Amanda Cerny babysitting

Amanda tames the beast pt 2

"Conner what are you doing?" Katja demanded worry in her voice she knew that Conner wanted his freedom and she had to admit maybe Amanda was being a little harsh on the number of time outs she had given. This however was a line she knew Conner did not want to cross. True she could always buy a new camera but they weren't exactly cheep.

As All this was taking place Amanda was reflecting on the day's events which had lead up to this point. Maybe she was being a little harsh on Conner. As she went over the events in her head; running away timeout was deserved, riding a scooter in the house perhaps she should have explained why he didn't use a scooter indoors but still the time out was deserved, and then watching TV when told he had lost it for the day. The punishment had again been deserved. What had happened to the sweet little boy she had bonded with? She was so caught up in her thoughts she missed Conner's statement about taking back his house. She was snapped out of her thoughts by two voices screaming.

"Conner no!"
"Wait don't!"

Both cries were fallowed by the sound of a camera colliding with the wall. Amanda had a mixture of emotions running through her. The first was relief that she hadn't recorded anything today and that all her footage was backed up on her computer. Then came anger that Conner would not only threaten to do such a thing but actually fallow through with it. She also felt betrayed and saddened she shook those thoughts from her head the camera could be replaced if it was even broken.

Time stopped suddenly; the silence was deafening. Conner realized, as he studied the hurt, disappointed, and angry look on Amanda's face, that he'd crossed the line. In that instant, he seemed to know what was going to happen, even before Amanda grabbed him by the arm.

Amanda walked her over to a couch while lecturing. "It is not nice to threaten people or destroy there property like that! Especially when you know we are trying to set rules to help teach you self control, and you were told to stay in time out!" Amanda scolded as she sat on the couch. Conner said he didn't care Amanda locked eyes with him. "You need to drop the attitude mister!" She stated sternly as she put Conner over her knee and raised her hand only slightly, to give the first of a series of light slaps that would only sting for a few seconds. Amanda bought her hand down with enough strength that Conner let out a yelp of pain. It only took three smacks for the tears to start. As Amanda landed the fifth and final swat Conner was crying.

Amanda knew the tears were a mixture of knowing he had been wrong and that his bottom stung. Even though it only stung for a few seconds Conner was still crying. Amanda picked him up, and let him bury his head in her chest while sobbing and muttering, "I'm sorry Amanda!"She could tell  Conner never cried tears of hurt. That when he lashed out it was in frustration and remorse. She didn't want Conner to feel overly ashamed and not think about the love she had for him. So, she spoke lightly as Conner cried. "Conner, I love you very much. There is nothing you can do that will make me stop loving you. As naughty as you were just now, I know you can be good."

After Conner stopped crying Amanda just sat there running her figures through his hair. After awhile she looked down to see his eyes were closed she kissed his forehead and gestured for Katja to come over as her friend did she asked her and Sam to finish supper so she wouldn't have to risk waking Conner up. Katja held out her hands saying she had called dibs on "Conner cuddles." Amanda smiled and handed the boy to Katja and went to finish supper with Sam. 

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After dinner they played more board games until Conner stopped "I'm board." Amanda saw him yawn and looking at the clock on the nightstand she noticed it was 7:45 and after praising him for "using his words," she nodded "I can understand," Amanda said as she turned to face him. "We didn't do anything really major today for fun, just sort of played around and stuff, but we'd love to do some big fun things with you. I know you got a new set of markers last week, Your art teacher says you're really good at drawing, and I agree. But, maybe we could try something more advanced," Amanda suggested. Conner said he'd like to learn how to paint. Amanda agreed saying as long as he promised only to paint in the basement it was fine with her.

She put an arm around Conner. "I love it when you tell us things you want to do; we can have so much fun together if we try."

Conner smiled. But, at the same time, he felt miserable. Here was this sitter, showing so much kindness, when his own mother could barely give him the time of day. And then, there was the fact that he had to obey rules under one of the few older people he had to give Alissa, some credit, too, along with others who enforced rules for his own good. And yet, he could do whatever he wanted under the one person who didn't enforce the rules she set.

"Okay buddy bedtime." Amanda said and carried him up to bed. After he was in his pj's and tucked in Amanda did the nightly routine of checking under his bed for monsters. After turning off the lights she kissed him goodnight and headed back down stairs. She and the girls talked for a while and discovered that her camera wasn't broken.

"Okay, so I think the lesson we all learned here is we need to be clear on rules that we set for the little guy." Sam said "and keep a closer eye on him when he's in time out." Katja added "you two forgot one thing, we also need to make sure all our camera's are out of his reach in case he snaps again."  Amanda said smiling and the three girls talked some more and Amanda Vloged for a bit talking about Conner and his behavior. She finished off by saying despite the fact he was a handful at times she still loved him. After that she switched off the camera and the girls went to bed.

The mess that occurred when Conner tore up his pillows and bedding after Amanda left that night looked a lot like the battle raging in his mind. Going to Katja's apartment over The week had been lots of fun. He hadn't had time to really feel bad, he was doing so much now. But, Amanda coming there and making him behave was bringing up those feelings. He could sense Amanda was trying to help him not have them, but it was still a major battle for Conner.