What Motivates a 4 Year Old?

We have always known that Josiah needed was the kind of child that needs strong boundaries and consistent reinforcement (what kid doesn't?). The trick has been to figure out what would motivate him enough to listen, obey and stick to it. We have tried so many different things, but recently started a new system with him that so far is working very well. While we were in WI for Thanksgiving we attended our old church. During the Bible Study hour we watched a video on parenting. The one thing that stuck with me from that video was to make contracts with your kids. I thought that it was worth a try, but also thought that Josiah would be too young to do this with.
I went out and bought poster board and fun colored cards to make charts. We sat down as a family and decide to make house rules. We asked Josiah what the rules should be and low and behold we discovered the kid has been listening to us for the last 4 years. He came up with several things that were right on target to addressing his own personal discipline issues. The first one was: No hitting, punching and kicking. Another he came up with is: Use kind words and no whining. How appropriate. We also came up with consequences for violating a house rule. Josiah wanted to get a spanking for all violations. I think for him that was quick and easy. He definitely did not like a consequence of loosing toys or screen time.
Several other things we have implemented are cards for 30 minute blocks of screen time. I Have never known him to be selective with what shows he wanted to watch or how much Wii he wanted to play. Now with the cards he will ask, "How many shows do I have left?" and then will decide if a particular show is worth watching or not. We gave his what we thought was too much screen time per day and he has not had a day where he has used it all up yet. We also have the Mommy Toy Box thanks to Tracy. Clean up time has become a breeze in my house. Josiah gets 20 minutes on the clock to clean his room and anything left out or on the floor when the timer goes off goes into Mommy's Toy Box and no one knows when they will come back out. This is a great motivator. The last thing we are doing is for every 3 days of obedience reflected by a card system Josiah gets to pick a fun activity to do that we would not ordinarily do. The time frame for this will be increased periodically until we reach a week of obedience. The last week and a half we have had home made cinnamon rolls for breakfast, a trip to the Science museum and gingerbread house decorating. We have had a very happy house lately. I would highly recommend these techniques to anyone.

Happy Thanksgiving - a week late!

Last week we were in Wisconsin for Thanksgiving. We travelled up on Saturday Nov 22nd and got to Dave and Tracy's house just in time for dinner. We went to church at our old stomping grounds on Sunday and saw many of our firends. It was fun to be back and see all the changes and renovations going on at Spring Creek. On Monday we woke up to the perfect snow. Tracy went to volunteer at Nathan's school in the morning so we were a little lazy around the house. Greg, Josiah and Naomi went out side and built a snowman and an igloo. I am sorry I never went outside and got a picture of them. Greg got a few pictures of the kids though. Naomi decided that the snow was fun for just a short time and then it was just too cold. Most of the week we sat around talkinging, playing the Wii or eating. On Wednesday tracy and I prepared many of the dishes we were going to eat on Thursday. WE so tired by the end of the day we both crashed at about 9pm. Thursday was a wonderful Thanksgiving day. We ate excellent food all day and topped it all of with Tracy's Mom's delicious pies. The kids played well together and everyone was sad when it was time for us to leaveon Saturday morning. 2 minutes into our car ride home Josiah was planning his next visit.

She is Officially Ours

8 Months ago we travelled to Korea to bring Naomi home. With a South Korean adoption we have to wait 6 months and have 3 reports sent back to Korea on how well Naomi is doing before we can legally adopt her. Today we went to Family Court down town Louisville and had our court proceeding to formally adopt her. The whole process took about 20 minutes. Our attorney, Teresa Kinberger, testified that everything was in order and all the papers were filed correctly and that we would be good parents. Naomi's Attorney also testified that he has met us (even if only for 10 minutes) and that Josiah and Naomi seem like happy well adjusted children and recommended that the court grant the adoption. After all the formalities both kids got to pick out a stuffed animal and then we got our picture taken with the judge and the attorneys. Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Melody were there to celebrate with us. Thanks Grandma for the very cute elephant for Naomi.

Food and Fun

This has been a fun, but busy week. On Thursday night I had several of my friends over for a Pampered Chef cooking show. Nancy did a great job of demonstrating all the great products that they have and she cooked us some yummy food. We had lemony Moroccan Chicken Pitas and lemon cups with some homemade lemonade. As you can see we were going on a lemon theme. The evening was a blast and several of the ladies bought items. I am now trying to figure out what to get with the free credit I earned for having a show. If anyone wants to order anything, we are keeping the orders open until Thursday this week. Contact me for orders this week at gregandteresa(at)insightbb(dot)com

Saturday we lay around the house for several hours before getting going. Greg and the kids played outside in the leaves while I went to have my hair cut and highlighted. I went to a new place so I was a little nervous, but Stephanie at LeBliss did a great job. Saturday night Grandma came over to babysit and Greg and I went to our Sunday School class Thanksgiving social. We had so much yummy food. Thanks Traci and Don for hosting such a fun evening and thanks Rob for the entertainment.

Fall Festival

On Friday night we went to Fall Festival at our Church. Josiah and Naomi dressed up and had fun on the blow slide, bouncies and other games.