Ok, I knew I had been neglecting my little blog, but when the inclination struck me to look at it today...WHOA! I have not posted in over eight months?!
So what has the Four Walls Family been up to in the last eight months?
Well, first off, the I Clean Up After Myself Campaign? Epic failure. I think that I just have to accept that I am raising a pack of slobs, and give myself over to it. Oh, and the dishwasher died last night, so that will make it even more interesting around here until the landlord gets around to fixing it...
We passed the one-year anniversary of the foreclosure last month. No fanfare. I pulled our credit reports, and actually we're almost fully recovered in terms of our credit scores. Savings and sanity--not so much, yet.
The kids keep getting bigger.
Jellybean turned ten and is in fifth grade. Middle school is on the horizon, and every time I really think about it I start to hyper-ventilate, so that's all I will say about that today. She is still competing in gymnastics, although on a slightly less strenuous level, and her first meet of the season is in a few weeks. Of course, she is stunning in her new competition leo. It actually brought tears to my eyes when I saw her in it for the first time, but that's not surprising. Peanut has taken to calling me Cry-Baby-Mama, lately...
Miss Florida turned eight, was accepted into the Highly Capable program for our district, and is thriving there. Don't get me wrong, she has had some great teachers up until now, but she has never really been challenged. That was most evident the other day as she was working with Mr. Four Walls on a challenging assignment. She was struggling to grasp a new concept and broke down in tears, saying "I don't like not being the smartest in the class anymore!" That, my dear daughter, is a GREAT lesson to learn, and your life will be so much easier if you grasp it now at age eight and take it to heart: no matter where you go, who you meet, and what you do, there will always be someone bigger, better, faster, stronger, smarter than you. Don't let it defeat you, let it inspire you. Learn from them!
And now for Peanut. Oh, Little Peanut. She is still Terrific, just now as a three-year old. All that means, really, is her tantrums have become more mature. I had a really hard time with her birthday this year, though. Three. She's not so much a baby anymore, is she? Since we're done, it was really bitter-sweet for me. I suppose every birthday will be, though. Thanks to my sister for having a new baby the week after Peanut's birthday! Is it wrong that as I breathed in his Baby-ness, I wanted to take him home with me forever? It is? Ok, that's what Mr. Four Walls said, too. And he reminded me that they don't stay that little and sweet for long, as he pointed to Peanut and Miss Florida, wrestling, screaming and clawing at each other over...I'm not sure, really. Oxygen, maybe?
So what about me? What have I been up to that has caused me to neglect my mind-blowing fifteen Followers? As usual, Life. Around the time of my last post, I was getting sick and tired with always feeling sick and tired, so I started a long-ish process of addressing what was going on. Doctors appointments, lab work, etc, etc, etc. Long story short, I have now joined the ranks of the Gluten Free world. It's been six months since I've intentionally eaten gluten, and oh-my-goodness, what a difference! I'm not yet completely symptom free, but at least now I can function. I can braid Jellybean's hair. I can type. I can live without so much pain.
And I can look forward! So much so that I am finally returning to finish my BA! No more College Dropout status for me. So, I cannot promise this blog will not continue to be neglected, because let's face it: Wife, mom of three, employee, and college student...not much left to give there. But I will try to update and come up with interesting observations on what this crazy, busy, wonderful Four Walls Home life brings.
Showing posts with label I Clean Up After Myself Campaign. Show all posts
Showing posts with label I Clean Up After Myself Campaign. Show all posts
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Saturday, February 11, 2012
The "I Clean-Up After Myself" Campaign
It's an election year. Can you tell? I thought I'd mention it just in case you hadn't noticed. Consider it my Public Service Announcement for the day. You're welcome.
However, there is likely a campaign happening that you are not yet aware of, probably because it just started in my living room about five minutes ago. I call it the "I Clean Up After Myself" campaign. There will be no mud-slinging, and if there is, you have to wipe up whatever you throw, as soon as you throw it.
See, lately I have reached a breaking point. I. Cannot. Keep. Up. My house is in a constant state of disaster. It might have a bit to do with how exhausted I have been lately, dealing with Peanut and her recent Terrificness, I admit. I've said before that I am no Neat Freak. I am okay with the slightly disheveled design theme I have going. Three kids, two adults, and three pets all in 1,000 square feet - there's no way this place is staying photo-shoot worthy for any length of time.
