The Third Job

Welcome to the game show that has become our life.

What is this? It's a snap shot of June 2011. The stickers represent the number of days Rose managed to get dressed, brush her teeth, put on deodorant, eat 3 meals and put on jammies.

And this is October 2011 - stickers mean the same as in June. Yay, Rosie girl! 

Mmm-hmm, for those of you who know Mike, those are Star Wars stickers.

Best of all, now all these behaviors are coming second nature. Now we can shift the rewards to polite and considerate behavior and away from tasks expected of children Rose's age. If only it weren't so hard to quantify unlike concrete tasks like brushing teeth. So we're trying to figure out the perfect reward system. Feel free to post with ideas.

This experiment has taught me positive reinforcement is tiring. The last thing we often feel like doing by the end of the day is measuring accomplishments. Especially when it feels like it's not working.  As the pictures show, though, it was working. It's just slow and painful, so the gains need to be measured and rewarded. Friday we go buy Rose press-on nails--the reward she decided she wanted if she could get this many stickers.

Then the bar needs to be raised so expect us to be a little more stressed again.



And a few more Halloween photos

For better or worse this Halloween was way better than I could have expected. No melt downs. No fighting. Just costumes, trick-or-treating, and candy eating. Rose came hope happy and chilly where she promptly crawled into bed to be cozy beneath her heating blanket.

Here are a few photo memories.

Rose, without the wig

Ben, Rose, Lucy (Spiderman, Water Bender, Vampiress)

Grrr

Trick-or-Treat

We didn't stop here.

A few more Halloween photos

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again

Rose is starting to ask, yes ask, for photos of herself. Mostly she lets her uncles get photos of her, but she's starting to change her mind at home, too. Here is a photo she asked for in her Halloween costume.

Rose the last water bender

I've tried to analyze the implications of this development. I've come up with everything. Maybe her self esteem is improving. Maybe she is starting to believe this is real so photos documenting her life make sense now. She did admit that for the first time in years, she's happy, and it makes sense to not want photos when you're unhappy. Regardless, I'm just going to enjoy this new development and share its benefits with you.
Here are a few more happy photos:

Rose chose the biggest pumpkin



Rose was happy to pose with Mike's smaller pumpkin


A side benefit of having a daughter who is unwilling to take photos is that Mike, who used to be just as camera shy, now willingly takes photos. I'd assume to set a good example?

Stay posted, the after photos are on their way.

Twins

Over breakfast today, Rose said she'd name her kids Mike and Amy. The boy first, girl second, unless she can have it longer.

Have what longer, I asked.

Sex. She said. To have twins, you need to have sex longer.

<mom stifles giggles and calmly says> Actually, it is all based on the egg, Rose.

Oh.