Monday: it was

Today was.  It had it's fine parts.  It had it's bad parts.  It had a few good parts, although the general stress of the day toned those down a bit.  Nothing huge, just normal life things.

But I made it and tomorrow is a new day and we'll try again.

Sunday: bedtime

Isaac has about a zillion bedtime routines.  His latest, with me, is to lay on my back while I read.

One reason he likes it is because he's already situated for bounces afterwards.  He loves being bounced after reading.  I tried to avoid it for a while and just let Ben do it, but it didn't work.  Our bounce styles are quite different, but it works for Isaac.

Saturday: overbooked

This week my plan was to get groceries on Friday.  Thursday rolled around and we really needed groceries, especially milk.  Well, that's when I realized that I had plans on Friday.  Well, it wasn't so much that I realized I had plans as that I realized I couldn't do both things.  I had been fully planning on doing both. 

Oh well.  I'll get groceries on Monday, I thought on Thursday.

Today I realized that I have plans on Monday.

So...Wednesday for groceries?  We might need to make an "emergency" run after school one day for some fruit and donuts.

Isaac didn't want pizza for dinner so I told him he had to make his own dinner then.  (I figure that pizza isn't all that healthy, so there's no reason to require him to eat it.)  He made a peanut butter/nutella/honey/lemon curd sandwich as was so excited about it.  It only took him about ten minutes to make, but he can do it!

Friday: hair cut, conversation

I donated my hair today.  My head feels so much lighter.  Besides the actual cutting, the stylist took off a bunch of hair in the middle...yeah, I'm not sure how to better explain that.  Anyway, she commented several times that I have a lot of hair.  This is normal, but it made me feel good since it seems like my hair has been falling out easily lately.  (The one time the stylist didn't say it I almost freaked out and wondered if I was loosing my hair.)

In the car today we had this conversation:
Isaac: I think maybe I figured out what I want to be.  When I grow up.
Amanda: oh yeah?  what?
Isaac: the person that takes the money.
Amanda: what do you mean?
Isaac: like at the restaurant or the grocery store...
Ben: oh, the cashier.  Do you realize that they don't actually get to keep the money?
Isaac: why not?
Amanda: they're just workers and have to give it to the company.
**stunned silence**

Thursday: sun

The drive from daycare to work was beautiful this morning.  There were dark clouds and dark shadows above me, but the sun had risen just a little bit and there were no clouds in front of it.  So it lit up a small band of trees and the dark clouds.

Wednesday: ham and squash

Here's the annual picture of ham and squash.  There was enough squash that we'll have it at least once more this season.  Today finally cooled off enough that it seemed appropriate.

Speaking of squash, I brought the leftovers out to the worms and the worms were all dead!  A week or two ago and they were thriving.  I'm not sure what happened...I'll check again in a week and see if there is any change, otherwise I will order some more and maybe split it into two groups so that I don't have to worry about them all dying.

In other news, Joshua still hasn't cleaned his room.  He's worked on it a very small amount here and there but is still just not really caring about the consequences.

Monday: the day

Joshua didn't clean his room yesterday, as you may remember, so certain restrictions went into place today.  1) Mom doesn't play with you (more-or-less) and 2) no screens.

It didn't phase Joshua at all.  He played well in the morning.  I got a ton of work done, including cleaning under the fridge.  It always amazes me what I find there.

He had his first dentist appointment.  He almost lost it right before getting into the chair, but pulled himself together.

No screen time after rest time didn't phase Joshua.  This is where I thought we'd have a tough time.  He cried a bit before rest time when I reminded him, but that was about it.  I kept reminding him to do his room and what the consequences would be, and he kept deciding not to do it.

Since he was on no screen during dinner, he ate in the kitchen with his tray while the rest of us watched our show.  He was done rather quickly but then just played with his race track.

Ben and I were commenting on how we don't really know how to motivate him.  Treats after eating all his food doesn't do it; he's excited if he likes all the food and eats it all to get a treat, but if he doesn't like the food then no treat is fine too.  Apparently screen time is so important when it is 'deserved', but if he doesn't deserve it then he'll find something else to do.  The only thing I've had any luck with lately is date balls...he managed to get both of his car seat straps on for a date ball.  (It's just chopped up dates and chopped up peanuts stuck together.)

I'm curious to see...will Joshua give in and clean his room?  We think we'll keep going with this until Saturday, which is the normal cleaning time.  If he doesn't clean on Saturday we might need to change consequences.