Smiles, Stars and Frowns

It's so nice to have David back. But, we wouldn't be a family without a little bit of conflict. Yes, David and I disagree and argue from time to time. Althought I'm not fond of it, I'm glad we use these events in our relationship to check in with each other and refocus on things. And, most of the time, it's just miscommunication between us.

We had such a thing happen today. I think part of the challenge was the kids readjusting to having him back. It's harder for Vincent to make the shift to changes than Tyler, although, according to David, he was a bit out of sorts in their class this morning. And, in general, the boys are different on the weekends when we are both present. Eventually, it gets to us grown-ups, and we take it out on each other, usually in the form of snapping at each other over little things.

But, after a good nap from both boys, the second half of our day was smoother.

Oh, this morning, I took Vincent to Chinese school and David took Tyler to Seattle Central. Vincent requested that we go to Canton Noodle House again, so he and I picked them up from SCCC, and headed to the I.D. for lunch. They did well, even though Vincent ate much slower today than on Tuesday. While there, a family with 5 children came in. When they left, the owners of the restuarant had this look of, "Whoah, what just happened??" Yeah, those kids were more active than ours, but there were FIVE of them. Still, I felt just a tiny bit smug that mine were calm.

We hung out at home the rest of the day. The boys watched the second half of "Toy Story" while I made dinner. I decided to give Vincent his own mini portion of salad, since he's been eating it lately. He finished everything on his plate for dinner!

From left to right: Baby greens salad with balsamic vinaigrette, breaded and baked panko talapia fish (from Costco), ketchup, sauteed kale. In the bowl is roasted sunchoke soup. 

He ate everything on the plate and about two spoonsful of soup. He said he didn't like the soup. WHAT?! Not like sunchoke soup? David finished it for him, but he missed out.

Tyler was given everything except the salad. In its place, he had avocados. He rejected the kale, of course, played with the soup, and ate everything else.

After dinner, David played with the kids while I deep cleaned the bathroom. We put Tyler to bed and let Vincent stay up for "Movie Night." The three of us watched "Toy Story 2" and ate lots of popcorn. He was so giddy after the movie, it was very cute.

I almost forgot to mention the smiles, stars and frowns...Vincent has a reward chart now. If he feeds the kitties 3 times a day (or at least checks on their food), he gets a smiley face at the end of the day. If he behaves himself (this is the part where we use to our advantage - don't look down on us!), he gets a star at the end of the day. If he fails to do either of those, he receives a sad face. We're actually pretty relaxed about this system. If he gets a smiley face all week, he receives a weekly allowence. We remind him to feed the cats, so he basically gets a smile each day. If he gets 5 stars in a row, he gets a movie night on the weekend. It's our first week implementing, and we want it to be successful, so we aren't too strict with him. He got his movie night, and tomorrow he will receive his allowance.