Friday, September 12, 2008

Thankful Thursday. Erm, Friday.

Well, I have completed the first week of this new blog!

2 days ago I broke down crying. Chayce had me at the end of my rope. Since his 3rd birthday he's had this HORRIBLE attitude problem come over him, and just won't shake it. I try positive discipline, and lately it's going NOWHERE. He's at his worst when he's around other adults. He shows off and tries to push me over the edge and see how far he can go before he gets in trouble. He got to where he was hitting other kids, using a mean tone of voice all the time... just being TERRIBLE. So, I woke up 2 mornings ago WITH VENGANCE. LOL

I went into his room and he didn't know WHAT was going on. I emptied out all of his toys in his room, all the toys in the living room and sorted through them. ANY toys that aren't educational were removed and put away. I unplugged the cable and removed his DVD's. Then, I wrote up a schedule.

He's only allowed 30 mins. of TV, twice a day. On Fridays he's allowed "Movie Night" and can watch a full length movie. Lucky for me, tonight is Girls' Night Out and I'll be in Orlando, so Jon and Chayce can enjoy movie night together. We have designated time for playtime, craft-time, storytime, etc. Just in 2 days this child's attitude is TOTALLY different! We already see some improvements! We have had issues with Chayce at night-time since his 2nd birthday. He WON'T sleep in a bed/his bed. Only on the floor. We got to where we just didn't know how to handle it anymore and let him sleep in his floor. Well guess what? 2 nights ago he slept IN HIS BED. Finally! For the first time in about a YEAR.

This morning I sat down with him and started teaching him to write his alphabet. Today we started with letter "A" of course. 3 pieces of paper later (LOL) We ended up with about 5 proper "A"'s, which is exciting for a 3 year old! So, already we're seeing positive changes!

Yesterday was Thursday, and I totally forgot to post "Thankful Thursday", so I'm going to do it today. So, here we go!

1. The Radio: Y'know, for obvious reasons.

2. Mechanical Pencils: I love these things! I can't stand regular pencils. I like being able to replace the lead and erasers on them. I've always preferred them. I have about 3 of them I cycle all the time. Wonderful idea, whoever came up with them.

3. Ben & Jerry's ice-cream: Who knew a pint of vanilla would be a great "treat" for Chayce's good behavior?! He gets a small scoop for behaving, and it's going over very well.

4. NFL Football: WOO HOO!!!!!!! It's back!

5. Chayce's Lunchbox: Since I babysit from my home, it's such a pain to prepare 5 lunches at the same time everyday. So a few weeks back I let Chayce pick out a lunchbox at Target. Now, every evening I pre-make his lunch for the next afternoon and at lunchtime he goes to the refrigerator and grabs his lunchbox. 1 less lunch to worry about!

6. My Pastor: It honestly is an issue as a Christian to find a church that has a pastor that you can completely relate to. Some pastors can seem 'boring' to you, others just don't preach as you see fit. Some of ya'll know what I mean. But I honestly am very grateful for my pastor. He's an amazing man of God. I can't begin to describe HOW he preaches and HOW he does what he does, but every Sunday I just am so blessed to have found such a great preacher of the Word.