Thursday, October 29, 2009

Hmm...

Are there any other 9 year-olds out there that use the word, "lame?"

I had no idea that "lame" even existed in a modern kids vocabulary.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Nothing Like Monetary Incentives

Alek has a hard time getting along with Mikah. Not all the time, only 80% of the time or so. He torments him and it drives. us. crazy. Not only the tormenting, but the screaming that ensues. Please refer to this post.

We've tried all kinds of things to get Alek to stop, or at least curb it to a manageable and normal-for-brothers level but nothing seems to work. So, realizing that nothing talks to our son quite like money does, we've decided to implement a good-behaviour jar. Up to this point (and he turned 9 yesterday) Alek has never gotten an allowance but we've been thinking that it's time. So, here's what we're going to do... At the start of each month $20 in quaters are going to go into a jar, but each time that we have to get after him about purposefully driving his brother crazy a quarter is going to come out. Whatever is left at the end of the month is his. Eventually we will start putting quarters back in when we notice nice things that he does. Not right away though, first he has to work on cutting out the wrong behaviour. Cross your fingers that this will help re-inforce the positive behaviour that we know he is capable of.

When I explained this plan to Alek tonight he had this to say: "So what you're saying is, I had better get it all out of my system before the end of the month."   ~sigh~

I sigh because he's partially kidding and partially not.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

I was the good Bond girl, but I wanted to have the dresses and the high heels. I wanted the funky, sexy name. ~ Izabella Scorupco




If these hung in my closet (and I could fit in them) I would never wear pants again. 12 beautiful reasons to get this extra weight off. Check out ModCloth and find some inspiration for yourself!

 

Yeck

I wonder if this is a new low...

pulling some chips out of the bag for a little indulgent snack and while nibbling, find a purple-ketchup-chip-encrusted jellybean hiding in the bowl. Think about it for a few seconds, and then toss the bean and keep eating the chips, even while remembering that the bag was left out the night before, and while laying on the couch in a too-early-to-be-up stupor the carpet monsters had themselves an early morning treat. While still eating chips, wonder what grosser things could still be hidden in the bag.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Halloween Is A'Coming

There are many times that I wish that Alek never noticed all the glossy, gaudy costumes hanging in the stores. Alek is creative, but he has a very hard time with the concept of 'original creativity.' Aspergers definitely has something to do with this. He loves to play, but will most often re-enact specific scenarios instead of just going where the play may take him. So, for Halloween he MUST be something specific, something that he knows, and it has to look exactly like the real version. Easy right? Well, it would be if I would just give in and save us both the hassle and buy a pre-made crap costume. But what would that teach him? I want him to learn that making something can be so much more satisfying in the end than just buying it. Yeah, maybe the end result won't be perfect in a mass-produced sort of way, but it will be perfect to you.

So... last year Alek was a Clone Trooper; Commander Cody to be exact, and I made his costume minus the helmet. I'm still impressed with myself, and you'd think he must be too since he wants to repeat the costume again this year. But no, he still wants one that was made in China instead of one that his mother slaved over. He found his costume a bit too hard to move in, so he wants a redo. Now I just have to figure out how to actually sew the costume instead of using handy colored duct tape and poster board. Gah.
On a not-much-easier but happier note, Lukas and Mikah are going to be sock monkeys. I should probably start sewing their costumes this week...

Here's his costume from last year...
























And my funny costume when I was pregnant with Mikah...

Thursday, October 1, 2009