Eventful errand run

Well, here I am blogging about a trip to Walmart on Saturday night. Have I really sunk this low!?

After the boys went to bed tonight, I needed to pick up a few things, so I went by myself(!!) to Walmart. When I walked in, a store employee was on his cell phone saying, "They shoplifted right in front of me." I thought that was odd, but went on my way.

While shopping, I walked down the bread aisle and noticed that the section labeled "Breakfast To-Go" contained Hostess Ding Dongs and Ho-Hos. Only in America! Lol! I think (hope!) they were rearranging the aisles and just hadn't switched the sign yet.

By the time I exited the store, people had gathered around the front of the store because of the two police cars parked there. I saw a Northern Regional officer escorting an embarassed older teenage girl into a room behind the customer service desk. So that was a little out of the ordinary. It's pretty rare that we see any crime-related activity in Gibsonia.

Book recommendation

Not a Stick by Antoinette Portis is an excellent children's book for toddlers, preschool children, and early elementary students. With simple illustrations, it chronicles the little pig's imaginative use of a stick. Isaiah can't get enough of this book and has asked to read it every night before bed for the last week. We get most of our books from the library. I'm hesitant to purchase books because children get tired of reading the same books, but I'll definitely be adding this one to our personal library.

Goofy McElligot's Pool game for preschoolers

This week we borrowed Dr. Seuss's book McElligot's Pool from the library. This is a GREAT book which always gets Isaiah laughing out loud.

The other night I was looking online for fun activities to do with preschoolers, and I came across an easy game. First, cut out 10-15 small fish out of different colored constuction paper. Write a different fun activity on each fish, such as, sing the ABC song, count to 50 (or whatever), do the crabwalk, find something red, play Mommy says, find something yummy, do a silly dance (we choose to disco to the Oh Freak Out! song), etc. Put the fish in a bowl (we called bowl McElligot's Pool because of the library book we're reading this week), and choose one at a time.

I wasn't sure how the game would go over the first time, but Isaiah loved it. In fact, once we had "caught" all the fish, he put them all back in the bowl, and we played it again.


If you want to look at the education behind this game, you can see that it could easily include math, music, phys ed, science (if played outside... you can find leaves, bugs, etc), spelling (find something that begins with the letter P), etc. It's great when kids can learn something and have fun too.

Bob the Builder Exhibit at the Pittsburgh Children's Museum

We spent the day at the Children's Museum. This was the first time we got a chance to play in the Bob the Builder exhibit. Both boys had so much fun in that room. Here are some photos... Isaiah driving... We don't watch much Bob the Builder, so we don't know the characters names!

Sam sliding

This was such a fun interactive rock wall. The rocks were magnets and the wall was metal, so the boys got to help "build" the rock wall.

Getting balls (which represented water) out of the water pump

Sam just loved putting the balls (water) into the water pump

The air coming out of the tube was blowing his hair. =)

Isaiah planting a garden.

Sam playing with a tool puzzle

Isaiah designing blueprints

Isaiah climbed up the net in the garage room for the first time. He was scared because it goes up really high, but he did it!

Sam playing with the giant size lite-brite in the nursery room

Isaiah's sticker chart

Early this summer, Isaiah's behavior was getting totally out of control. He was getting multiple spankings each day which, clearly, wasn't working.

I decided to try a more positive approach to discipline and made a sticker chart. These are the things I expect my four-year-old to do every day:

1. Get dressed by himself

2. Eat breakfast

3. Get himself buckled in his carseat

4. Water the plants

5. Play nicely

6. Be nice to Sam

7. Help Sam get his shoes off when we get home

8. Help set the table

9. Eat lunch

10. Help clear the dishes off the table

11. Do schoolwork

12. Be Mommy's helper

13. Say please and thank you

14. Eat dinner

15. Tell the truth

16. Get a bath

17. Brush his teeth

18. Go straight to bed without getting out of bed

If he gets stickers for mostly everything (this is somewhat subjective) he will get a smiley sticker for the day. After he earns 15 smiley stickers, he gets to do something really special. In fact, he earned his 15th sticker on Saturday night, and he's due for something special. I'm debating taking them to the Children's Museum or the Pirate game tomorrow. Chances are he'll choose Wildwood Highlands. He loves that kids' indoor play area.

I've noticed that the more consistent I am with his sticker rewards, the harder he tries to earn the stickers.

I realize that behavior modification alone is not enough. Reward charts get a bad rap because they feed into the child's own selfishness. (They're only doing the right thing so they can get the reward they want). I know children need to know WHY they are doing things and making the right choices. But I've tried to reason with Isaiah and explain why we act certain ways (to be considerate to others, to be kind, etc.) but he just doesn't get it at his age. So at this point, I'm ok with him just choosing to do the right thing. The WHYs will have to be understood in the years to come.