Inspiration from the waitress

If you have never met Kinley let me let you in on a little secret....SHE IS PERSISTENT!!! She can get in trouble for something and I can spat her hand or bottom and she will do it 5 more times at least, literally! When she is tired or hungry, so basically 22 hrs. out of the day, she bites me! I have spanked her a million times for it and we are now trying "time out." I have no clue if a 1 yr. old has any understanding of the concept of time out! When she wants something or is just in a bad mood she will scream, but she can turn it off in an instant! It's like a light switch....scream...happy...scream....happy! So there's your background on my sweet girl. Tonight Matt and I went out to eat. Kinley fell asleep in the car on the way there and I thought oh great she is going to be terrible in Cracker Barrel. So, I went in and they said it would be 15 to 20 mins. I walked back out to the car, very careful to open and close the door softly because Kinley was still asleep in the back seat. Matt and I sat there almost silent for about 10 mins. then got her and went and sat on the rocking chairs outside waiting to hear our name to be called. 35 minutes later and I went and ask the lady if they called our name and she said "oh yeah a LONG time ago, but you probably thought I said Mike party of 3." WHAT???? I just said yeah I guess, so we finally get seated and Kinley gets the honor of sitting my me. She is tired (imagine that) so here starts the biting...but she sinks her teeth into the kids menu and the TABLE! I just let her! After we got food she was eating and things were going pretty good. As we were leaving she starts the screaming thing. Our waitress stops me on the way out and says, "strong willed children are a blessing later on. I know you don't think it now but you will be so glad she is that way later on." Then another waitress chimes in and says, "yes, but I'm sure right now you don't think her will is such a blessing." I guess just from the hour in this busy restaurant the poor waitress had pity on us. Is it that obvious that I'm thinking, "how do I get this kid to stop"? I was thankful for her advice, but a little embarrassed at the same time that she noticed how Kinley acts. I think I will go buy a book on strong willed kids! I don't know if they make them for 1 year olds or not, but hey it's worth a try! I guess my lesson learned tonight was: Enjoy Kinley's strong will because it will pay off when she has to make important decisions later on.