Weekend Plans

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

No big plans this weekend. Last week of baseball for the boys, capped with a double header for Daniel. Otherwise it's all about working on the yard. Getting that rock down.

I think the boys are ready for the end of baseball. James especially is ready for a break. But I think it was a good thing for them. It kept Daniel socialized, and it gave them a focus for the weekends. I will be signing them up for soccer tomorrow, but that won't start for a while. Fall soccer games won't start until September, so they will get over a month break before starting back up again.

We haven't done as much work in the evenings as we hoped, so it is looking more and more like a Sunday project. But that could change tonight and tomorrow afternoon. Kim might get motivated tonight when she gets home, or I might get motivated tomorrow afternoon when I get done with baseball and after season parties. Either way my goal is to have it done by Sunday so Kim can have a Monday with nothing on her plate for once.

Chores update

Week 1 went well, we all did our assigned duties, although it did take some reminding every day. But I would rather deal with 5 minutes of reminding every day, then 30 minutes of arguing later on. We have kept the house pretty clean as a result. The only sticking point is the basement, which I will have to get on the boys about tonight. But otherwise I am pleased with the progress the first week.

Daniel Eating habits

Last night I finally reached a breaking point wih Daniel and his eating. It isn't so much that he is starving or anything like that. But there is an expectation that he will eat what he is given at meals. Because dinners especially are a battle every night (unless we make chicken nuggets or cheese quesadillas every night). Kim is less worried than I am about his actually getting his nutrition. My bigger concern is that he learn to eat a) different foods, and b) what is given to him. Otherwise he will have a hard time when going other places to eat (a fact that I can attest to personally, having been a very picky eater as a child). So I decided to combine my desire to improve his eating habits with a policy of decreasing his reliance on playing the Playstation. And made a chart of meals. For every meal that his parents serve him where he eats what he is given he earns a sticker. When he gets 5 stickers he earns 1 hour of PS2 time. We did a similar thing with James when he refused to stay in his room at bed time, and it worked. Kim isn't sure if it will work, but I feel we need to give it a shot. And to be honest it is not like we serve anything that unusual, not like the daily tofu and squash meals I had to struggle through at times when I was younger.