Mommy, will you play with me? Or, how to trick your kids into working

Last week the two older kids had a day off from school because it was parent/teacher conference days. Frugalgirl2 is used to being at home by herself (well, Frugalbaby is here too, but she's not the same caliber of playmate as the older kids). Frugalgirl wanted to play Barbies but her older sister was doing something else and wasn't interested. Since I had to go the school for a conference with a teacher, I was trying to get as much housework done as possible before I left. She came into the kitchen and said "Mommy, will you play with me?"

I said, "Sure, what are we playing?" The answer was Barbies. So I took the dolls little arms and pinched them together around a spoon from the drainer and said that she was helping me put away dishes. To my surprise, Frugalgirl2 thought this was pretty funny and started using her own doll's arms as tongs to put away utensils. After we emptied the dish drainer and moved on to the dishwasher, I said Barbie was tired from all the work and laid her down in the utensil rack.

Then I decided that there was no way I couldn't take a picture.

Snack update

After a week of my new snack program, here's my opinions.

Three yellow snack tickets per day is way too many. Some of the kids used them up exactly but some had some leftover. I did notice that they were much more aware of their snacking habits and it was easier to limit portion size (i.e., 2 graham crackers per ticket), they had enough yellow tickets that they never ate green snacks. After a trip to the grocery store on Thursday, there was a lot of fresh fruit so Frugalgirl1 often chose an apricot instead of something else, but for the most part, they didn't change their eating habits.

The number of red tickets that I handed out was perfect. I gave them each three for the whole week. We usually have what we call "candy bar Friday," where they get to have a candy bar in their lunch box or for an afternoon snack. I told them they had to pay for their candy bars, so they had to keep one red ticket in reserve for the whole week.

Tomorrow when I dole out the tickets, I am reducing the number of yellows by half. They'll each get 10 tickets to last until next Monday. They'll still get 3 red tickets. The hardest part for me will be keeping the green snacks appealing by having ripe fresh fruit, but in the summer that is a lot easier to do.

Snack Attack!

About a month ago I had this fantabulous idea about how to encourage my kids to eat more healthy snacks. One day I had given the kids a granola bar for their morning snack, and Frugalgirl1 (who is turning 7 today! Happy Birthday!) had the gall to ask me "How many granola bars can we have?"

I had always limited things like that to one per day anyway, but I had a brainstorm that I finally put into practice today. I'll report back on the progress.

I've divided up snack foods into 3 categories--green, yellow, and red. Green snacks are unlimited. At snack time, they can choose any green snack. Green snacks are fruits and veggies. Now, some people may disagree with my choice, but I have also included cheese and bread in the green snack category. The bread can't be covered in jam or honey; it has to be plain or with butter.

Yellow snacks have to be purchased with a yellow snack ticket. I have alloted the kids 3 yellow snack tickets per day. I handed out a week's worth. I am encouraging them to limit their yellow snacks to 3 per day so they will still have yellow tickets at the end of the week. Yellow snacks include almost everything. Granola bars, crackers, popsicles, muffins, etc. They are generally healthy foods but not the best choice.

Red snacks are the things I don't want them to have every day, like candy, marshmallows, cupcakes, etc. I have given them 3 red tickets for the whole week.

Maybe I should have given out fewer yellow tickets to begin with, but I am kind of hoping they learn to eat fruits and veggies instead of crackers.

on to other random topics...



We had the hay cut, baled, and sold in a period of 4 days.



This picture was also taken on July 3 and this morning I picked the first zucchini. There will be more in a day or two. Let the grilling of vegetables begin! I can't even wait!

Babywearing

Why on earth would anyone need more than one way to carry a baby around?

This is what I used to think, until I was introduced to all the fabulous ways to wear your baby. I have sewn two ring slings, a pouch, a gauze wrap, and I'm itching to do a Mei Tai.

Now I've found another one...and it will be even better if it's free! Go enter here to win a carrier made by Jenn of All Natural Mommies. Thanks to Erika for the heads up on this contest!

What will she get into next? or, Do you want some spice with that?

Some other things she has done during the last 3 days...

