The Booger and Pom Poms

Collin and I were watching a Baby Einsteins DVD while Sophie was taking a much neeeded nap (although much too late in the afternnon). After sitting with his fingr in his nose for a few minutes it came out with a booger on it.

Collin: "Whats dat?"

Mom: "A booger."

Collin: "A booger!"

I get up to go get a tissue. Just as I am returning I hear this: "I eat it! I eat it in my mouth, tastes good!"

Mom: "Collin, that is yucky."

Collin: "No, not yucky, it's good!"

Collin cracks me up. It was fun spending some one on one time with him while Sophie was sleeping.

. . .

Sophie has been a little challenging lately and we have been trying to come up with some solutions that might make her behavior improve. One has been to create a schedule for her (putting some structure into her day like she got from preschool). Another has been a reward system. I got this idea from a friend and thought that Sophie would love it. We went to the craft store and bought a jar and some pom poms. Everytime Sophie does something exemplary, she gets to put a pom pom into the jar. Everytime she does soemthing inappropraite she has to take one out. When the jar get full she gets to choose her reward out of several options--this time around, she chose a trip to the toy store.

I gave her the rules and we had some practice scenarios just to ensure her understanding. She was very excited and she then got some pom poms from the mornings activities. After 3 I told that was all for now. She was devastated and started to cry. I explained that she would earn more soon. Ever since, she has been anxiously trying to earn her pom poms--going potty many more times a day than usual all by herself, wanting to eat luch like a big girl when we already ate lunch hours ago, and my favorite "I am going to read a story so that I can have a pom pom." She is even trying to con me into having each activity count as more than 1 pom pom. It is working good for her, but it is good for me also because it helps me focus on the positive things that she does, not just the things that makes my want to send her away to boarding school!