Nicholas' attitude has been creeping up as of late and getting really bad in the last week so we have started an intervention before these patterns of speech and interactions can become habit. And in grasping around for an idea for an intervention, I decided to make up something baseball themed to get him interested.
The reward system: every time we catch him doing something extra good or he gets ready in the morning or evening without any fuss he gets to move forward a base. If he scores a run before the end of the day he gets dessert that night.
The punishment system: three strikes and you're out. The consequence for an out will vary but he has been warned to assume that it will be bad and know that they will get worse and worse.
We will see if we can break these habits. I'll let you know. I tend to be good for about 2 days before letting things slide. But the talking back is making me crazy, so maybe I'll have the incentive to stay strong.
But, lest I leave you with the impression that this attitude is a full-time thing, Nicholas has also been having some super sweet moments. Most endearingly, he has started putting Lizzie to bed. Seriously. He does everything except lift her into her crib. They snuggle in her rocking chair and he reads her her book. Then he turns off her light and sings her "Twinkle Twinkle," which has been her goodnight song forever. Then I lift her in and he says the "Good night, Lizzie. We love you." and closes her door. Melt. My. Heart.
Monday, July 27, 2015
Sunday, July 26, 2015
July
July has been an amazing month, with visitors and trips and lots of great fun together. It has also been exhausting. And the kids are getting more worn out than usual during the week because of all the outside time and activity. And so it has been Jekyll and Hyde, with wonderful family time and meltdowns and attitudes all on top of each other.
Here are a couple pictures:
Is there anything better than watching your kids become friends with the kids of your best and longest lasting friends? Oh yeah, getting to hang out with those very friends while it is all happening!
There are tons (as in 133) pictures in the July album if you want some more:
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| From 2015 July |
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| From 2015 July |
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| From 2015 July |
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| 2015 July |
Monday, July 6, 2015
Summer Fun
We are having such a great summer of outings and activities! The stars have all aligned where our work schedule has become more flexible (therefore allowing us to do some errands during the week or in the evenings instead of it consuming the weekends) at the same time as the weather has gotten pretty at the same time as Lizzie has been able to stretch into early (or occasionally even mid!) afternoon before needing a nap.
A few recent highlights:
We went to the Science Museum on Saturday to check out the Pixar exhibit, which was awesome!
You know it was a well done exhibit because each of the 4 of us loved it and learned a lot.
Now, I think all Lizzie learned was the name of some Pixar characters, but still. Before we left we checked on how long the exhibit will be up because we want to go back again. And we are hopeful that Nicholas will learn more the second time when he isn't so overwhelmed with trying to just see everything and touch everything and so is willing to read more of the signs and think through what it is that he is actually doing at each activity. We had lunch in the cafeteria in seats overlooking the river (watching boats!) and because of the 4th of July it was pretty calm. And then of course we had to go see the dinosaurs because Lizzie loves them. She spent the entire time Nicholas and Joe were in a lightning show (half an hour?) playing with these dinosaur pieces
and every few minutes would look at the T-rex behind her and shout "saur!" with glee and then roar.
Sunday I took the kids down to the zoo and they had a grand old time. They each had a few animals they couldn't get enough of.
And then I had actually remembered to bring their swim stuff so they could go in the water play area, which they loved even more. I'm glad I did a 2 hour round trip drive so they could run through a sprinkler!
While my parents were here we also went to Salem on one of the camping days and went to a pirate museum that was really good but much more appropriate for a 10-year-old than a 6-year-old.
And once we are all back together we went to the concert on the town green. They have these concerts every Friday evening in the summer that are free and fun and the essence of a community and I always have to pinch myself because I can hardly believe that such places actually exist.
A few recent highlights:
We went to the Science Museum on Saturday to check out the Pixar exhibit, which was awesome!
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| From 2015 July |
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| From 2015 July |
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| From 2015 July |
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| From 2015 July |
Sunday I took the kids down to the zoo and they had a grand old time. They each had a few animals they couldn't get enough of.
