Positive Reinforcement

First, I apologize for the lack of posts lately. To say October has been busy for the Feldmanns would be an understatement. Traveling for D, loads of fall-related activities for the girls (aka - fall-related projects at school for Paige and fall-related separation anxiety everywhere for Blair) and haunting at The Children's Museum for Mommy.

Expect an October-recap soon. Like, a week from tomorrow or so.

In the meantime, a quick post to keep you satisfied.

On the advice of our pediatrician (and numerous fellow mommies), we have started a system of 'positive reinforcemnt' for Paige. Meaning, Mommy will hopefully yell less and Paige gets to have stickers on a chart (a decrease in the amount of yelling is directly related to an increase in the amount of stickers...see how smart I am? Wow. Sometimes I even impress myself).

Soooo, Paige's first chosen prize was a trip to the ice cream shop (or 'ice cream factory' as she calls it) with her Daddy. Second chosen prize was a trip to The Children's Museum. Both were quickly achieved.

Then, as expected, she lost interest. I was forced to choose her third prize for her, because "I don't care Mommy, you just choose something" was the response I received when I asked Paige what she wanted.

I chose a witch Pez dispenser. What I would consider a hot-ticket item.

It's been sitting on the counter, next to the stickers and the sticker chart, for 5 days.

Folks, let me just clarify - the bar for getting a sticker on that chart is pretty freaking low. Like, all-Paige-really-needs-to-do-is-try-not-being-sassy-for-a-few-minutes-in-a-row-or-stop-trying-to-strangle-her-sister low. And she only needs 10 stickers to get a prize.

Anywho...she FINALLY got the stupid awesome witch Pez dispenser this morning. As I opened the package, I noticed something on the label.

M: "Paige. This Pez dispenser glows in the dark."

P: "Are you kidding me, Mommy?"

M: "I'm not kidding. It says right here on the box, 'GLOWS in the dark.'"

P: "Stop it, Mommy."

M: "I won't. It's a true story."

P: "This. Is. Awesome."

And it was worth all five days. Because, let's be honest. Who doesn't enjoy a little sassiness with their positive reinforcement?

**Story update - since I've started this post, I've heard Paige explain to Blair that she can't have any Pez  because she is "a baby and not a good girl." This is a direct quote:

P: "Bear, you can't have any. You grab. You push. You tried to bited me. You have no stickers on your chart."

Hello, pot? This is kettle, and my name is Paige. You're black.