Chore Clipboard

Okay so we haven't actually implemented this new chore system but I wanted to share it anyway. I mentioned in my previous "behavior modification system" post (i.e. mommy is losing her mind from repeating herself a bazillion times a day), I am desperate to put systems in place that keep me from repeating myself over and over and over again. My ultimate goal is to have so many systems in place that I never have to talk again. Just kidding...sorta. With the success (after some tweaking) of our "Yay!" and "Oy!" sticks, I decided to create a new system to tackle chores, or a lack-thereof. I'm not sure the boys even know the word "chores" because they have never been asked to do any. And I mean never. There are several reasons for this but basically the biggest reason I don't ask them to contribute around the house is because I can do it faster...and better. I realize this is not a good reason and I'm not doing them (or myself) any favors by allowing them to avoid chores. So, starting this summer the boys will have a few chores.

I spent some time looking at different chore charts, I didn't see any one system that I loved but I did find ideas here and there that I liked so I combined a couple of different ideas and created my own system.

Side note: Do you ever feel like you spend more time "researching" ideas on Pinterest than you do actually making those ideas a reality?

 Introducing: Magnetic Chore Clipboards!

 Here's what I did.

I bought 1 inch round labels, used the template to print out a few chores.

I bought these 1 1/2 inch wood circles. I liked these because they were nice and thick so they seemed pretty sturdy. I spray painted them silver just to give them a bit of color and I just happen to have spray paint handy (when you make cardboard creations for Halloween you tend to have quite a few cans of spray paint sitting around). After the paint dried I stuck my chore labels on and did a light coat of modge podge (Mod Podge?, Modge Pod?, whatever it's called I love it) over the top to make sure the labels stay put. Finally I hot glued a magnet to the back of each circle.

Next I made my clipboards. I bought a few small clipboards, about $1.33 a piece. I spray painted them black (this step isn't necessary but like I mentioned before, I have quite a few cans of spray paint so I figure why not use them). I wanted the clipboards to be magnetic but I wasn't sure how to make that happen. I thought about buying magnetic paint but it cost like $20 and I wasn't entirely convinced it would work. So, I went to the local home improvement store and bought these:

I have no idea what these are but I got them in the building supply section and they only cost .60 cents a piece.

I cut them down the middle so I had flat metal plates to add to my painted clipboards.

I glued the metal plates down.

Basketball for Caleb and Race Car for Benjamin.

I also glued magnets to the back of each clipboard so I can stick them to the fridge. 

This is how I envision the system working: I will place a few chores on their boards each day. As they complete each chore they move that chore circle to the "DONE!" clipboard. They must do everything on their clipboard.

 Simple enough, right?

I figure this will play out one of two ways. One, the boys will be completely resistant to the idea of contributing and it will prove to be an uphill battle (that I will win) to get this system rolling. Or Two, the boys will be so enticed by my beautiful, creative, magnetic clipboards that they will jump at the opportunity to tackle their chores so they can move the circle to the "Done!" clipboard. 

I'll keep you posted :)

Oh, and I have a few more things up my sleeve that I will share soon. I've been a busy girl with all these ideas. I think it has something to with my decision to homeschool. For some reason, that decision has led to other decisions. I'm telling you, this momma has been a busy bee.

Kickin' off summer bash!

We are very blessed to live in an area that has some great adaptive sports events. One of our favorites is the Rise Adaptive Sports: Kickin' Off Summer Bash. We go every year and it is always a great time. The event takes place on the lake and they have a variety of adaptive events to try.

Our first stop: Shooting a BB gun.

I love those 2 little freckles on the back of his ear.

We were headed to the next activity and then Caleb saw this:

Yep, they had a skate ramp.

We couldn't get Caleb off this thing. He just wanted to do it over and over and over.

 He had so much fun.

He got quite a bit of ramp time before we literally had to drag him away so someone else could have a turn.

The robot was a big hit.

The petting zoo served as a nice distraction before Caleb insisted on doing the skate ramp again.

He got to see his buddy Bryce.

Benjamin fell in love with the bunnies. And I mean in love.

