Time-Out!

I have had it up to here (I am indicating with my hand all the way up to my neck) with Rudyard's insatiable desire to dig into the couch and tear it apart.

Sam and I took off the legs of the couch so he couldn't crawl under it and make a mess. But the couch is old and has holes under the pillows on top, so Rudyard just squeezes through and makes a mess anyway.

It's actually worse with the legs off because to get at him, you have to lift up the couch. It's a bother with two people, it's extremely hard with one person. You have to make sure the couch doesn't fall on any critter's curious head. Yesterday, Church got to snooping and I was in such a bind I had to kick her away. She was so upset, and I felt so bad, but I thought, "Better than your head being crushed like a melon."

Anyway, next paycheck I'm buying and enormous sheet of muslin or something and creating a cover-up for the couch. This whole thing is ridiculous and too dangerous. I'm always so scared he's going to go in there and eat a piece of fluff and then die like Edgar. It makes me want to cry sometimes. That was such a terrible week.

In the meantime, until that whole plan works out, Rudyard is experiencing the harsh realities of Time-Out. I've only done it twice today, because he jumped in the couch twice already, and it seems to cause him the utmost misery. It's like putting an ADHD kid in time-out. They can't stand it. All they wanna do is move; all Rudyard wants to do is play.

It's pretty tough. He looks at me with those pathetic eyes, and he just doesn't understand.
"Why," he is asking me, "why are you doing this to me? Don't you love me? Don't you want to play with me?"

And I say, "Of course, baby, of course I love you. But you have to learn a lesson. You can't go into the couch."

"But I like the couch."

"I know baby, I know. But you can't go in there."

"Why?"

"You just can't."

Because hell never understand how dangerous it is for him. For him to be in there, for me to be able to pull him out. It's not within his capacity to understand.

I wonder if I am amplifying the problem by giving him a voice. Do other people have this issue?