Self Discipline

Outside of the door leading to our parking garage is a wooden door stop.  Babykins is obsessed with it.  Every time we walk out of the door, Babykins makes a beeline for the door stop.  We don't let her take it with us, and she refuses to put it down, which leads to an extremely long stand off every time we try to walk to the car.

To help nip the problem in the bud, Hubbykins and I started going out the door first, putting a foot on the door stop, and saying, "Leave it.  No touch."  Babykins would come over, look at the door stop under our feet, then turn and walk toward the garage.

Last week, as Babykins and I were walking back to the apartment to the car, I saw Babykins spot the door stop.  She stopped and stared for a minute, then changed direction and walked toward it.  I held my breath, waiting to see what she would do.

Babykins walked right up to the door stop, looked down at it, pointed her little finger, and gave a stern, "No."  She said, "No" twice more, placed her foot firmly on the door stop for a minute, then turned and walked to the door.

Since then, she's glanced at the door stop ocassionally as we walk by, but has never again picked it up.  That's what I call self discipline.