Time Out

See this face?

Yeah, he's pretty cute (I'm not biased or anything), but he's also your typical mischievous, somewhat rebellious toddler.  Colton is certainly developing his own personality, complete with 2-year old tantrums, frequent uses of "no," and other mayhem.

On one particularly challenging afternoon (I can't remember exactly what he was doing), I had to use the classic parent threat: "if you don't stop, you're going to your room."  Luckily he stopped because I realized we had a major issue.  You see, Colton has been having issues with his room lately.  Plus, I want his room to be his own happy place, and if we turn it into a punishment place, then that pretty much defeats that intention.

So, I realized I needed a Plan B...and that's when I remembered the idea of a Time Out Chair. 

The idea is pretty self-explanatory, but basically the chair would reside in our living room (where most of Colton's mischief making takes place...he's usually pretty well entertained when in the playroom, outside, his room, etc) and would be a place that he could be removed to just to stop the problem behavior, let him know it was wrong/not going to be tolerated, and redirect him.  

So, I needed a chair.  And luckily I found one at Habitat for Humanity's reStore...it was $9, but then unexpectedly everything was half off that day, so I got it for $4.50 (I was so excited especially since I had considered getting one off of Craigslist for $20 that morning...I love a good bargain!).  Levi and I took the chair home and gave it a couple coats of spray paint (the color is Lagoon).

But then it was time for the fun part...jazzing up my chair.  I had seen several with different quotes on them, and liked the idea, but wanted my own quote.  So, Colton's says "I'll always love you no matter what, but you need a time out until you are out of your rut."  To get the quote on to the chair, I printed it out (using the font Hurry Up, how apropos), taped it down to the chair, and traced over it with a pen to leave slight indentation lines on the chair.  It sounds really time consuming, but the whole process probably only took about 30 minutes or so (although I had to take a couple of breaks for crampy hands and/or squirmy newborn).

Once that was done, I brought out some paint pens to trace over the indentation lines and fill in the letters.  With that done, I decided to add a little more pizzazz to the chair in the form of polka dots and adding "I'd Rather be Playing" on the back (after all, that is the part, that will face out).  Finally, I hot glued a timer on to the chair to use when Colton gets a bit older and can understand the concept of sitting for a certain amount of time.  

And now you ready for the final product?

And a little close up action:

I was trying to walk the fine line between the chair being cute, but not too fun (it is a time out chair after all!), but not overly sinister.  Luckily, we haven't had to use it yet, but I'm sure it will get it will see Colton's cute little tush soon enough!