We Might Have A Solution...

Ok, we are very thankful that Braylon isn't that too much of a picky eater. BUT...he is a SLOW eater! We will be done w/our meal & he'll take another 30-45 min. to finish his. Or...we just constantly have to tell him "take another bite!" And he will. But the frustrating thing is that we have to constantly remind him!

I came up with an idea & I think it might work! At least for the 1st couple days it has...we'll see when the "newness" has rubbed off...how effective it is! Here's the idea: we came up w/a whole big long list of "rewards"...fun activities that we don't do on a regular basis. I wrote each of these activities up on individual slips of paper & we put them in a box. And...every supper time we start off eating together...if Braylon can eat his whole meal w/out us keep reminding him to take a bite. And he's done right along with us. Then he can draw 2 activities! He doesn't know which activity he's eating his supper for. He just knows it's going to be a surprise. Now if we get done w/our supper & he's being pokey...we'll set the timer for 10 min. & if he finishes his supper before the timer goes off then he gets to grab ONE activity. If he doesn't finish, he doesn't get to grab any. Thankfully that hasn't happened yet.

Here's our list of activities we came up with: Braylon gets to have Roary or Teddy (his blankets) for the rest of the evening, Play Sega Genesis, Play in the water in the sink, Play with the iPod, Get an extra dessert for supper, Watch videos on the computer, Watch a video on TV, Work on a puzzle, Play downstairs, Get a special drink, Choose whatever dessert, Play w/play-doh, Play a game, Play w/Rainy Day Box (even if it's not raining), Play hide-n-seek, Choose his own bedtime snack, Stay up an extra 10 min. after bedtime, Color, At bedtime who's ever evening it is to lay w/you in the beginning will lay w/you an extra 5 min., Play trains, Read an extra book @ bedtime, Have a snack later in the evening, Paint, Sing thru all of his songs @ bedtime, Play w/remote control truck, Choose whatever activity from the Arts & Crafts bin, Scrapbook, Choose what we eat for next supper, Have fruit snacks, Eat chips for a snack, and Braylon gets to choose whatever reward he wants.

Here he is choosing a reward:And the reward is: "You get to choose what you want to do!"

And he chose: Play w/play-doh

He did get to choose 2 that night & the 2nd reward was "Sing thru all your songs @ bedtime." We have a list of 20 songs that we sing. Depending on the time, we sing thru all of them or have him choose 3 songs to sing. That night we sang thru all of them. I forgot to get a picture of it!

The next night he only got to draw one reward & it was "Stay up an extra 10 min. after your bedtime." I didn't get a picture of that either.

Stay tuned for more rewards! And pray that this sytem works for a long time!!!

And now we need a solution to him always calling out to go to the bathroom @ bedtime!!!