Warm and lazy at the parsonage lately. (Are those pictures always that crooked?!)
Essie showing off her “Nice Moves”.
Ephraim making the rounds.
And working on “the sit” which he has gotten pretty good at this week you can almost leave him for more than 3 minutes without a face splat or the Nestea Plunge.
The big girls have a few shows they like watching right now. I put one or two on in the aternoons after nap time. Right now they’re fans of Country Mouse and City Mouse. I like this one too since the mice travel around the world solving mysteries. Fun and educational! So for snack time I made these mice, not as cute as these but no one seemed to care.
Then, last weekend we had a bad day. A very bad day.
So I created a Naughty Ticket system. I picked two issues the big girls need to work on. Two that were driving me to fits, Fussing when told “No” or when told to do something and Fighting with each other. The list could go on but I thought it best to start small. Fussing and Fighting will lose you a ticket. You lose 3 there will be no show that day for you. You lose 3 after show time, you’re going to bed early.
It’s working pretty well. But I’m close to having to go ahead and add some more “No Nos” and more tickets to the list. It’s getting to be a “long Summer” with all the stubbornness and fits around here!!
But sometimes they still make me smile.
How’s the Summer going at your house?
Ahhhh….John Rosemond’s ticket system is alive and well around here, too! These can be hard days, for sure!
My second born is the biggest fusser and whiner. The drama would be funny (collapsing on the floor in helpless, hopeless convulsions when I ask him to pick up ONE TOY) if it didn’t happen so often.
Part of the problem is he really does get stressed, in a little boy way, when he sees dozens of duplo and no end in sight. You really have to spell it out at first until he gets going: “Take your hand, pick up that yellow block. Put it in the bin.” After 6 or seven of those, he starts competing with his brother to “win.”
We had a star system last Fall that really worked well. Each week I expected more of the same 6-7 chores. First week, no complaining/whining, second week, only one reminder from mom, third week, had to complete the chores with no reminder. Fifty stars earned an ice cream cone with dad (not sure how I ended up with the work and dad got the ice cream…) The then-two year old’s version of this had a heavy emphasis on going potty/not having accidents, and I skipped the no reminder step for him.
I can’t remember why we stopped doing that.
Brianne, John Rosemond is giving me a lot of great advice right now!
Katy, that’s sounds like my Clara always inexplicably and suddenly too tired to do anything so hard as to pick up what she just dropped on the floor. And it’s very true how much step by step instruction littles need to get a job done…very step by step.
It’s good to hear how other Mamas deal with their unruly hordes!
a new ballerina on the rise…