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So my just-turned-three-year-old, to put it mildly (very mildly), is a stinker. I now fully understand the reason some people just stop at one, because there's never any bickering, sibling rivalry or contention until you add another. My house was so quiet before, and I didn't even know it. There's that hindsight again.

Ryah will relentlessly torture her older sister. At any given moment, you'll hear Peri sobbing and Ryah laughing at her. It's horrible. Ryah will take toys from Peri, while Peri chases after her yelling, "Give it back, Ryah! Give it back!" And there's Ryah, happily running away and just giggling. Peri hates loud sounds (which is Ryah in a nutshell) and at night, Ryah will scream at the top of her lungs, while Peri cries for her to stop, then Ryah will let out a hearty laugh and do it again. Seriously, she's a stinker. I have to roll my eyes when people say how cute she is. It's all for show. :oP

She's also a discipline problem, as I haven't yet figured out anything that works. She's the child that laughs while you punish her. She'll sit in timeout, but as soon as she's done her time, she's out and doing whatever it is again, that got her in there in the first place. I thought I would be doomed to wait until she's old enough to have things she cares about taken away.

And then she turned three.

So for Ryah's birthday (which was April 7th), we decided to take her to Red Robin for dinner [Image]then come home for cake and presents. We thought it would be fun to have the staff sing to her at dinner (plus we had to suffer it so many times, we thought everyone else should have to listen to the song again). They brought over the obligatory birthday balloon ears and she seemed kind of confused. Then they started singing.

Ryah put her head down and started shaking it. Then she looked up, slapped her hand to her face and continued shaking her head. She was embarrassed!! I had never seen that before! My three-year-old was being pubicly humiliated and I couldn't help but laugh. So that's it! All I have to do is take her to a public place and start singing Happy Birthday to her. When they were done, she was beat red. Of course, when we got home, we just had to sing again for her candles. And it happened again! Classic.

So there you have it, if you have a child, who doesn't respond to discipline, they may just need a loving dose of public humiliation. Apparently, it works! And it makes for great photos. Mwahahahahahaha. :o)

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Written by Holly for The Mama Dramalogues