Better

That’s what I would call today-“better.”  The boys were infinitely better today!  We had playgroup here this morning, and they were very excited about that, so I think that helped keep them on their best behavior.  All of the kids had a great time.  They played on our neighbors’ swingset, in our sandbox, and on our slide.  There was a calm for about one minute while they ate some cookies, then back to craziness.

After the boys’ buddies left, Noah and Caden started cleaning up the yard-without being asked!  It was fantastic!  When we came inside, I told them how proud I was of them for being so good and helpful.  Their faces lit up with the praise.  I guess it’s true what they say about positive parenting!  I told them that since they were so good, we could have a “picnic” in the living room for lunch and watch some shows.  Before lunch we did a puzzle together, then played a game of “Candy Land.”  It was great!  After lunch, we headed down to the basement to play with trains and play some baseball and hockey.  As we were making our way back upstairs for naps, the boys had a little break in the “goodness,” but they pulled it together.

Naptime was a little bit of a different story.  I was trying to get them to bed a little early so we could run out to buy shoes after naps before dinner, but apparently they weren’t that tired.  I heard them talking for a while, then found Noah in bed with Caden.  It was frustrating, but eventually they went to sleep.

Our trip to the mall was quite successful, too!  It was time for new tennis shoes, so we went to Stride Rite with Nana in tow to help corral the boys as needed.  As much as the boys wanted light-up shoes, they were satisfied with the cheaper, non-light-up shoes, and my bank account was happy, too!

Dinner was the best we’ve had for a long time.  No need to force anyone (read: Caden) to the table to eat, no time-outs, everyone ate the food in front of them, and everyone stayed mostly clean!  Yipee!!!  So we treated the boys to a trip to the driving range.

I wish I had taken our video camera to the driving range.  The boys are very fun to watch.  Caden places his hands on the club like he’s a leftie, but swings rightie.  Then he sort of steps up to the ball, aka “Happy Gilmore.”  Noah has a very out of control back swing because of the length of his club and the weight of the head of the club, but he makes pretty good contact.  The driving range is right next to a little airstrip,and they were enthralled by the helicopters and planes flying overhead.  It was a lot of fun.

When we got back, Caden and I worked on an alphabet puzzle.  I would tell him the sound the letter makes, then say the letter, then tell him the picture to look for on the puzzle so he would know where to put it.  When he got to the letter “C,” I asked him what letter it was.

“C!” he said.

“And what is ‘C’ for?”

“CADEN!!!!!!”

“You’re right!”

“YEAH!!!!!!!!!!” (screaming and jumping up and down)

It was hilarious.  He’s learning.  Granted, he thought almost every other letter was “P” (except for “W” which we teach our kids right away-“W for Wisconsin!”), but he’s doing just fine for a 2 1/2 year old!

So today was better.  Much better.  I picked up “Scream-free Parenting” at Barnes & Noble today.  We’ll see if we can make some great changes.  Here’s hoping!