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| From 2015 July |
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| From 2015 July |
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| From 2015 July |
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| From 2015 July |
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| From 2015 July |
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| From 2015 July |
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| From 2015 July |
While my parents were here we also went to Salem on one of the camping days and went to a pirate museum that was really good but much more appropriate for a 10-year-old than a 6-year-old.
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| From 2015 July |
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| From 2015 July |
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| From 2015 July |
Saturday, July 4, 2015
Nicholas' First Camping Trip
Nicholas and I went camping for two nights this week with my parents and had a lot of fun. It was a great special big kid thing for him to do without Lizzie. And 2 nights was perfect. We got to do everything we wanted to do but we left while it was still exciting and before Nicholas could get too tired.
He did a great job with the work involved in camping, complaining a little but actually doing it all. He helped set up and take down the tent, collected kindling, dried when we washed dishes after each meal, and took trash to the dumpster.
We took a hike each of the two days we were there. The first day we scrapped our initial plan 1/4 mile in and explored around the closest pond (biggest pond I've ever seen--looked more like a lake to me) because Nicholas and I were both a little anxious about the thunder we could hear. Given that we got lost repeatedly the next day when we went in search of the old mill and quarry and the hike turned into over 3 hours (over 7 miles according to Dad's pedometer), it was probably a good thing that we changed plans the afternoon before.
Nicholas led the way almost the entire hike and in fact insisted on it, speeding up if anyone tried to even walk next to him. He was done about 2/3 of the way through but pushed through in impressive fashion.
Of course we also introduced Nicholas to cooking over the campfire, made s'mores each night (although Nicholas preferred just toasted marshmallows and by the end was barely heating them), and played cards.
We had some rain the first afternoon but it was perfect timing, coming after we had set up and were back from our hike but before we had started the fire or dinner prep. And so it was just fun to crowd under the tent awning and watch the rain. The threat of rain later led us to finish up our fire and s'mores early and move our card game into the tent when drops started falling but luckily that line of thunderstorms petered out and it never became more than a few drops.
Overall, he seemed to have a great time. And one thing he emphasized is that he had been scared about sleeping outside but once we had the tent set up and he had been inside it, he felt safe.
He did a great job with the work involved in camping, complaining a little but actually doing it all. He helped set up and take down the tent, collected kindling, dried when we washed dishes after each meal, and took trash to the dumpster.
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| From 2015 July |
We took a hike each of the two days we were there. The first day we scrapped our initial plan 1/4 mile in and explored around the closest pond (biggest pond I've ever seen--looked more like a lake to me) because Nicholas and I were both a little anxious about the thunder we could hear. Given that we got lost repeatedly the next day when we went in search of the old mill and quarry and the hike turned into over 3 hours (over 7 miles according to Dad's pedometer), it was probably a good thing that we changed plans the afternoon before.
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| From 2015 July |
Nicholas led the way almost the entire hike and in fact insisted on it, speeding up if anyone tried to even walk next to him. He was done about 2/3 of the way through but pushed through in impressive fashion.
 |
| From 2015 July |
Of course we also introduced Nicholas to cooking over the campfire, made s'mores each night (although Nicholas preferred just toasted marshmallows and by the end was barely heating them), and played cards.
 |
| From 2015 July |
 |
| From 2015 July |
We had some rain the first afternoon but it was perfect timing, coming after we had set up and were back from our hike but before we had started the fire or dinner prep. And so it was just fun to crowd under the tent awning and watch the rain. The threat of rain later led us to finish up our fire and s'mores early and move our card game into the tent when drops started falling but luckily that line of thunderstorms petered out and it never became more than a few drops.
 |
| From 2015 July |
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| From 2015 July |
Overall, he seemed to have a great time. And one thing he emphasized is that he had been scared about sleeping outside but once we had the tent set up and he had been inside it, he felt safe.
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| From 2015 July |
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| From 2015 July |
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| From 2015 July |
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| From 2015 July |
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