Rewards

Less than 24 hours in, the reward chart seems to be a decent motivator. Andy was proud to get the smiley faces (all green, naturally) for doing the things on his list. This week, on his list is:

1. Get dressed
2. Wear underwear (this wasn't a official selection, I cut out a picture of underwear from the Spiderman underwear label)
3. No whining
4. Take bath
5. Get ready for bed
6. Brush teeth
7. Put away toys

He got them all yesterday except for whining so we talked about it and he said he'll do better today. We'll see. Now that we have the chart, I need to back off and stop pushing these things. I need to offer it and if he initially rejects, let me know he won't get a smiley and move on. As it was yesterday, he didn't want to take a bath, but once I backed off and he realized he wasn't getting a smiley, he came around. This is going to be an adjustment for all of us, but hopefully we'll get the behavior we want.

I took Baby Meg to the doctor. The good news is she doesn't have an ear infection or signs of anything other than a cold. She said if she didn't improve within a couple of days, to bring her back in. Fortunately, she seems to generally be feeling better and is back to her smiling and cooing self.

Getting enough sleep proves to still be elusive for all of us. Meg has fortunately only been getting up usually once a night, lately between two and three. Unfortunately, Andy likes to wake up, too, usually around five and wants to insist someone sleep with him. Last night I made the mistake of caving on that request because I didn't want him to scream and wake up the baby. Now I'm afraid he's going to insist on it.

Oh, and breaking news, Andy pooped on the toilet this morning. He said he didn't have to earlier in the morning, but I let him eat breakfast naked and by the end, he had to go so he declared it, ran to the toilet and went. Just like that. Fingers crossed that this is clicking for him finally.

Poor babies

Poor Meg has been sick with a bad cold. It started Saturday and seemed to be worse this morning after a tough night so I'm taking her to the doctor this afternoon. She was pretty fussy off and on this morning, somewhat unconsolable (at least to me since she never really cries much). I gave her a warm bath this morning which put her in a good mood and she's been more mellow since then. The doctor's visit is really just a precaution to make sure whatever she has doesn't get worse.

Meanwhile, after Andy's tantrum and potty training mishaps last week, I've been reading up on discipline strategies and asking my friends for ideas on helping get through his hump. I heard almost universally that a reward chart seemed to work as a good motivator. We went to the house of some friends Saturday that had this cool magnetic/dry erase chart from Melissa and Doug so I went to Toys R Us and picked one up for $20 today. I'm going to unveil it to him tonight. I think he's going to be excited about it. I hope.