way, I should mention that at this time is also when I had my second son, Masen). I had so much extra energy that when he went out of town for 4 days I cleaned and organized my sister's house and my own, painted/redecorated our bedroom and purged the boys toys (all with a 3 month old and an almost 2 year old). And I was happy to do it!
Since starting to facilitate the class I've invested in all the CD's and DVD's available. I try and listen to at least one a week to keep me on top of things. When I see Cole starting to get a little out of hand I put one of those on and even though it doesn't seem like I'm making a drastic change he gets back in line. All the media they have is great and all covers the same basic principles from as many different directions you can think of.
So that's it for now...I've got an entry about the great day we had on Tuesday but the munchkins are awake now so it'll have to wait till later!!!