Seriously, Benjamin is quite smitten with the bunnies. He has not stopped talking about them. The boy really wants a pet bunny now. He is very specific about the kind of bunny he wants. He wants a black and white bunny and he is going to name it "Hot Wheels" because "bunnies are really fast".

We had a really great time at the event. The boys had so much fun. And, I left there convinced that we need to build Caleb his very own skate ramp in our backyard and Benjamin needs a pet bunny. Stay tuned to see how that pans out. :)

Our new Behavior Modification/Reward/Consequence system

I don't really know what to call it..."behavior modification", a "reward system", or a "mommy is tired of saying the same things over and over so we are trying something new before she loses her ever-lovin' mind" system. We've been doing the following "system" for about 2 months and it is working pretty well so I thought I would share it. Basically I wanted something in place that presented clear rules/expectations for the boys to follow. I did a quick search for "family rules" and a found a ton of really cute ideas but most of them involved a huge canvas, tons of pretty paper, and multiple layers of modge podge (you can see an example of what I am talking about by clicking here). While I liked the idea, I didn't like all the effort. So I modified and came up with this easier (and much cheaper) version:

I bought a cheap 11X14 frame at Walmart. Typed up my "rules", printed them out and stuck them to different scrapbooking paper that I already had. Done.

(I actually had more rules that I wanted to add but I ran out of room so I just chose the ones most important to me at this time.)

Next I needed some kind of reward/consequence system in place to go along with the family rules. You follow the rules or get caught doing something super nice then you get an immediate reward. You break a rule, then you get an immediate consequence. Here's what I came up with:

"Yay!" for a reward
"Oy!" for a consequence

I took craft sticks, painted one side blue, one side green. Green for Caleb, Blue for Benjamin. I typed up a bunch of rewards for our "Yay!" sticks, and a bunch of consequences for the "Oy!" sticks. I printed them out and modge podged them to the sticks. I won't share all the different things on the sticks because what motivates my kids might not work with yours but I tried to use rewards that were immediate, like "pick something from the prize box" and consequences that were also immediate, like "go to your room for 10 minutes". I also included a monetary incentive with this, here's what I came up with:

"Cha-Ching!"

If the boys pull a "Yay!" stick that reads "Cha-Ching!" then they get a card with a hidden monetary value. I did .25, .50, .75, and $1. They can also lose money if they pull an "Oy!" stick with that consequence.

I had read somewhere that you could create your own "scratch off" ticket using dish soap and acrylic paint. I tried that for my "Cha-Ching!" cards because I thought the boys would get a kick out it...but it didn't work well for me. The paint circle just peals off, it doesn't scratch at all. The cards are laminated so I can use them over and over again. I don't think I'll do the scratch off again though.

I found some cheap ($1) wooden treasure chest boxes at Michael's and I had the boys paint them. They use the treasure chests to keep any "Cha-Ching!" money they earn.

Caleb painting his treasure chest.

Don't let those baby blues and that sweet grin fool you folks...he can be a big stinker. He has really tested me recently, which is the main reason I started this whole "system" in the first place. I love that kid, but man he has been pushing my buttons lately. Good grief, he sure his cute though.

Benjamin painting his treasure chest.

I ended up just printing out paper quarters for the "Cha-Ching!". I was going to get real quarters from the bank...but I got lazy and opted not to.

The boys have the option to save or spend their "Cha-Ching!" money.

As I mentioned before, we have been doing this system for about 2 months and it is working pretty well. I mostly wanted something that would keep me from having to talk so much. I feel like I repeat the same things over and over again with little to no results. I don't think these kids hear me anymore. I'm tired of hearing myself, so I know they have to be tired of hearing me too. With this little system in place, I don't have to talk so much. If one of them breaks a rule, all I have to say is "Go get an Oy! stick." That's it. I'm done talking. End of story. And it has been fun to surprise them with "Yay!" sticks when they are following the rules. It's also been fun to see what motivates them. They are very different kids. I'm going to tweak the sticks some because I've learned that what motivates Benjamin doesn't have the same impact on Caleb and vice versa. Benjamin couldn't care less about extra t.v. time but that is a big motivator for Caleb. Caleb will always pick the piece of candy out of the prize box (immediate gratification) while Benjamin has never chosen candy, he always picks a small toy (something that lasts). 

