Riley and Avery

Yesterday was an absolutely fabulous day, Riley-wise. I decided that our fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants lifestyle juxtaposed to the well-ordered Montessori experience was causing a lot of stress for her, manifested in whinny moods, temper tantrums, yelling, and bed-wetting. So off we went to the local school supply store and bought an incentive chart, a sheet of sticker stars, and about a dozen little prizes (all about 50 cents). While she was napping, I set my plan in motion. She gets a star for picking-up after herself, sharing with Avery, playing quietly, going potty, and eating well and cleaning her dishes, and a star for miscellaneous stuff (like just being in a generally good mood, or helping me do something). When she gets five stars in a row, she gets a little prize. Riley was thrilled with the whole concept and has been nothing but an angel. I don't force the thing on her, but she likes picking out the star and putting it on her chart. The prizes are almost not necessary at all. It has also improved her behavior with Rudi because I made it a point for her to hear me explain the system to him so that when I go to work he can follow through.

So I went to work last night. I'll have to say that it was by far the best for Rudi so far, but not perfect. He is getting more involved with the girls. He said that Riley did cry for me at one point, but then got on her play phone and talked and cried to me for about 15 to 20 minutes, and then was fine. So she's practicing self-therapy already. I bought them (Riley and Rudi) some wooden popsicle-like sticks in the shape of boys and girls and a bag of googly eyes so that they can color puppets. I think that I'll work on making a puppet theater under our dining room table. The good thing about having such a high table is that an adult can sit under it quite comfortably. Avery did cry a little, but not nearly as much as she normally does. I think that when Rudi is more actively involved in playing with them, Avery is happy to participe, just watch, or simply soak up the good vibes. Children are like dogs, they can smell your fear, and Rudi is normally very afraid.