However, when I can rarely see the kitchen counter, have bruises all over the bottoms of my feet from stepping on a bazillion lego parts, and have had to put the baby in gently-worn, unlaundered socks for the past two days.....something's gotta give. Today it was me, in the form of a blurry-eyed meltdown in the middle of what should be a kitchen but instead resembles a sad graveyard for cereal bowls, school papers, uneaten grilled cheese crusts, and God-only-knows what else.
We have tried chore-charts. They work for a while, but the funny thing about them is that you have to keep updating them, rotating chores from person to person, and adjusting them to whatever sports or extra-curricular activity interferes. Throw in a cold, unplanned over-time, or the impending Mayan-apocalypse, and things get off-kilter really quickly. So basically, they become a chore in and of themselves. And if I have a hard time getting the laundry done, adding the duty of the chore chart on top.....just doesn't work.
So, a light bulb. My kids have responded well to sticker charts in the past, but again, a sticker chart is generally just a glorified chore-chart, and we've established how horrible I am at those. But a basic, cover-the-whole-sheet with stickers you earn when you are caught doing a desired behavior? I think I can swing that. Basic behavior-modification tactic: reward the good, ignore the bad.
So here is our campaign sign:
Pretty simple, and not at all perfect. The kids and the adults will earn small stickers to cover first the letters then the white space when they are "caught" cleaning-up after themselves as they make the mess. No stickers for reminders or requests, only for taking initiative and responsibility for oneself. Extra stickers might be rewarded for taking on messes that aren't your own, such as cleaning up after the baby when she's gone on a Tasmanian-Devil style tour of all the play bins. Once the sheet is covered, we will go for ice cream.
Really, it sounds so simple, but anyone with children knows that theory and practice don't always go hand-in-hand when it comes to the art of parenting. Will it work long-term, successfully making new habits out of messes? I'll update later! And let me know if you want a position on the campaign team!
However, there is likely a campaign happening that you are not yet aware of, probably because it just started in my living room about five minutes ago. I call it the "I Clean Up After Myself" campaign. There will be no mud-slinging, and if there is, you have to wipe up whatever you throw, as soon as you throw it.
See, lately I have reached a breaking point. I. Cannot. Keep. Up. My house is in a constant state of disaster. It might have a bit to do with how exhausted I have been lately, dealing with Peanut and her recent Terrificness, I admit. I've said before that I am no Neat Freak. I am okay with the slightly disheveled design theme I have going. Three kids, two adults, and three pets all in 1,000 square feet - there's no way this place is staying photo-shoot worthy for any length of time.
However, when I can rarely see the kitchen counter, have bruises all over the bottoms of my feet from stepping on a bazillion lego parts, and have had to put the baby in gently-worn, unlaundered socks for the past two days.....something's gotta give. Today it was me, in the form of a blurry-eyed meltdown in the middle of what should be a kitchen but instead resembles a sad graveyard for cereal bowls, school papers, uneaten grilled cheese crusts, and God-only-knows what else.
We have tried chore-charts. They work for a while, but the funny thing about them is that you have to keep updating them, rotating chores from person to person, and adjusting them to whatever sports or extra-curricular activity interferes. Throw in a cold, unplanned over-time, or the impending Mayan-apocalypse, and things get off-kilter really quickly. So basically, they become a chore in and of themselves. And if I have a hard time getting the laundry done, adding the duty of the chore chart on top.....just doesn't work.
So, a light bulb. My kids have responded well to sticker charts in the past, but again, a sticker chart is generally just a glorified chore-chart, and we've established how horrible I am at those. But a basic, cover-the-whole-sheet with stickers you earn when you are caught doing a desired behavior? I think I can swing that. Basic behavior-modification tactic: reward the good, ignore the bad.
So here is our campaign sign:
Pretty simple, and not at all perfect. The kids and the adults will earn small stickers to cover first the letters then the white space when they are "caught" cleaning-up after themselves as they make the mess. No stickers for reminders or requests, only for taking initiative and responsibility for oneself. Extra stickers might be rewarded for taking on messes that aren't your own, such as cleaning up after the baby when she's gone on a Tasmanian-Devil style tour of all the play bins. Once the sheet is covered, we will go for ice cream.
Really, it sounds so simple, but anyone with children knows that theory and practice don't always go hand-in-hand when it comes to the art of parenting. Will it work long-term, successfully making new habits out of messes? I'll update later! And let me know if you want a position on the campaign team!
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