I always have good intentions of posting on Sunday's...then Mondays...well, this week it's a Tuesday:) Keeps the surprise element of when you'll see a new post right?!?!
Anyway, we have a lack of pictures to share this week, but certainly not a lack of activities...we continue to keep busy around here!
Danika continues to test mom and dad, but adores her baby sister. At least she doesn't hate all of us! Her new favorite thing (this week anyway) is to read books to Haddie...we read her books SO many times throughout the days and nights that she has just about all of them memorized- I hope to get this on Video one of these days soon and post it for you to hear her reading to Haddie, or even to herself (I'm not sure I can trust leaving them alone together while I video tape though!)
The rest of the photos for the week were taken on my phone so they aren't the best quality, but they are a glimpse at the week.
A little background before I share Danika's activities...
As a teacher I am always reading and being reminded about the notion that rewards do not work, do not last, and do not intrinsically motivate children to do good on their own will. So because of this, rewards are not typically a way I run my classroom management. Well with parenting, I've had to throw that idea out, at least for the time being. I'm no longer looking at it through my 'professional educator' lens, but rather my 'desperate mother' role.
So last week we decided to start a sticker chart with Danika for good behavior. The little things that she's been having a tantrum about (getting her diaper changed, getting dressed, picking up toys, brushing her teeth, basically anything mom asks her to do!) she gets to put a sticker on her chart if she does them without much fuss. We talked about her 'rewards' if she earned so many stickers.
On Tuesday, if she earned 5 stickers she got a date with mommy at the library that evening for 'Storytime with Dora'.
Of course I don't want to set her up to fail, so she had a great day and LOVED her special Dora time.
Making a Dora door hanger...
Taking a (blurry)picture with Swiper
She kept saying "No swiping Swiper!!!" during the middle of story time. If you aren't familiar with Dora, they say that phrase in every Dora book or movie because he's always trying to steal things... it was hysterical to hear her get so into it!
On Thursday, if she had filled her chart up to 10 stickers we got to have playtime at the sports center. She was successful so off we went to play!
She LOVED it! She jumped, and jumped, and jumped, and ran and jumped, and rode bike, and kicked balls, and jumped some more!
So far, it seems to be successful, at least for now. When she does earn a sticker, she wants to put about 5 on her chart,which then makes her a little angry if she doesn't get too, so maybe that part of it is above her head at this point, but I think she's at least getting the main idea! Some days it works, other days she could care less about her stickers, but this mama is willing to give it a try for now!
We also went to a wedding and Danika was a dancing machine- of course we did not have a camera or phones with any reception, so we did not get her mad moves caught on tape, but she was fun to watch:) She also came to support and watch me run my 1st 5K in over 9 months! It felt great to run again and the best part of the whole race was seeing her smiling face down the home stretch clapping and yelling "yeah mommy!"
Haddie is doing great! She continues to fill out and gain weight so we know she is a healthy eater:) She is having more awake time and is really starting to coo and smile, which is so fun to finally get to interact with her a little bit.
That's all for now...Have a great rest of your week and we'll try to be on time with next week's update:)
Love, The Dummers
Jamie, Daren, Danika & Haddie
No comments:
Post a Comment