I have been enjoying lots of special time this spring with my little Rebekah. Eve and Lydia have been taking pretty consistent morning and afternoon naps and Rebekah is only taking an afternoon nap about 50% of the time. This is leaving lots of time for the two of us.
So far, I have been surprised on (Rebekah wants to type: lkujhgf6yp;;ii;lklkkjhbc0000000000000000000000000000000000000) how much Rebekah is loving the outdoors and enjoying God's beautiful creation all around her. She is loving all the spring flowers like the bright yellow daffodils we have in our front year. Picking up sticks, bugs, coloring with sidewalk chalk is taking up much of our days. It is a joy to watch and participate in her discovery of all things new!
We have had several Rebekah "meltdowns" the last few weeks. Over silly things like she was hiding under the table after lunch playing house. I went down to try to wash her face and pretended to push the door bell on her make believe house and she just lost it. "Don't push the door bell" she screamed as she laid on the floor yelling and kicking...after I tried explaining I was just pretending and that I wouldn't push it again, she just kept going and going. After 3-4 of the meltdowns per day for a few days in a row, I was going to loose it. Ignoring her tantrum just wasn't cutting it, so I devised a little plan...yes it is bribery. After three days of no meltdowns, I told Rebekah that we would go to the new Candy Store downtown, Campus Candy. In four days, she managed to collect 3 stickers, and got to have a special treat. Here are some pictures of the new candy store, pretty impressive. She got a few smarties and some gummy letters. We also shared a small frozen yogurt and then enjoyed some of the downtown flowers. I wish I could say the meltdowns have stopped, but they still are continuing...any other suggestions out there?
I like to call bribery "positive reinforcement" :) We do it here too.
ReplyDeleteDo the meltdowns seem to come more on non-nap days? I think the transition to no nap is a difficult one.
Katie
WOW - that candy store looks HUGE! How fun!
ReplyDeleteWe've had 2 meltdowns recently & Isaac has started a few no nap days too. I wonder if it's the difference in schedule. For Isaac, he's much better behaved/mannered when we're very consistant in his schedule. I think even a day after a no-nap day he's still a bit off & more prone to meltdowns. Not sure how to deal with it though - that's why you had kids first, so you can teach me all you learn for when I go through it! :)
I am glad more of you have children with meltdowns too! We are in the transition to no naps. On days she does nap, she won't go to bed until way late--9-10 pm. Her sisters are usually in bed by 8pm. This makes me not want to put her down for naps, but then we do pay the price. I think she also sees her sisters crying/screaming and getting attention for it, so she tries it out too.
ReplyDeleteSo far bribery, I mean positive reinforcement, works well. I know they are not even three yet, but boy can Rebekah turn it "on" and "off" when she wants to!