Monday, September 9, 2013

Weekend Wrap Up: Circus Fun and Positive Reinforcements

So the weekend happened!  It was excellent, full of football, time with family and a couple of extremely enjoyable Outings.  Like the fact that we went here:
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Just like everyone else in our town with small children... at least according to my Facebook feed.  But when the circus is smart enough to advertise at daycare, parents sorta have no choice but to pony up the money and go.  Although I will say the circus seems to REALLY have improved from what I remembered as a kid.  it was much more of a show... I enjoyed it, Boo did not.  So... there are two opinions for you!
Circus!
Henry was scared at first because they kept talking about the REAL DRAGON they were bringing out. And he may be four, but he is old enough to know he has no interest in being in a trapped arena with a FREAKING LIVE DRAGON.  Once I explained the dragon was pretend, he settled right down and loved the show.

Circus!
Boo, Chris and Cici enjoying the greatest show on earth

Besides the circus, another large event happened this weekend.  Awhile ago we introduced a positive reward system with Henry.  It felt better than constantly telling him "Don't/Stop/Quit" or begging him to eat new foods, go to bed easy, stop crying at daycare drop off, etc..  So, we told him about gold coins.  Every time he went to bed easy, stayed in his own bed all night, went to school easy or tried a new food he could get a gold coin.  And if he collected SIXTY, we would use them to buy Disney Infinity.

 I didn't know if it would hold his attention long enough to keep going to sixty, but boy was I wrong.  He LOVES his gold coins. He is SO PROUD of his gold coins.  He was like a new child at bed time and daycare drop off.  He regularly wants to count his coins, and asks how close he is to sixty.  It has taken awhile, but as of Friday he had 42.  Nick told him if he was really brave with his shots, he could have nine coins for each shot and that would put him at sixty. It was the sweetest, most heart breaking thing I have ever seen when he tried to stop crying after they gave him the shots and he said through his tears "How.. many... coins... did I get??"

RIP OUT MY HEART... HERE CHILD!  HAVE ALLLLLLLLLL THE GOLD COINS IN THE WORLD!!

So anyway, Saturday we made a trip to Toys R Us
Someone saved up SIXTY gold coins for good behaviour to buy a very exciting new toy! the whole family is already loving it :) #DisneyInfinity

This is one happy boy.

Actually its one happy family because we are ALL loving this game.  Although now that I understand how Disney Infinity works, and how much extra STUFF you buy, I have a sneaky suspicion the "Infinity" in the name secretly has a dollar sign in front of it.  (KILL ME NOW.  Also, grandparents:  Christmas... hint hint)

And now Henry is trying to decide what he will save his gold coins up for NEXT :)  I am loving the positive reinforcement plan.  It's fun to talk about and plan, and it just makes things seem a lot easier around our house.  Even if sometimes it does feel a LITTLE like we are buying his good behavior.  OH WELL!  Whatever works.
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1 comment:

  1. LOVE THIS!!! As a teacher, positive reinforcement is key but oh so hard to do in your own home! We are struggling with night times and pottying at preschool. I may just have to implement this gold coin thing. Kayden just turned three (TODAY!!!) so I'm not sure how long it will hold his attention, but anything is worth a shot at this time! Thanks for sharing!!

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