Last day of being Three

A final toddler tantrum brewing (?)

Can I also call it the last day of the "Toddler"-phase?

I have been searching the developmental milestone sites, and it seems that the end of the toddler years is finally here.

Wow! Just like that we are passing another milestone!

Nooooo! 

Feeling quite sad about letting "The Toddler" go!
She has been so much fun and so exasperating and so lovable and so cute.
I hope there will be another few years of cuteness ahead!

She has been slotted in for the whole year with the four-year old's, and she was graded with all the four-year old's in her class.
She did not do too bad in her report card.
(Next year I will maybe go and ask about not getting a single top score of 4, but this year I will not worry about it!)

We still see a lot of toddler behaviour, especially those awesome tantrums, and hope that year four will have less of them! (Can I cross my fingers?)

There is much excitement in our house for the upcoming birthday.
She is counting the sleeps and told me to go and buy a chocolate cake with sprinkles, AND balloons!

That we will do!

Happy last day of  three, my little one!


The Preschooler is at hand!

The advent calender is a real winner

We made our second advent calender for the little one!

For a second year in a row I used Cat at Juggling Act of Life's details and printed out the calender.

She can't wait each morning to open the window.

Each night she spent a lot of time standing in front of the calender and speculating what is inside, and when she will be able to open it!

We bought some chocolates, and stickers, and a little doll with accessories that are scattered around the boxes.

The balloons seem to be a big hit, but the Hello Kitty tongue tattoos does not work, and only makes her tongue black, and leaving a slimy cardboard taste in the mouth.

(I should have started to search for little things a lot earlier... Next year!!)

Thanks again, Cat!


Related post:

The Christmas tree is up (the advent calender of 2011)

One month to the big 4

She is a month away from her fourth birthday.

This Mom has lost her budget mojo for party planning.
I don't think I ever had it, and day-dreaming (hers and mine) about kid's parties does not make it happen.
I think I will phone the teacher to take party packs to school before the end of the semester which happens within two weeks.
Watch this space! (Really!)

It does not make me feel better when I see all the blog posts about wonderful children's parties with wonderful themes...
My wish is to phone up a party person and say organise. I will pay! (I hope you hear me, Universe!!)

We are going to an athletics events at her school tonight, and we are looking forward to it! It seems it has generated a lot of excitement!

Some anecdotes of  recent times:

- I went to fetch the toddler the day before yesterday at school while they were busy reading a Christmas story to them. She was crying crocodile tears because she is "shy" for Christmas Father! (I have no idea what that means!)

- Last night we signed up at our local gym. I had the prerequisite that I would only sign up if she would be happy to stay in the kiddies section. She walked in there and did not want to go again! She loved it!
(So, no excuses for me!)

- We were at our local Dischem the other day, and Mieka told me that one of her friends at school has a roll-on, and she wanted one as well. As I don't like all the baddies in the roll-ones, I sold her on a spray which I hoped we could convince her to only spray on her clothes. But she is adamant that it should go on her "kieliebakke" (roughly translated: "tickle armpits"). It is also a word we do not use. So the next morning I had to help her lift up her clothes to spray it on, and when she got to school her father had to pray it on again! Luckily the novelty wore off after a day...


The weekend is upon us!
Off to the athletics!

Enjoy yours!

Movie Clip Monday #29 - Ballet Concert

The Toddler had her end-of-year ballet concert, after she had been going to ballet classes for the entire year!

It was the first time we got a glimpse of what they had been doing...

We've seen some steps and moves at home, but it was eye-opening to see what the ballet teacher Jacqui has done with them.

They were all very cute!

Caught being Good - List

Caught being Good

Following on last week's post 10 iPhone apps that help with discipline, I am going to look into each app separately.
I want to investigate to see if it's really helpful towards a more positive parenting approach towards discipline.

I have downloaded the Caught being Good app already, and "tested" it for the week.

I realised immediately that it needs a list of "Good" behaviour before we can use this app. I cannot just spin it every time we feel like it. The Toddler also loves the action of spinning, and she would happily press the button to spin continuously...


List of Good Behaviour for a Toddler:

- Allowing adults to talk without interruptions;

- Speaking nicely in the car driving to and from school (no screaming or whining):

- Going to the toilet on her own (including the washing of hands);

- Eating her food on her own (she does not have to finish it, but there must be some indication that she made an effort to tasting everything on her plate);

- Listening to her Teacher;

- Finishing an extra-mural class without asking Mom/Dad to hold her hand (we are looking on);

- Any feedback we get that she has been good!;

- Dressing herself;

- Well-mannered behaviour with friends, for example giving others a turn as well;

- A "Please" and "Thank you" without prompting;

- Saying "Hello" and "Goodbye" to people;

- "Good" age-related behaviour at venues/restaurants/shows - I do not expect the toddler to sit quietly for hours on end.

- Doing some small tasks such as the packing away of her toys.

- Helping out in the house, such as washing of dishes.

Do you have any more ideas for good behaviour?