Benjamin has also surprised me in his discipline. He has had his eyes on this particular Hot Wheels track at the store. He wanted it bad. This kid saved up his "Cha-Ching" money for 6 weeks!! He's 4 years old! Last week he finally had enough money to buy the track.

Seriously, I couldn't believe he saved and saved, waited and waited.

So that is a quick run-down of our current "system". So far, so good. 

I've been working on some other things as well...I'll share those later :)

Fitted for KAFO's

Three months ago Caleb saw his ortho doctor and I asked for KAFO's (Knee-Ankle-Foot-Orthosis). I wanted them because I could see that Caleb was motivated to walk, he wanted to walk, but his knees just can't take him more than a few steps. The ortho fought me a little on the KAFO's at that time, and gave us knee immobilizers instead. The knee immobilizers seemed promising at first but I quickly realized that they weren't the right thing for Caleb. It seemed like they hindered more than they helped.

So today we went back to ortho and I had already decided that I wasn't leaving there until Caleb had been fitted for some KAFO's. Mama Bear was ready to fight...well I didn't have to. Ortho agreed and Caleb was fitted for KAFO's and a new pair of AFO's (he has outgrown his current pair).

He was fitted for AFO's first.

Next came the KAFO fitting. This took quite some time. Thank goodness for the Ipod.

Cutting the cast off.

A perfect mold of his leg. Pretty cool.

We pick up the braces at the end of May. I can't wait to see how the KAFO's turn out. 

Bike Ridin' Fun!

The weather was beautiful this past weekend so we took advantage of the mild temps by taking the boys to ride their bikes. When you live in Texas and the scorching heat of summer is rapidly approaching, you take advantage of gorgeous weather because soon it will be too hot to even walk to the mailbox.

We took the boys up to a school parking lot so they would have plenty of room. Benjamin got his bike for Christmas and has only had a few opportunities to ride...so he needs open space to practice his newly learned bike riding skills. And Caleb drives like a maniac so open space is good for him too.

Benjamin did really well. He has gotten the hang of it for the most part.

 Such an awesome cycle.

Caleb had to sit in time out for 5 minutes because he drove right into Benjamin...on purpose. He wasn't too happy about sitting on the curb, as you can tell from the grumpy look on his face.

While Bubba was sulking in time-out, Benjamin took the cycle for a spin. He loved it.

I even took Caleb's cycle for a quick ride. It is so much fun. Man, that cycle is fast and it really works the shoulders and arms. So fun. 

The boys had a great time riding their bikes. It was lucky we took them out when we did because the next day Caleb had a sore throat and fever so we've been cooped up since. 

Life Rolls On: They Will Skate Again

So last year Caleb had the opportunity to try some "extreme sitting" at the Life Rolls On: They will skate again event, hosted by Rise Adaptive Sports. He had a blast and has talked about it almost weekly for the past year. He was so excited to learn that the event was coming to our area again this year. So Saturday we headed out so Caleb could shred it at the skate park.

Sportin' his new "Wheelz" t-shirt. It seemed appropriate.

(good grief, could this kid be any bigger!)

Stalling at the top of a ramp...not too sure he wants to go down.

Sometimes even a 7 year old needs to hold Daddy's hand.

Sometimes you need a little pep talk from an experienced extreme sitter. A big thank you to Christiaan Bailey for offering his time on Saturday.

Sometimes you need a little push too.

All smiles.

Um...that ramp is a little steep folks. Don't worry, there were a ton of volunteers out there to help the kids up and down the ramps.

Take a wheelchair down some steps? Hmmm...what could possibly go wrong here?

It ain't extreme sitting until you flip over in your chair and take a volunteer down with you. Don't worry, he was fine. Lesson: Wheelchairs and stairs are not friends.

Benjamin had his own kind of fun.

Putting leaves down a drain hole.

Running up ramps.

Caleb had so much fun. He was most upset when it was time to go. I'm so thankful he has these opportunities. It is so fun to watch him challenge himself and try new things.

We had a fantastic day.