Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Conversations with Calvin

These days the boy vacillates between being the biggest pain in the rear, to this witty, intelligent, adorable little thing that we can't get enough of. We started a reward chart for him to work on behavior for things like meal time and bedtime. The past few days have been a dream as he's gone out of his way to share, eat his food, go straight to bed, clean up his toys, change out of p.j.s without a fight (he wants to wear them all day everyday) and otherwise be a cheerful and delightful boy to have around. Today he finished his sticker chart, and his reward of choice was:
He wandered around the house all day saying, "Mom and Dad, thank you so much. This is the best day I've ever had." He's spoiled, so I can't imagine that getting a new toy was really that dramatic, but I think he is really proud of himself that he worked hard for it and earned it.

One funny conversation when we started the chart:
Dad: If you want Bullseye, you'll have to earn him. You'll have to do good things until you have enough stickers to earn him.
Calvin: But that's not fair!
Dad: Actually, it's the very definition of fair. You do something to earn a reward, and you receive what you earned. That's exactly what fair means.

Who talks like that to a 3 year old? Made me laugh.

Anyway, he's been unbelievably well-behaved and sweet. I'm totally not above bribery if this is the result.

Also, last night we went to play in the yard and had this conversation:

Me: Do you want to wear shoes or bare feet?
Calvin: (very confused) Bare feet? What do you mean? I don't have bear feet; I only have Calvin feet.

He's a gem.