Happy Day

We don't always have to bribe our kids, but sometimes "rewards" work well. At the start of the new quarter, we were trying to think of a way to motivate Gunnar to get his reading done. He reads just fine, he just gets distracted when it comes to taking the tests for the books. We told him that if he was the first one to reach his goal for the quarter, he could get a reward. We talked about what he would want. So, we kind of put a dollar value on the reward. $15 for making it 1st, $10 for making it 2nd, and $5 for making it 3rd. Well, he was a little discouraged because there is one boy in his class that was ahead of him when we made this little deal. That boy also had a higher goal, so we told Gunnar he could still do it. Well, he did make it third. He was tied with a couple other of kids who finished today too, but that works for me! So, Saturday, we'll be off to my most despised store to get his reward - he thinks he wants a new Ben 10 toy.

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Paden had a great day today, too. Until today, he had been crying and crying every time he has to go to the babysitter. He had even most recently started screaming bloody murder when I left him there. It was really hard. I felt bad for the babysitter. Sometimes when I dropped him there it was nap time and of course, he would wake up sleeping babies. He's one of the older kids there, so that doesn't always work for him. Sometimes, he can run in our friend Myles, but not everyday. Anyway, so this morning kind of started, well last night even, started like most others. Paden was crying about having to go to the babysitter's house. I pretty much just ignore him, I usually just say that we aren't discussing it now. So, we get dressed and he stopped thinking about the babysitter's house. I got them to school went to work. When I went back to pick up Paden I always expect the worst. Yesterday when I picked him up, the preschool teacher had said that he had a rough day emotionally. He was kind of sobbing when I picked him up because he didn't want to go to the babysitter. So, today, I expected the same. Amazingly, he was not at all near tears. We went home to have lunch. He had about 5 minutes of computer play time before his chicken nuggets were ready. He and I ate lunch. When he was done, he started to get down and said, "let's go." I asked him where he was going and he said, "Sarah's, remember?" So, I took my last couple of bites and picked up the mess and we got on our way. I was really surprized and did not want to ask any questions that might make him change his mind. He was great on the way over there - told me to go straight to get there faster. Strange, I thought, but I rolled with it. When I opened his door to get him out, he kind of had a little sob, no tears, but started to get red. He was so cute, he said, "I am just going to wave and be sad." I said that it was ok. He walked right in, no crying, no fussing. He was GREAT. I asked him if he was going to give me a kiss before I left. He gave me three because he "missed my lips" the first two times. Silly boy. So, I left. That was such a marvelous day compared to EVERY other time I have dropped him off. I SOOOOOO hope that it's the dawn of a new attitude and behavior for him when it comes to going to the sitter. He's got to get used to it. From mid-march to end of May, he'll be going there every day. An occassional play date may get him out of it here and there. I just really hope he keeps it up. For his reward, he has to make it the rest of this week, then he can pick out something on Saturday too. Last time we "rewarded" him after a half-decent day, he freaked out the next day, so this time he's got to go a couple of more days.

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After a pretty good day for both of those two, I am pretty tired. Amazed that my eyes are still open, I will be ending for tonight. I was almost asleep about 7:30pm, but was engrossed in Clean House. Have you seen that show? Gunnar likes to watch it with me. It's a good show. Luckily, the episode that is now on is a re-run, so I can hit the hay.

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Blogger is being dumb today and does not seem to like putting spaces in between my very lengthy paragraphs! But, HA, I will show it - squiggly lines!!! Take that, Blogger!