It's a Great Day

Well, my schedule got thrown off a tad because The AP is sick, but already had the kids lined up to be occupied, but I just feel really bad for her. I still got to shower on time to greet my customer with mascara and dry hair (and clothes too, of course), but as she was leaving the bus pulled up. Welp, there goes my morning plans to get "it" together.

Updated at 7:01pm
OK, so today didn't quite go as planned. The Housekeeper called and said she was sick. BUT but but she is coming on Saturday while we are gone, so I get to come home to a clean house! Yay! When The Elder got off the bus I said, "After lunch today, you're going to help me wrap gifts."

"You can do it aaaaaalllllll by yourself."

I think he was trying to be encouraging...he eventually helped me and I got some pictures on my camera, but I dropped it so it is broken for now. Great timing. Anyhoo, when I checked The Elder's folder, he got one big circle around the GREAT's. Not only was it his first GREAT mark, but they were ALL marked Great!! I'm so excited!!

The Teacher came and it was just the two of us. It was really good. I'm telling you I am in LOVE with this woman! I was not anxious at all. The Elder gave me opportunity to have to "parent" him and The Teacher actually praised me instead of correcting me this time! One of her philosophies that explains his improvement in behavior this week is that we are taking control away from him and he is freed up to be a kid, have fun, relax, and be happy. As opposed to uptight and anxious and stressed over making decisions as simple as "what do you want to eat for breakfast?" Looking at it that way, I don't feel so mean!

She gave me homework to do - at least one activity a day that is completely parent-driven. He gets no input and no choice but to follow my directions. She wants to keep the momentum going over the 2-week break while he is on the upswing of progress. He also has an obsession of pulling strings, which I've mentioned in this blog on my very first post:

B4. Two things come to mind when I read this. The Elder's obsession with strings - pulling and picking them out of clothing, bedding, throw pillow, furniture. Drives me mad! We have fluff falling out of every pillow and my jacquard comforter is "hairy" from all the broken strings hanging out of it. The other thing is his intense fear of buttons, though his dad and I just realized that it might be the button holes he dislikes. We might have to test that theory.

Her suggestion is to get a cheap towel from Walmart and only allow him to pull the strings on that until it is demolished. She said if it continues in the future, then he must be responsible for replacing his own towel. She predicts that I will have few academic concerns in the future and wants to focus on the behaviors. So in a Gold Star system, I need to pair a task that is simple that I know he can do, like putting on his shoes by himself, with a task that is a little more challenging for him, like sitting at the table for 5 minutes during a meal. A preferred with a non-preferred, and then extend the time/complexity of the task as he gets consistent. The hardest thing she is asking me to do is balance praise. I'm so used to "Thank You"-ing him and "Good Job"-ing him that it is very difficult for me to just sit there. She said praise is GREAT, but to not over-praise. He should not be praised for something that he is capable of doing and is expected to do, for example, sitting at the table during a meal. But to praise him when he does something that maybe he was incapable of doing before, and then raise the bar. For example, the fact that he knew to hug his brother when he slammed the door on his finger. I praise him for acknowledging it and then I pair the emotion to the body language. "That is so great that you comfort your brother when he is sad. I can see you were sad too because of your frown."

Very enlightening session and I hope others will get something from this post too.

Once The Hub came home, The Kiddos had found some microphones and were on the couch stage while we were on the floor audience watching them sing. We have a electric piano with a DEMO mode that The Elder has memorized (classical music) and a Snowman playing Carols on a piano that both have memorized (so cute) and they were performing a duet to the Clav and Honky Tonk demos on the piano playing simultaneously with the snowman singing a "Let it Snow/Jingle Bell Rock/Have a Holly Jolly Christmas" medly. If my camera hadn't been broke, I would've gotten video.

So now it is after 7pm and I haven't finished laundry, nor packed, nor come even close to getting the van ready. But Tulip Mom inadvertently issued a challenge so I'm still going to go for it!! All I need is a little extrinsic motivation to get me going. So what will that award be called?