Chatter Boxes

This morning, the boys and I went to the grocery store.  We're gearing up for a birthday party this weekend so we stopped by the store to stock up on party supplies. 

I loaded our purchases into the car, Seth got in his seat and Colin and I left to put the cart away.  I lifted Colin out of the cart and threw him over my shoulder like a sack of...flour...feed...something (let's be honest - I don't throw sacks of anything over my shoulder but you get the idea). 

I opened the car door and said to Seth, "Look what I found!  I found a cute little boy!  I think we should bring him home with us." 

Seth said, "Yea we should.  And we'll call him Colin." 

Colin giggled at our story.  I then said, "Now Colin, there are a few rules you'll need to follow if you come to live with us.  Seth, can you tell Colin the rules?" 

I was curious what Seth would say so I let him take it from there. 

"Colin," he said, "there are three rules and they are very important.  Number one, don't stomp on the floor.  Number two, do what mommy and daddy ask.  And number three, don't make mommy crazy!"

Amen to that!



Little Baby Colin - an old picture from my phone



"I wanna ride the zeeeeebra!"

Very excited about riding on the "2nd floor" of the carousel!

This is the "fun thing" the boys earned for making good choices this week.



We arrived at Deanna Rose in time to help feed Annabelle.



Colin feeding the "little" goats.  I wish I had taken video of him feeding the "big" goats later that morning.  It was more like a game of tag where Colin was "it".  He ran around the pen with one piece of food yelling, "ok, ok, ok, ok" really fast.



Our "country kids" are often more fascinated by fake animals than of real ones.

I read lots of blogs (I'm a much better reader than poster) and every mom blog I read has at last one post of funny things their kids have said. Almost always I read it thinking, that probably would have been funny if I was there or I knew the personalities of their kids better (I'm weird - I read mom blogs of people I don't know). 

But here's the deal.  Kids are funny.  My kids are funny.  I end up repeating funny things they've said to people that are close to us, so why not document them here for posterity and for the grandparents. 

There have been several so this comes to you in the form of a list: 

1.  All four of us were driving home from dinner with friends.  We were on the highway and Seth, from the backseat says, "Daddy, kiss mommy on the lips."  We remind him that we're driving on "the fast road" and can't do it now because it's not safe.  When we pulled up the off-ramp and stopped at the stop sign, Seth made his request again.  I leaned over to John with my lips pursed.  John leans in and as soon as our lips make contact Seth yells, "Now, stay on it!"

2.  The boys and I were having lunch with my parents.  Colin was getting inpatient with how long it was taking everyone to load their plates with food.  I told Colin, "hold your horses".  He got this look of concern on his face and after a while said, "Mommy, what I 'sposed to do wit da horses?"

3.  The four of us were playing at a nearby park.  Colin fell asleep in the car on the way so he was a bit out of sorts when we arrived.  Seth was taking Colin's disinterest as a sure indication that Colin didn't love him.  As I rocked Colin, I informed Seth that Colin is at an age where his actions may not match how he actually feels about us.  I said, "Colin loves us all very much but he's at that age when he can be a little bit testy with us."  Colin nodded in agreement and said, "Yeah Seth, I'm testy."  After we had played for a bit, it was time to head home.  Colin ran over from the slide and said, "Mommy can you carry me to the car, I'm testy."  I carried him.

4.  Colin and I were playing in the play room yesterday and he leaned over and said "Mommy, you're the best mommy but only in town."  I hope he meant "your the best mommy in town" but I'll take it.

5.  Several months ago on a Sunday morning, I went upstairs to help get the boys ready for church.  I was dressed and ready.  Usually I get everyone else ready first so they aren't used to seeing me "done up" at that point in the getting-ready process.  I got to the top of the stairs and Colin said, "Mommy you look...married!"  Again, I hope he meant "pretty" because the other way makes it sound like I've let myself go now that I'm snagged a man.

6.  With my parents upcoming move (oh yeah - by the way - my parents are moving to Idaho), we've inherited a lot of the toys and videos (yes, on actual video tape).  We watched The Lion King but had to fastforward through the scary parts (there are more than I remember).  The next day Colin wanted to watch it again but I said no.  He said, "but mommy, the lions are not scared of me".  I think he meant he wasn't scared of the lions but it wouldn't be funny if he said it correctly.

7.  Colin has figured out that we often say no to the requests that he makes (we try to say yes as much as possible but his requests are lofty).  He recently came in my room and said, "Mommy, I wanna talk to you...don't say no...can I go to a ferris wheel?"

We visited our local children's museum and the boys pretended to be doctors (aren't those costumes adorable?) I'm not dead.  They told me to be "sick and go to sleep".  That's what I look like when I am sick and I go to bed

These pictures have nothing to do with this post but I don't like posting without pictures.

So there you have it...the post for posterity and my parents.

One of phrases heard frequently around our house is "if you make good choices you get to do fun things". 

We're teaching that idea early in this house while the consequences are small.  I'm sure to the boys, missing out on an activity may seem like the worse thing...it's better than jail time or being fired from a job. 

Here's how...




It's simple really, at the end of the day we talk through the three "good choices" the boys can make during the day.  They get a star for a choice well made.  When they fill up the chart, they get the "fun thing" at the end.  For this one (this picture was taken months ago when both boys were still in preschool) it was have lunch with daddy (it's an amazing resemblence huh?  I drew it myself!)

Seth's good choices on this chart are 1) Have a "good day" at school or at home - which means no screaming trantrums 2) Do what mommy and daddy ask - the first time 3) Keeping his pants dry all the way to bedtime.  Colin's are 1) Using his inside voice (this is always the hardest stars for him to get) 2)  Do what mommy and daddy ask 3) Eating a meal in less than 30 minutes. 

It's not a perfect system.  The chart doesn't always fill up and sometimes we miss out on the fun things.  Here's a tip though.  Make sure the "fun thing" isn't something that would be too devastating to miss or that other people are relying on. 

Here are a few "fun things" we've put on the chart so far:
- Ride Pete (our horse...they were supervised closely and wore helmets)
- Have brown milk at dinner (that's chocolate milk for you fluent English speakers)
- Get balloons (this one was Colin's idea and it was actually one of my favorites.  We filled up the playroom with balloons.  It was so fun!)

- Go to McDonalds (This one has made the list several times. They play and I get a diet coke.  Everyone wins!)
- Go on a bike ride with daddy


- Go to a puppet show (Our church does several a year.)
- Have yogurt, cereal, and honey (Aunt Kelly ate this once at our house and the boys wanted to put it on their chart.  Alrighty!)
- Visit the fish at Bass Pro Shop (It's free and the boys love riding the see-through elevator)
- Ride on a Carousel ($2 at the mall)
- Stay up 30 minutes past bedtime (Seth's idea)
- Ride in the car-cart at the grocery store (I hate that thing but the boys love it...it's definitely a special treat.)

The weeks with the most success are the ones where the boys chose the "fun thing".  They come up with some fun ideas, that are usually a lot easier for us to fulfill than the ones we come up with. 

It's made my job of encouraging good behavior much easier.  All I say now is "do you want to get your star today?"  Sometimes they choose to proceed down the path of destruction but more times than not they decide to turn from their wicked ways. :)