I decided to allow AJ to have a single coffee creamer a day as a compromise since she was so disappointed about not being allowed to have it any more. I had hoped that this would resolve the issues with her helping herself to a cupful of my creamer. This went over well on the first day. She asked for one yesterday morning so I reminded her that she could have one a day and gave it to her.

Upon arriving home last night she asked for another one. I reminded her again that she was allowed one a day and she had chosen to have it in the morning. She wasn’t happy about it but seemed to accept it.

Right before bed AJ was drinking milk in her Strawberry Shortcake cup. I told her to put it in the fridge because it was time for bed. She asked if she could have it with her medicine in the morning and I agreed.

As I was putting the lunches away after she was in bed, I noticed that my creamer was not where I had put it (all the way in the back on the top shelf to try to keep it out of easy sight.) It was on the front of the shelf and it appeared as though more was gone than should have been. I did not want to believe that she had gotten more, but decided to check what was in the Strawberry Shortcake cup. I took a sip and confirmed that it was creamer. So now I was faced with what to do about her decision to disobey the rules.

I set the cup in the back of the fridge and decided that she would no longer be allowed to have the daily creamer and that I could no longer trust her to get things out of the fridge on her own.

When I woke her this morning she asked for her Strawberry Shortcake cup. I took the opportunity to let her know that I had discovered the creamer and told her the consequences. She would not let go of her desire to have the creamer and kept insisting on having it. I reaffirmed my decision that she would not be allowed to drink it.

We continued with the morning routine. Shortly before we were going to leave, I opened the fridge to get the lunch boxes out and noticed that the Strawberry Shortcake cup was not where I left it. I picked it up to realize that she had drank about half of what had been left from the night before.

So now I am faced with the reality that this may be an ongoing battle. I often remove things from reach in order to resolve issues where I am frustrated by repeated behaviors that don’t seem to be resolved by discussions and reminders. But I don’t have a way to remove the creamer from her reach. The thought of putting a lock on the refrigerator has occurred to be, but don’t think that is the right answer.

I would love to know your thoughts.