Spring fever has brought out the crazy in you both. I have been at my wits end trying to get through our days without any shouting or breakdowns. Maybe it's because we are so busy with year-end activities. Maybe it's because you are going through growth spurts. Whatever the cause, you were both girl-with-a-curl HORRID. If we had a Whip Man and Whip Woman to call, they would be top of my speed dial! Or maybe I'd just invite them to move in.
Enter, the marble jar.
A marble moves from "trouble" into the "happy family on earth" jar (you named them both at our family meeting) when wonderful behavior is noticed by me or dad. When the happy jar is full, we decide on an activity or treat to enjoy together.
This has worked very well and this week we got through another set of marbles so we could go to Swirl for frozen yogurt. The only problem here is that Lucy has the habit of eating slowly and enjoying her sweets (VERY GOOD!) and Henry has the habit of snarfing through his dessert like Fabulous Mr. Fox and then proceeding to steal bites from Lucy's when she isn't looking (VERY BAD!).
We decided to turn the tables on him tonight and instead of leaving a dish of delicious ice cream for him to plunder, Lucy was carrying about a veritable mix of allum, milk, mayo, and jam ("edible" items that together, looked like ice cream but were obviously going to TASTE TERRIBLE). It didn't take long for the scene to play out. We know this kid.
He went off with a face not far from Sylvester's allum-related pucker.
It reminded me of Lynda's story about giving Jarrod the ice cream cone topped with a scoop of crisco on top after he had skipped to the front of the line and demanded to be first at treats one too many times. BOOM! Wise as Yoda, Lynda is a jedi master or parenting trickery. I am still in training.
Doesn't bark. Doesn't shed. Doesn't poop! Thank you for picking a venus flytrap as your next pet! It is very charming. Fingers crossed that your seeds for other carnivorous plants grow well. And that you can catch enough fruit flies to feed them all.
