An "Oatmeal in my hair", "Chances", potty training, Cheerios Day

I had an "Oatmeal in my hair" kind of morning.  You know (or maybe you don't know) when you are finally finding that second in the morning to kinda maybe brush your hair (if you're lucky), and then your kid calls out to you for something so instead of brushing your hair you just get a ponytail holder and throw it up as fast as you can with the intentions of coming back to it in your next spare minute?  Only when that next spare minute arrived,oh maybe, an hour or so later, you just so happen to glance in the mirror and notice that you had your breakfast in it!  I DO!  I will say, oatmeal is NOT easy to get out of unbrushed, disastrously frizzy, curly hair.  So I just picked it out as best I could while another kid was calling out to me and I just moved on.  Sigh.  Yes, this was how the morning went.  I took a couple of phone calls to a bathroom and locked myself in because of loud out-of-control temper tantrums.  And I don't seem to be alone.  I heard of several accounts of crazy, unfortunate mornings.  Anyone know if a full moon is coming?  Or it could just be a bad case of the summer-is-coming-to-a-close-soons?  Well, whatever it is, our house had it pretty bad this morning.  But as chaotic and annoying as the first 3 1/2 hours of our day was, before lunch we were successful in turning it around.  That miracle came out of no where, but I gladly accepted it.  I really don't even know what flipped the switch.  It was like one moment, insanity, the next, we were all co-existing beautifully.  And then we had a very limited number of pathetic meltdowns the rest of the day!  All three of the kids were in chipper moods, and we were all able to play peacefully!  Well, as peacefully as three kids 5 years and under can do.  Whoop whoop!  
Today, I discovered yet another way to easily get chores completed by my five year old.  I guess his Papa had a talk with him about earning and losing "chances" for things a week or so ago because he's been questioning me on how he can earn chances to do things.  Mostly he is wanting chances to play his Super Mario Bros. video game.  I'm SO SO SO glad that I have been very strict on limiting his game play to every once in a while and not even every week because it has come in handy as a "chance getter".  As we implement this system, he may be playing the game more often, but I'll still limit the amount of time (but it will NOT be every day).  I have to keep it special in order for it to work.  Anyway, he keeps asking me how many chances he has until he can play the game.  I had just been telling him to be good, play nice, follow the rules, etc. and I would let him know when he had enough.  That didn't work for him.  He's the type that needs a number.  So I just threw a number out there.  I said you need 6 chances.  That got a lot of whining and I instantly said, "Uh oh...we're about to lose a chance!" and he immediately ceased!  It was magic!  He told me that he understood the things that made him lose a chance, so he asked me what he could do to gain chances.  I gave him a quick list of things, for instance, clean his room, help with laundry, share his toys, etc.  He turned around and did everything he could on the list.  He even called down the stairs to me to ask if he could have an extra chance if he picked up his sister's toys in her room.  I couldn't turn that down so of course I accepted that.  I want him to know that I'm serious about him following rules and behaving so I gave him as many opportunities as I could today to gain his "chances".  I wanted him to succeed so that he would feel confident with this new reward system  He succeeded beautifully, and my house ended up really neat!  We also had a wonderful time working in his preschool activity learning book which gained him a "chance" as well.  He is getting so smart!  He also told me that even though he had thought that six chances was an unreachable number, he decided in the end that it was so easy to do!  (He might have made a mistake there, if I was a smart Mama I'd increase the number now before it becomes a set number and the plan backfires on me.)  The timing worked out perfectly to where Belle went down for nap, Nico got tired so he decided to rest with a movie, and Max and I were able to play the game together.  I think a lot of the reward (for both of us) was the special time we got to spend playing a game that he loves (and a game I loved as a kid).  He even told me, "Mama, I want you to be Mario because you said that you were Luigi a lot when you were little because Uncle Jon was always Mario."  My kid is so thoughtful and has such a big heart.  He doesn't need to know that I enjoyed being Luigi when I was younger.

