So yesterday was William's first parent-teacher conference. There are no report cards in junior kindergarten so essentially, this meeting is his report card. We were curious how the little guy was doing. He seemed to like school, always comes home happy and in a good mood. We certainly don't have to twist his arm to get there....but we also know he has a multitude of, well, let's just call them "other" sides.
For the most part, it was all good news. He knows his letters and numbers, plays well, is happy, likes being there, maybe a little too much. Apparently William is almost always the last to put his coat and boots on for hometime. Yeah, he struggles a little with the zipper and his left and right shoes, but the real reason is because he's chatting away to everyone, slowing others down as well. His teacher told me that she has to "redirect" his attention. Likewise during storytime. More "redirection". Gotta love the subtext there...read: distractive and disruptive.
Anyhow, all normal and nothing to worry about. In terms of at home behaviour, that's another story. Both Bo and William need some incentives to, ahem, cooperate. Hence our "Santa's Naughty and Nice" Chart:
It has been an interesting experiment.
In all honesty, we didn't think it would have
any impact on the boys' behaviour. But it has.
When the boys did something like intentionally
hitting without remorse, or speaking to us with
a lot of attitude, they'd get an "X". This did not
lead to improved behaviour. Rather, it led to a
bunch more X's and a lot of stomping around,
throwing toys and "Go Away!".
However if the boys begin their day with a Happy Face sticker, then generally, the day goes well and they're motivated to get more stickers. It took a few days for us to catch on to this trend so now we really pump the "let's get a happy face" as much as possible. Still, there are days when they can't help themselves and it's X X X...hopefully they'll stay on the smiley face track otherwise I foresee a phone call from Santa.
In other news...Bo no longer cries when I drop him off at Duffer Doo (morning playgroup sans parents). This past week, the craft theme was robots. Now, I don't know why I did this, I can only surmise his little robots planted a seed in my subconscious but...I decided a couple of days ago, when I was having trouble getting through to the boys (all the time, really) that I would become "Mommy Robot".
I spoke in a robotic voice, moved like a robot, and displayed no emotion. Well, the boys loved it...so much that they seem to prefer Mommy Robot to me! They often tell me that they want Mommy Robot back, which, after a while, is exhausting. It is interesting though, how much calmer and attentive they are to me when I pretend to be the robot. Not sure what that means exactly.
As for Joshua, he's cute, demanding, but very cute. He's a sliver away from crawling, which frustrates him to no end, and just started clapping the other day. He is a real snuggle bear, and knows it.
Here's his more demanding side...and a typical evening in the Raz Boy household.
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