I've found my motivator for the summer. We call it Exceptional Behavior. As in, "if you exhibit exceptional behavior this week, we'll do X,Y, or Z." Last week, exceptional behavior bought them a ticket to see Toy Story 3 (our review, 4 stars but don't bother paying extra for 3D). Jay was working alot and out of town for the weekend and I was desperate for some basic cooperation. And, to my faint surprise, it worked. All I had to do was say, "well, OK...." and whatever monkey business was going on magically stopped.
Some days are better than others. One day this week I grounded Henry from playing with friends because he needed to work on getting along better with his siblings. And, again, surprisingly it seemed to work. The kids all spent the afternoon together and got along for the most part.
Exceptional behavior over the next few days will get them a copy of a new Wii game, Lego Harry Potter, that is being released on Tuesday. The kids are actually pretty good about not asking me to buy them game after game after game. We saw the game advertised and the boys began devising ways to earn extra money before the release date so that they could get it. So I told them that Exceptional Behavior, including doing extra jobs around the house without complaining, would earn them a new game. So far, so good.
If you are thinking Motivation = Bribe, I don't disagree. I'm falling into the "Whatever Works" camp on this one. Call it a bribe if you want. If it gets me a few extra days of Exceptional Behavior, it's well worth it to me.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Celebrating Dad
Celebrating dad is easy in our house because my kids have an amazing father. He loves them and cares for them and provides for them and spends as much time as he can with them. I couldn't ask for a better father for my children.
Unfortunately Jay was out of town this weekend so Father's Day didn't start out with much more than me rushing around, trying to get everyone ready for church. The Primary children sang some cute Father's Day songs in Sacrament Meeting, although Henry tried to weasel his way out of singing, saying, "but we don't have a Dad here to sing to." Nice try, Smarty-Pants.
Luckily Jay was able to fly home this morning and arrived shortly after we got back from church. The kids were eager for him to check out their cards and his gifts.
We picked out yummy cupcakes for him at Temptations, a fun new cupcake bakery in Logan. The kids all got to pick one for themselves and we got Jay his favorite, Red Velvet. Yummy!
Unfortunately Jay was out of town this weekend so Father's Day didn't start out with much more than me rushing around, trying to get everyone ready for church. The Primary children sang some cute Father's Day songs in Sacrament Meeting, although Henry tried to weasel his way out of singing, saying, "but we don't have a Dad here to sing to." Nice try, Smarty-Pants.
Luckily Jay was able to fly home this morning and arrived shortly after we got back from church. The kids were eager for him to check out their cards and his gifts.
We picked out yummy cupcakes for him at Temptations, a fun new cupcake bakery in Logan. The kids all got to pick one for themselves and we got Jay his favorite, Red Velvet. Yummy!
Jay has been wanting a deep fryer for ages so we went all out for this one. The pictures on the box show all kinds of deep-fried foods that got the kids all excited. I'm personally hoping for some beignets, drowned in powdered sugar.
Right now Jay is indulging in a Sunday afternoon nap, trying to catch up on a bit of sleep from his weekend in LA. It's a good thing, because I have it on good authority that a certain little girl has a full afternoon of princess/castle/Polly Pockets playing all planned out. Happy Father's Day, indeed!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
The Upside of Literacy
I felt a bit guilty about blogging about how annoying it is sometimes to have our newest reader (William) literally reading everything as we drive along in the car. We are proud of him and happy to have him reading. He loves it and is good at it. But I have to say, this is the best part of having your older children learn how to read:
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Amphibious
We're not a water-loving family. We don't swim a lot. It's fine but it's just not our thing. Part of it stems from the fact that I'm a very left-brained, organized, routine loving person. When I have napping children, no one messes with my napping routine. This cuts into swim time, obviously, especially considering the fact that I'm also a big "go to bed early" mom, even in the summer and especially when the kids are young. I don't care if the sun is out until past 9 pm, my preschoolers and younger children are in bed by 8:00. Again, that cuts into water time for sure, especially combined with naptime.
But we're past that. We don't have any more nappers and the kids are better able to handle changes in their routine. Well, the boys are; Tessa still falls apart when she is later than 8 pm getting to bed. But still, I have resolved to get to the pool more this summer and so we have therefore started swim lessons.
It's going OK. I'm not sure Tessa is learning much of anything but she is having fun and that's just fine for a 4 year old. William doesn't love it but he doesn't cry (much) and says he has fun after every lesson. I don't know that he's learning that much either but he's getting more comfortable in the water so I kind of feel like it's a victory. Henry had Cub Scout Day Camp on Monday so he doesn't start his lessons until next week. He is not looking forward to it but I expect him to at least try. I don't even care if he can swim that much; I just want him to be more comfortable in the water.
Here are a few pictures:
Tessa floating on her back with one of her teachers:
William doing the same; he really really doesn't like floating on his back:
William kicking around the pool. He's OK as long as he's not on his back:
Tessa waiting on the little platform that they have for the smaller kids. It keeps their heads above the water, since all of these kids would be having trouble even in the 3 feet depth:
But we're past that. We don't have any more nappers and the kids are better able to handle changes in their routine. Well, the boys are; Tessa still falls apart when she is later than 8 pm getting to bed. But still, I have resolved to get to the pool more this summer and so we have therefore started swim lessons.