We did a lot of other things today too.  Max decided that the outside would be "inside" and the inside was really "outside".  They crawled under the dining room table (I obviously swept the floor really good first).  They brought along a flashlight, radio, markers, paper, and a book.  They played under there for quite some time pretending it was their camp.  Max flipped through the book, "I'm a Big Brother", flashing his light across the words, but making up his own story aloud while Nico colored with markers. 

Belle did something big today.  She practiced eating Cheerios for the first time.  She hasn't ever had anything other than her rice or oatmeal cereals and a few different vegetables, but I wanted to see how she would do.  She really enjoyed playing with the Cheerios.  She needs more practice, but was able to pick up a couple of them.  I'm not sure if she was ever successful in putting them in her mouth herself, but the ones I tried to feed her, she thought were interesting.  She gummed them to death, and then either spit it out or made the cutest little face and swallowed it.  She has a little more growing up to do before she gets foods like that all the time, but it was a good practice day for her.  I also used it as a learning opportunity for teaching the boys about the things that can go in her mouth and things that can't.  I'm getting really nervous about her getting mobile and the boys' small toys being at her reach.  I really hope that Nico understood the lesson because he was having the best time feeding her the cereal.  Although that ended very quickly when I  discovered he was putting more than one in her mouth at once.  I think it is important for the boys to be involved with their sister and to understand that as she gets older and grows, she discovers new things and is capable of much more, but at the same time, I have to watch them like a hawk!  Sometimes they are a little too eager to help teach her things.  They are fascinated by her and I really hope it stays that way.  I want her to always have her two really awesome big brothers looking out for her.  I think she will though.  My kids are pretty amazing if I don't say so myself! 

Nico was A-W-E-S-O-M-E today with potty training!  As you may recall in a past post I mentioned that we had begun potty training by taking him at his bath time before bed.  Today for the very first time ever, he told me that he needed to "pause" what he was doing because he needed to use the potty.  I got excited and stood up to take him, but he told me to "sit down", he could go by himself.  I really really really wanted to believe him, but I told him that I would like to join him and surprisingly he let me without a fuss.  We went inside the bathroom, I got his diaper off, sat him on the big potty and he just went like he does it all the time!!!  I couldn't contain my excitement for him.  I was jumping up and down and hugging him like crazy.  I was so proud and I could tell he was so proud of himself too.  I rewarded him by letting him wear a Woody and Buzz Lightyear pull-up.  It has a symbol on the front that will signal if the pull-up is getting wet.  I had every intention of checking on it from time to time, but I didn't have to.  Nico came to me and told me that he thought that he was "messing up" the picture on the front and that he better go to the bathroom.  When we got there and on the potty, he successfully went again!!!!  Another proud moment.  This time he asked for a blue prize.  I'm not sure where that came from, but I wanted to honor that choice.  I found him a Ring Pop with a blue ring for him to enjoy.  He and I were so happy, and we couldn't stop grinning.

The three kids and I went on a "Bear Hunt" today.  I have no clue where the idea came from, but I decided to google the lyrics for the song "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" and the kids and I acted it out a couple of times.  It's a great song because the kids would repeat a line that I would say first and we were able to make up some movements with it.  Add in a little acting and goofing around and we had a great time!  They said they wanted to do it again when Papa got home (oops, we forgot) and again on another day.  Of course, when we were finished, I must have gotten distracted (probably I had to get something for the boys from the kitchen) and I left the print-outs on the floor beside the baby.  I came back just seconds later and one of the pages had been ripped to shreds.  Baby girl works fast!  Guess I'll be printing that off again! 

Overall the "Oatmeal in my hair" kind of morning had no effect on how the rest of the day played out.  You know, some of that oatmeal may very well still be in there somewhere, but we didn't let that or any of the other "messy" moments spoil our day.  In fact, this afternoon was one the BEST we've had yet this Summer!

Max built this trophy with nothing more than his imagination.

Then he decided to improve on it!  Gotta love the wheels!

  

The original Matching game.
Anyone else hate matching socks with the passion that I do?
This was part of the blahness of our morning, but when it was
complete it added to the greatness the rest of the day became.