The m&m jar

Well, I feel compelled to tell everyone I know about the M&M jar. It has revolutionized the lives of not only my son, (called Zakaray - I'm being so safe, husband!) and myself. I need to share this with other mothers just in case they are looking for that perfect disciplinary tool, other than the normal spanking. Here's how it goes. There are 3 jars. One with a happy face, one with a sad face, and one full of M&Ms in between. As we go throughout the day, Zak is instructed to put M&Ms in the jars according to his behavior. At the end of the day, if there are more M&Ms in the happy jar than sad jar, he gets to eat the ones in the happy jar. If not, they all go back to the full jar and we start over again the next day. I can't tell you enough how much motivation it is for my 4 year old to put an m&m in a jar. It doesn't even have to be the happy one. He told me how much fun it was the other day. And it has cut down on the whining, selective hearing, and fighting with the sister. Now there are a few annoyances. Like when he tells me he put the toilet lid down, and now can he put an M&M in the happy jar. We've had to establish that I am the one determining when he gets to put one in - not him. Just now he came out of his room during quiet time and tried to talk to me for 5 minutes. I just brought up the m&m jar and he scurried back to his room. Now if your someone like my sister, who will probably write a comment on the negative effects of M&Ms and your body, you could use pennies. But for us - right now the M&Ms are working wonders and the most he's eaten at the end of the day so far has been 9.

FYI - Rene' slept from 10pm to 7:30am last night. That's 9 hours people. I haven't gotten 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep in about 6 months. That's right - I'm a new woman.

Now, for some blog news. I'd really like to put some pictures on here but let me tell you a funny thing that happened. I can no longer upload pictures to my computer through my printer with my video card, and here's why. One day, I wanted to upload some pics my mom had gotten so I was using her card. It is a different size than mine, but she has the same printer as me so hers should fit in mine, right? So I am continually jamming her card in my printer saying things like "I can't believe I can't get this in right" and my mom is saying "be sure and push it all the way in" Well it never went in and we gave up. Now my printer says "photo card is in backwards" and there isn't a photo card in. Later that night my mom calls to tell me that she's sorry, she had given me the camera battery to jam in my printer. Now no matter what I do, I can't get it to quit saying "photo card is in backwards". That's a very long story to tell you it might be awhile until I get some pictures up. But I promise, I'll make it look pretty soon.

Now, since its officially "nap time and quiet time" I'm off to dig in the pantry for some form of chocolate.