Daddy's Big Day

Yesterday was Mikel's birthday. In the morning, I led the children to Mikel's bedside, where we sang him the Happy Birthday song. Mikel later told me it was very heartwarming to hear the children sing to him like that. Later that morning, Anna and Alexander helped me frost the cake, then we had a little celebration when Mikel came home for lunch. Later, we hired a babysitter so Mikel and I could have a little date night with dinner and a movie. Among Mikel's gifts was a double frame of special artwork the children colored just for their father.

The children were such good helpers with the cake, especially Anna. She really likes to help me out in the kitchen, so I'm going to foster that enthusiasm because it makes for good learning experiences. Alexander helped with the cake decorating for a short bit but, after sampling the chocolate frosting a few times, declared, "I don like choklate," then ditched Anna and me to go play with trucks. Except for the M&Ms he now covets during potty training, he really doesn't eat much chocolate. I've noticed he has turned his nose up at several chocolate-flavored things, including Oreos (thankfully, since they're very messy) and Teddy Grahams.

When I picked up Anna from school today, Anna's teacher reported that she'd had a very good day and felt badly that she may have gotten me worried on Thursday. Of course, we celebrated Anna's good behavior and she clearly enjoyed receiving praise. I've decided to try out a reward chart. I'll make some sort of calendar-type chart and give her a star or smiley face for each day she has no time-outs. If she can go a whole week, I told her we'd get her a Cinderella night-light for her room. She seems to be very excited about this, so I think it might be a good reminder for her to consider her actions. Already once today she's said "Cinderella night-light?" when she'd gotten a little rowdy and thought she was about to get a time-out. Maybe it's like buying her good behavior instead of really instilling it. I don't know, but if it works and actually causes her to think for a moment before acting out and gives her something to strive for, then I don't have a problem with it. Of course, I can't buy her something every week so we'll have to come up with some other kind of reward system for good behavior. Maybe more responsibilities or privileges?