It's going OK. I'm not sure Tessa is learning much of anything but she is having fun and that's just fine for a 4 year old. William doesn't love it but he doesn't cry (much) and says he has fun after every lesson. I don't know that he's learning that much either but he's getting more comfortable in the water so I kind of feel like it's a victory. Henry had Cub Scout Day Camp on Monday so he doesn't start his lessons until next week. He is not looking forward to it but I expect him to at least try. I don't even care if he can swim that much; I just want him to be more comfortable in the water.
Here are a few pictures:
Tessa floating on her back with one of her teachers:
William doing the same; he really really doesn't like floating on his back:
William kicking around the pool. He's OK as long as he's not on his back:
Tessa waiting on the little platform that they have for the smaller kids. It keeps their heads above the water, since all of these kids would be having trouble even in the 3 feet depth:
Today I went and bought some of those styrofoam-type swim noodles and goggles in an effort to be better about taking them swimming this summer. Now if the temperature will just stay above 70 degrees and it will stop raining every day we'll be all set.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
5 Months Ago Today...
...Henry had his surgery and we found out he had cancer. What a rollercoaster it's been, although I'm happy to say that the last six weeks have been blissfully normal and not at all about Henry's cancer diagnosis. The closest we get is when I ask him daily if he's had his pill yet (most of the time Jay gives it to him in the morning, but sometimes it slips through the cracks) or if he cringes and holds his arm when they announce a blood drive at church.
All in all, we couldn't be more pleased. He's just being Henry, which generally means 1 part funny, 1 part infuriating. I assume this is typical for most almost-9 year old boys. We don't have any additional news about his health to share because we haven't seen or talked to a doctor in a while. He's having follow-up blood work in a few weeks and hopefully the numbers will continue to look good. But we don't see his specialist again until August. The only reason I was even thinking about his diagnosis today was that I had to fill out a health form for him to take to Cub Scout Day Camp tomorrow and it was a little more complicated than these things have been in the past. Still no allergies, but I had a few more Yes boxes to mark (thyroid disease - check, surgery - check, medication - check). At least I got to mark the box that clears him to participate with No Restrictions. Considering where we were 5 months ago, we'll take it. Happily.
In the meantime, he and William have started baseball. In our little part of the world, tball is played on Tuesday and Thursday nights and coach-pitch is played on Wednesday and Friday nights, meaning we go to a baseball game four nights a week. But it's OK and over by the end of June, which is kind of nice. The kids have fun playing. I wish I could say that it were more fun watching. I mean, it's OK. But it's kind of boring. They don't get alot of outs, although they get more in coach pitch than they do in tball. They miss alot of ground balls and throws to each other. But most of the time the kids all get to hit, which is the point at this age. So we go and cheer for our kids and all our friends kids and visit with each other and go home after an hour. It's not a bad way to spend a summer evening.
All in all, we couldn't be more pleased. He's just being Henry, which generally means 1 part funny, 1 part infuriating. I assume this is typical for most almost-9 year old boys. We don't have any additional news about his health to share because we haven't seen or talked to a doctor in a while. He's having follow-up blood work in a few weeks and hopefully the numbers will continue to look good. But we don't see his specialist again until August. The only reason I was even thinking about his diagnosis today was that I had to fill out a health form for him to take to Cub Scout Day Camp tomorrow and it was a little more complicated than these things have been in the past. Still no allergies, but I had a few more Yes boxes to mark (thyroid disease - check, surgery - check, medication - check). At least I got to mark the box that clears him to participate with No Restrictions. Considering where we were 5 months ago, we'll take it. Happily.
In the meantime, he and William have started baseball. In our little part of the world, tball is played on Tuesday and Thursday nights and coach-pitch is played on Wednesday and Friday nights, meaning we go to a baseball game four nights a week. But it's OK and over by the end of June, which is kind of nice. The kids have fun playing. I wish I could say that it were more fun watching. I mean, it's OK. But it's kind of boring. They don't get alot of outs, although they get more in coach pitch than they do in tball. They miss alot of ground balls and throws to each other. But most of the time the kids all get to hit, which is the point at this age. So we go and cheer for our kids and all our friends kids and visit with each other and go home after an hour. It's not a bad way to spend a summer evening.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
The Downside of Literacy
William's reading is coming along in leaps and bounds. He can read to himself now, although we still have him read aloud to us to make sure he's understanding what he's reading. Today, however, his reading ability drove me absolutely crazy as we were out and about, running errands.
We were stuck at a stop light in front of a movie theater. He said, "Mom, I want to see a movie. Is Prince of Persia appropriate for me?" My response was fairly predictable - "William, you aren't seeing Prince of Persia." He continued reading down the line, "What about Robin Hood? Or Date Night? Or Iron Man 2? Are they appropriate for me?" Thankfully at that point the light turned green and we moved along. I really don't need my 6 year old son asking me if "Sex and the City 2" is an appropriate movie for him to see.
The rest of the drive continued in that fashion. "Mom, what does Pad to Lease mean?" "What is a Taco Bell?" "Look, Hobby Lobby!" But at least he's reading, right. Yay?
We were stuck at a stop light in front of a movie theater. He said, "Mom, I want to see a movie. Is Prince of Persia appropriate for me?" My response was fairly predictable - "William, you aren't seeing Prince of Persia." He continued reading down the line, "What about Robin Hood? Or Date Night? Or Iron Man 2? Are they appropriate for me?" Thankfully at that point the light turned green and we moved along. I really don't need my 6 year old son asking me if "Sex and the City 2" is an appropriate movie for him to see.
The rest of the drive continued in that fashion. "Mom, what does Pad to Lease mean?" "What is a Taco Bell?" "Look, Hobby Lobby!" But at least he's reading, right. Yay?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)