Monday, March 16, 2009

A Bit of This and a Bit of That

I've been a bit slack in the blogging department sorry! So this post is a bit of a ramble ... mainly a catch up on the kids.
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They are both enjoying school. Don't particularly want me to leave, but once I do they settle down quickly and get involved.
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On Friday Maddison bought home her first lot of artwork :-) heheee. The first one is painting with cotton buds.

This one is just a free-for-all with yellow paint by the looks :-)
And this one is "free colouring". I think she had a little bit of help with the green pencil! LOL

And on Friday Aaron didn't want to leave he was very busy with the others colouring. This is his latest creation. It was actually really neat until he saw me then he just went crazy and scribbled all over the place! So I've called it his "Melting Ice cream" artwork LOL Like how he's written his name? He can spell it real good, just not so good at writing small a's and n's!!

Today we've started a "star chart" (or star charge as Aaron calls it! snigger snigger) for Aaron. It's just for about 6 things that he needs to work on! So we'll see how it goes.

I've realised I need to reward his "good" behaviour too, not just keep punishing his bad behaviour. So this morning he "helped" me make this chart and we wrote a list of things that I'd like him to do so he can get stars. If he's particularly bad then stars will be taken off the chart. So far he's got 2 stars today :-) One was for playing nicely this morning and not yelling and fighting (with me or Maddison!), and the other was for walking to school and not yelling and crying and whinging that he didn't want to go and he wanted on the computer. Will be interesting to see how he responds to it. We've decided his rewards will be on Saturdays, if Lyndon's home then we'll go swimming (I don't do that with them on my own!) or to the park to feed the turtles, or maybe Lyndon will take him somewhere special like to the Thomas Shop to play with the trains there. If Lyndon's not home then I'll take them to the playground and do something with them that we don't do that often, like the bubble machines etc.
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Yesterday we were discussing this star chart with Aaron and what it means, how he can get stars etc. etc. and we'd been out in the car and when we got back Lyndon was getting him out of the car and he told Aaron not to run off because it's dangerous and there might be a car coming etc. (I'll just add that this little speech happens EVERY time he gets out of the car, by either me or Lyndon and it doesn't seem to make much difference! anyway) Aaron just looked at him and grinned. So Lyndon said, "Do you understand Aaron? Do you know what dangerous means?" There's a bit of a pause then Aaron goes "Yes, it means fall down"!! LOL Lyndon and I just grinned at each other. (Think he's got that from us telling him not to jump on the couch or bed because it's "dangerous" and he could fall and hurt himself.)
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Maddison's latest words are:- MORE (this is said very loudly) and See :-)
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So life is interesting isn't it. They come out with all sorts of little things that make us laugh, even when we are cross with them. Ahhhh what would we do without the little darlings huh!?? :-)
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On Saturday afternoon the kids and I went to Scrap-n-Crop for a Crop.Arty. I haven't quite finished the little mini album I started. It's about 90% done. I've been out this afternoon and taken some photos and just want to put them in before I blog it. So hopefully tomorrow I can do that. I have been scrapping a little too, but not doing a LO a day unfortunately. Most of what I have been doing is kit stuff, so I can't show you yet anyway!
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Lyndon got back from Korea on Saturday night and so far he's not heading away this week! Woo Hoo :-)
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Okay, off to organise something for tea so it's ready when the kids are finished school.

6 comments:

Serene Ho said...

Kids say say the darndest things really! And cool drawings! Looks like Aaron and Maddison are following mummy's footsteps!

Anonymous said...

Love the artwork!! It's great that they both enjoy it so much.

Reward charts are a great way to encourage behaviours that you like. Kids just love to be rewarded for things, and although at times it feels like you are praising/rewarding them for things that they should just be doing normally (!!) it is still a great technique. I'm sure Aaron's one will be no exception.

topkatnz said...

Well sounds like you've got a wee super-nanny thing going on in your house ... have you checked for hidden cameras!!!!HEEHEE!! Glad you've got Lyndon home this week. Over the years I have found myself repeating things over and over and am now quite resigned to that ... Glen, on the other hand cannot understand why it has to be that way ... hmmmmm ...

Penny said...

Kid's art is always interesting :)

Good luck with the star chart. I found Tim never responded to them. The delayed gratification thing just never seemed to work for him. But for some kids they seem to do really well.

Anonymous said...

awwww I like Miss M's cute cotton bud painting. Wow she is growing up so fast. Hey good on you with the star chart, sounds like it will be a success.

penelope haque said...

Hey Rachel, Maddy's work is what we adults call mixed-media art. I see some budding talent there. Wonder where she got it from. Hint Hint