Isaiah inherited Dan's affinity for electronics--anything with buttons on it fascinates him, and we are continuously rescuing the phone, remote controls, and other such items from his fascinated grasp. The one thing that is more intriguing to him than electronics is the cords hooking up the electronic items (laptops, for example). Although our house is pretty sufficiently babyproofed, there is one outlet that is unavoidably exposed and often has two cords hooked up (a lamp and my laptop). Isaiah knows that he is not supposed to touch these, but his curiosity often gets the better of him. Last night we took our first shot at disciplining him so that he would think twice before touching these cords. Both of us would like to avoid spanking and plan to come up with creative, non-violent ways to enforce discipline (so far--ask me again in a year, and I might have an assortment of whips and paddles), but to avoid things like electrocution and getting flattened by cars by running out in the street, we have agreed that immediate physical force enough to make a point is warranted.

So last night Isaiah ventured behind the chair, and as always, we told him (in two languages, no less) to not touch it and come back out. He understood all right, but decided to push his luck. Dan gave him a firm but 'meaningful' slap on his hand, after which Isaiah wanted nothing to do with Dan. Dan, however, started giggling (still not sure why), and it was contagious, for some strange reason. What a disaster. I was trying to comfort Isaiah while repressing my own laughter (thanks, Dan), but at the same time I was thinking, "What does it mean to ISaiah if I comfort him for something that Dan does to him?" Does he think that Dan was just being mean and that he is the victim here? if so, should I wait until he has stopped crying to comfort him to show that I am in agreement with his abuser, er, disciplinarian? That's a lot of moral reasoning for a Sunday night at our place, I'll tell you that much.

Isaiah was certainly not too thrilled with Dan the remainder (30 minutes) of the night, but by this morning, I think he had forgotten all about it. AND he listened to me when I told him not to touch the plug again. :) So maybe it's working. If we can do it without laughing next time we'll be in better shape.