-climbed up onto my bed and squirted lotion all over my duvet
-found her sister's leftover hot chocolate and dumped it all over herself and the floor
-snuck out the back door multiple times to try and jump on the trampoline

I'm not quite sure how the next 17 years are going to turn out, just cross your fingers for me!

When I go to bed at 1 am

I am not such a nice mom the next day.

That is all.

Frugal Farm Mysteries of Life

How Frugalboy can wake up the instant his nose starts to bleed during the night, often keeping his bedding completely clean, but is unable to wake up before he vomits all over his bedding and carpet.

Why I have to apply anti-acne cream to parts of my face immediately before I apply anti-aging cream to other parts.

Why Frugalbaby is going to have to be sleep-trained again, darn molars.

Why Healthy Sleep, Habits Happy Child didn't work for me

You remember this and this and this. Well, two months later and here we are. When I read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child I really believed that I could sleep-train Frugalbaby with the methods in the book. But it didn't work. I was also fighting my two older girls with bedtime. In summers past, the light outside at bedtime didn't seem to make a difference. But this summer, there were nights that the bedtime fight lasted at least an hour. An hour, people. Add that to the additional hour that I would spend rocking the baby because I couldn't get her to go to sleep in her own bed. It was a trying time. When my sister was visiting, one of the nights she said to me. "I can't believe you have to do this every night." Unfortunately, she was here at a bad time. Now I want to call her up and tell her that I can have all four of my children asleep in 15 minutes!

Here's how I solved my problem. First, I picked my battle. I couldn't work on the baby's sleep until I got the older girls going to bed better. So I bribed rewarded them. I put a piece of paper on the fridge and every night they went to bed without getting out again, without jumping from one bed to the other, without asking for a snack they weren't hungry for, I let them choose a sticker in the morning. When they got 7 stickers, they got a treat. When they got 14 stickers, they got another treat. And then I didn't have to use the sticker chart anymore, and now the girls go to bed without a fight.

Now, on to the baby. A couple weeks ago Frugaldad had to go on a business trip for over a week, so I decided to take the opportunity to sleep train again. I put the playpen in my bedroom so I could put the baby in there whenever I wanted to. The first night she screamed for about 20 minutes. The next time, only about 3. The next night, and the next night, she didn't cry at all when I put her in her bed. I would nurse her when she woke, but put her back in bed right after. On about the third night, she woke after only a couple hours and I let her cry and she went back to sleep in about 10 minutes. Happened again the next night. Then Frugaldad came home and I put her in her crib again, hoping the transition between rooms would be all right. It was!

Now I can put the bigger girls to bed, and 15 minutes later I can put the baby in her bed. She doesn't cry and she goes to sleep. Two or three nights since then, she has woken up only once and then slept until after 7am.

What was the difference between sleep training this time and last time? This time I didn't try the ultra-early bedtime, so she didn't have the chance to wake up while it was still light and have to cry for a couple hours before I gave in and nursed her. This time I nursed her when she was hungry, and only fought the sleep. This time it worked.

Another good way to use zucchini

My sister was in town for the last 6 days (hence the extended absence) and she enjoys vegetables as much as I do. One day for lunch she made us a treat. I sliced up some zukes about 1/4 inch thick (I think I had 4 small ones) and halved some cherry tomatoes (maybe like a cup?) She heated up some olive oil in a skillet, sauteed the zukes until they started to turn golden but weren't mushy, then added the tomatoes at the last minute and seasoned it. It was delicious!

Two weeks(!!???!!!)

So it's been two weeks since I started the whole sleep thing with Frugalbaby. I won't bore you with too many details, but tonight she cried for 2 hours and 15 minutes. She doesn't wake at midnight anymore. Usually it's around 1:30 now, and she's nursing every 4 hours instead of every 3. I'd say we're 20% better than before. We struggle with bedtime and the Frugalsisters. But I do believe that the earlier bedtime is better.

Sometime soon I will post pictures of the raccoon babies that eat the cat food, and a picture of the grilled zucchini I made for lunch one day. Plus the recipe for a great salad that I invented to use up garden produce and herbs.

