Prebble Family Tales

Gareth went an entire week with minimal fighting due to his new sticker reward system.  He now has a grid of tasks (be good for the nurse, get ready for school without fussing, do homework, et cetera).  For each tasks he completes, he gets one star sticker.  When he reaches 25 stars, he gets a reward.  Last week, it was a Thomas the Tank Engine storybook CD.

This week, it’s a remote control car that flips over.

The deal is, however, that he must get all of his stickers in a single week.  They don’t carry over, so if he misses the mark, he has to start at the beginning again the next week.

The chart seems to be working for the most part.  He has really pulled things together now that he has an interest in doing so.

Sibling jealousy has arrived in the worst way.  Gareth has started throwing tantrums and whining/crying for every little thing, having learned that Collin gets immediate attention when he cries.

For a brief moment, Brandy and I considered using the “I’ll give you something to cry about” threat we often heard as children.  No, not really… we’d never resort to that.  But there are those times when the crying is so illogical and then, on top of that, to have it coming from a child who literally can’t tell you why he is upset.  It’s frustrating and maddening.

Today was the first day in a week that Gareth wasn’t just being awful, but he still reverted to bad behavior a few times.  It’s not easy for the kid, spending 7 years at the center of the universe and then getting bumped out of orbit.  We’ll do what we can to help him through this.

Speaking of his nemesis (Collin), new photos are up on the Flickr site.

Well, it would be a happy new year if each and every one of us weren’t sick.

After a whirlwind couple of weeks, what with Collin in the hospital (he’s fine now), Christmas, Brandy having to deal with 15 consecutive days with both kids home, and the usual hectic nature of life, we’ve left 2008 behind and started 2009 tired.

But it’s not all doom and gloom.  Gareth and Collin both had a great Christmas and got lots (and lots) of gifts.  Gareth benefits from having a two-fer month in December with his birthday on the 3rd and Christmas the 25th.  After this month is over, we usually have to spend time getting rid of all the old toys with which Gare no longer plays.

Collin is not yet to that point.  The point to which he is, however, is the very vocal, chatty point.  He’s making a lot of noise these days to let us know he’s happy, excited, hungry, tired, and soiled.  He loves taking baths and enjoys a good round of beatboxing.  [For the sake of clarity, Travis beatboxes, Collin listens.]