Caught being Good -
rewards can be added or deleted

I like the fact that we can add rewards as we go along, and that we can change it accordingly.
I also like the fact that we can bank some of the rewards that are not possible to act on immediately, such as going to a movie!

I give this app a rating of  8/10.


Next week I will look at hAPPy family.


Related post:

10 iPhone apps that help with discipline

10 iPhone apps that help with discipline

I was alerted by Maureen Denard of FindaNanny.net about her article on 10  iPhone apps that can be used for disciplining techniques.

As we are still struggling with the Terrible Tantrums, I always welcome positive parenting ideas for handling discipline.

I don't have an iPhone, but the Ipad can be used just as successfully to download the apps.

I haven't tried all the apps yet, but I am looking forward to try out each one of them.

The write-up against each app is by Maureen Denard.

10 iPhone apps that help with discipline:

Positive Parenting Practices – "This $3.99 app is geared towards parents who espouse a more lenient, gentle approach to discipline. Positive Parenting Practices is more than an app detailing disciplinary methods, offering valuable insights into the motivation behind kids’ problem behavior and real-life solutions."

KidChart – "Charts are great tools for tracking kids’ accomplishments, chores and behavior. Unfortunately, they’re also rather difficult to carry in your pocket. That’s where this $0.99 app comes in, putting the power of a full-sized paper chart at your fingertips. KidChart is also an effective way to monitor kids’ daily behavior for later discussion, when cooler heads allow for constructive conversation."

hAPPy Family – "Encouraging positive behavior on the go is easy with this powerful app, which rewards kids with collectible marbles, ocean animals, treasures, insects or candy when they make the right choices."

iGrounded – "Teenagers are notorious for pushing boundaries a bit too far in a bid to assert their burgeoning independence. A game of consequences that you’re able to edit and modify to suit your teen’s individual needs, iGrounded is available in the app store for $0.99."

iReward – "The customizable motivational charts provided by this $4.99 app are designed for use by parents, caregivers and educators to reward good behavior. Traditional rewards, like gold stars, are among the options offered by this simple but powerful application."

Timeout – Ultimate Discipline Tool – "Tracking the length of a timeout to provide kids a visual representation of how long they are sentenced to this punishment is a snap with this application. The app isn’t loaded with extra features, but it does deliver exactly what it promises."

Tymoot – "Designed by a parent for parents, Tymoot is a $0.99 app that helps you create and set timeout timers. However, there’s a bit more to this one than meets the eye due to the Wheel of Discipline feature that allows your children to spin the virtual wheel in order to be “sentenced” to one of eight customizable punishments."

Caught Being Good – "The free CAUGHT BEING GOOD app takes the spinning wheel of chance approach to rewarding kids for undirected good behavior. You can change, add or remove any reward, and also set the probability of a particular one appearing. Surprising your child with an unsought reward for good behavior that you have not requested or directed is an effective method of encouraging her to continue on the right path, even when she doesn’t think you’re there to see her."

Positive Discipline – "Rather than a traditional punishment and rewards systems, the Positive Discipline approach relies upon a motivational system that helps kids to develop strong moral fiber, character and a sense of self-reliance. Encourage a sense of connection with the respectful, encouraging tone that motivates kids to make the right decisions in their daily lives, autonomously."

Rich Kids – Behavior & Reward Contracts for Child Discipline – "This $2.99 app combines positive reinforcement parenting tactics with a method of teaching the fundamentals of financial responsibility that helps kids grow into the well-rounded, well-adjusted adults they were meant to become. Suggested for kids between the ages of three and 15, Rich Kids is an effective tracking and incentive tool."

I think all of these apps need to be tested in your own family environment, with the input from the child. The more buy-in from the child, the more successful it will be. Of course the buy-in should be from the parents as well!

I like the Caught being Good app for being able to customise the rewards and being able to "bank" some of them until possible to complete or buy the reward! I also like the fact that the focus is on catching out being good, and not focusing on the negative!

I will let you know how it works!

The article from Maureen Denard is here: 10 iPhone apps that help with discipline

Movie Clip Monday #27 - Toddler singing "The Gingerbread Man"

The Toddler singing a song with an application on the "Lexy Tab", as she calls her Dad's Samsung Galaxy Tab.

"Crocodile, I am going to eat you..."

(Video by her big sister)

Reasons why I consumed a vampire book in a weekend

I struggle to read through a book, and sometimes it takes me months to finish one. I still need to finish the final Dragon Tattoo book in The Millennium Series... (I am going to!!)

But it is getting better with actually sitting down and reading! The Toddler can keep herself occupied for a while now, and when she sleeps, she is down for the night!

I have noticed that my reading has changed with the e-Reader. You search through the free ebooks, and get one which sounds a bit interesting...

And only after a few chapters you realize that it is a book about vampires, and now you have to see how it ends!

Especially since the heroine is a librarian who loves special collections of old manuscripts, and wears combat boots with pencil skirts. And dye her hair black, and works for a vampire!

Now it is only the first book in the Elemental Mysteries Book 1...
And the rest are not free!
Very slick, Amazon!

Have you also noticed a change in your reading material since having an e-Reader?