Crappy Sleep Habits Sleepy Mom

Saturday night's sleep was quite similar to Friday's, but worse. I put Frugalbaby to bed at 6 pm again. (I know this sounds early but she is tired! And if you count the hours she sleeps, she needs more!) She woke up at 6:45 and I let her cry until 8:45 before I fed her. I did go in once or twice to check and make sure she wasn't poopy. She went to sleep and slept until 1:45, then cried a little and went back to sleep until 7:00am when the alarm went off. I had turned it off but one of the girls must have messed with it.

For Sunday night, I was letting the girls go back to their beds instead of sleeping on my floor. But we have late church (don't get home until nearly 6 usually) so I didn't get the baby in bed until close to 7. And she didn't go to sleep. She cried until I put the girls to bed in there with her at 7:45. Then they giggled and talked until I took her out of her bed and separated the other two by sending one to my bed. She didn't get to sleep until around 9 I think, maybe even later. She woke up at 1 am. I had taken some Benedryl for a very swollen mosquito bite so I was very groggy, and I fell asleep nursing her in my bed and when I tried to put her back in her own bed around 3 she cried for about half an hour until I just brought her back in with me. I think she was cold, too, because the weather had cooled down a lot and her diaper had gotten her pants wet so she was only in a onesie and a shirt.

So now I'm afraid I'm starting at square one again. I'll try not to fall asleep when I'm up with her in the night again. We'll see how tonight goes and we may have to start again next weekend.

Sigh.

Chicken in Red, She lays an egg on your head

We have this reading video where there's all these songs that go with letters and stuff, and the one that talks about chickens laying eggs on your head also goes:

Sleep baby, sleep baby, sleep baby, sleep all night.


I started teaching my second baby to sleep by using the "eat-play-sleep" routine in Babywise. I'm not even going to link you to the book because I know some people really disagree with that book. Whatever. She slept throught the night at 8 weeks just like the book said she would. Never mind that around 6 months later she was waking again. I just blamed it on lack of routine. Baby #3 was very similar. So it didn't surprise me when number 4 did the same thing. But when she started waking up at night, things just got worse and worse. I've mentioned being tired before, haven't I? Lately I've just been bringing the baby into bed with me even though I don't really love co-sleeping. I wake up in the morning and I can't remember what time I nursed her last and then she started waking up and crawling all over the bed and frankly, I was scared she'd fall out. So yesterday morning after spending a very fitful night half asleep the whole time while the baby didn't sleep well either, I tearfully (because I get emotional when I'm tired) told Frugaldad that "Tonight is the night. Things have to change."

I read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child a few months back and that book really makes sense. But every time I tried to just let Frugalbaby cry, I'd give up because I just couldn't let her cry! And I didn't want her to wake the other girls. And she went down fine for naps, it was just when it was dark, she thought she needed to be with me. All the time. Rock her to sleep, and sleep by her. It was getting old, and fast. But then not too long ago my friend Lena also read the book and tried it and her son is sleeping great now. Since it worked for her, and her baby was older than mine, and even more clingy (is that possible?) I had to try it too. So I put the other 2 girls in sleeping bags on my bedroom floor. I put the baby to bed at 6pm. She hadn't had a nap since waking up 2:30pm, so she went to sleep right away. She didn't wake until about 8 when I was putting the other girls to bed in my room. My plan was to not go to her unless I thought she could be hungry. She cried for a half an hour before I went in, checked to make sure she didn't have a messy diaper. I laid her down and told her it was bedtime and then let her cry until 9. Then I went in and nursed her and put her back to bed. She cried until 9:30 and then she fell asleep. Then she woke at 10 and only cried a few minutes before going back to sleep.

Lately she has been waking around midnight, when I feed her and put her back to bed until she wakes again at 1 or 2 or 3 and I bring her in to bed with me. Then she tosses and turns and nurses on and off until I finally drag myself out of bed to get the kids off to school. Because if I got up earlier she'd probably fall out of the bed.

Last night, however, she didn't wake around midnight like she normally does. She woke at 1:30. I nursed her and put her back in bed. She cried only a couple minutes, then went to sleep and then she slept until 7:45 am! I actually even went in to wake her so she'd be on her normal routine for the day.

So tonight we'll do it again and see how it goes. But I am very much looking forward to nights of uninterrupted sleep, and being able to get up without being so exhausted and not remembering what happened during the night, and getting up in the morning before her and not worrying that she might fall out of the bed, because she'll be in her crib. Asleep. Not crying.

Breakfast with Protein--an update

Remember this? I have been feeding my family a breakfast with protein every morning for three weeks now. I think it is definitely making a difference for me, at least. I feel fuller throughout the day, and since I am also trying to eat protein and whole grains for my snacks (like cheese or nuts and Triscuits) I feel full quite often. I also started keeping a food journal, so I feel guilty when I write down "M&Ms" instead of "string cheese". I think I have lost about five pounds. BUT! The experiment is not about losing weight, just getting healthy, and the weight loss is just a bonus.

Last Saturday the boys were off on the Father/Son Campout, and I hadn't managed to finish the dishes on Friday night, so the girls and I just had cereal for breakfast. I had a big bowl of Grape-nuts. And the whole day I felt hungry. I couldn't get enough to eat.

Frugalboy seems to be eating less of the lunches I pack for him, and he says he isn't quite as hungry at school.

Frugaldad really enjoys breakfast, so he is happy with the plan.

Frugalgirl2 doesn't seem to like to eat much in the morning so she eats the least of anyone, and then she wants snacks all morning long.

Frugalgirl1 doesn't come home from kindergarten as famished as she used to, so if she has to wait a few minutes for lunch it isn't such a big deal.

All in all, I think that the breakfast with protein is a good idea. I am also trying to get more vegetables into everyone, but one step at a time. Sometime soon I also plan to start cooking with grains like quinoa.

Never Underestimate the Power of Bribery--I Mean Rewards

Some people don't understand the difference between Bribery and Rewards. A Bribe is when you give something to someone with the expectation that they will do something for you afterwards. A Reward is when the person does something for you, and then you give them something. There's a big difference, especially when it comes to children and parenting, because a Bribe puts the power in the hands of the child, and the Reward puts the power in the hands of the parent.

Sometimes, though, even though I know the power of the Reward, I still forget about it. I forget that kids need instant gratification. The promise of "We'll go to the park this afternoon if you sweep the sidewalk" isn't any good because they need the reward now.

I haven't been able to convice Frugalboy to clean his room for nearly a week. He asks to play on the computer when he gets home from school and I tell him the same thing every time.

Not Unless Your Room Is Clean.

The same thing, every day. He obviously doesn't want to play that badly or else he'd pick up his Legos and Bionicles and all the dirty socks that accumulate between laundry days.

Yesterday I was informed that there was no school today. I was a little unprepared for this news because having 4 children at home all day keeps me a lot busier than having 2 at home in the morning, 3 in the afternoon, and 4 after 4. So after lunch today I pulled some reinforcements out of my closet. A box of lime Tic Tacs. I told him that if he cleaned his room so that it could be vacuumed, and didn't just cover his dresser, nightstand, and bed with the stuff, that I'd give him the candy. I made him clean out the corners and under the edges of the bed.

After a week of refusing to clean it, he had it spotless in less than 20 minutes. I gave his younger sisters the same challenge (I had a 3-pack of Tic Tacs) and they had their room clean in about 5 minutes. (It wasn't quite as messy)

The 3-pack of Tic Tacs at the dollar store was totally worth it. It bought me an hour of time (3 kids x 20 minutes each at the computer) to fold laundry, sit at the sewing machine, put today's bread in the freezer, and vacuum everyone's spotlessly clean bedrooms.

Today's experiment

I am reading Little Sugar Addicts and I hope to get my kids eating healthier. My goal is not to eliminate sugar completely, but to get them to enjoy eating vegetables and other healthy foods. This morning for breakfast we had sausage, scrambled eggs, and a smoothie made with whey protein powder that I got at the Boise Co-op. We'll see if the kids stay full all morning and how their moods are affected by having such a high protein breakfast instead of sugared cereal. (By the way, the sweetest cereals I usually buy are generic honey-nut cheerios, frosted mini-wheats, and Life--all whole grain but still with added sugar)

It's 11:20 and I have yet to hit the pantry for a snack, so the high-protein is working for me.