Indianapolis Temple

Indianapolis Temple

Operation: Thumb-Sucking

9/18/2010 07:11:00 PM Edit This 3 Comments »
Lara started sucking her thumb when she was a few months old. At first, I was all right with it. No losing a binky, she was a great sleeper, etc. But now that she's in preschool the thumb-sucking has got to go, especially since the dentist said that she's starting to narrow her palate with it. I would rather not pay for orthodontia because of thumb-sucking. So armed with this...

2010 Princess Ball
Hear Ye! Hear Ye!
Her Royal Highness Princess Tiana
Would like to cordially invite
all of the princesses
in the surrounding kingdoms
To join her and her princess friends
On
Saturday October 23 rd
For a Royal Celebration!
Carriage
Rides,
Princess
Crowning
Dancing
Singing
Royal
feast
magic


and my training in behavioral management (thanks to being a music therapist and working at Helping Hands), I put my child on a behavior plan.

Step One- The motivation. I got Lara really excited about attending the Princess Ball for which I bought buy one get one free tickets here (Columbus residents, I really recommend this site). This was really key since if a child isn't motivated there's no use trying to change a behavior.

Step Two- Prevention. Reed bought some Dora band-aids to put on both of her thumbs. This would help remind her of the reward and it worked like a charm. She even asked for the band-aids one day because she didn't want to suck her thumb at all and wanted the reminders.

Step Three- Replacement behaviors. We talked about all sorts of things she could do instead of suck her thumb. Sing a song, chew gum, do a fingerplay, color, anything that was more appropriate.

Step Four- The reward chart. I needed something that could easily be used for 3 weeks (3 weeks makes a habit) and could also be used at school. I decided on a necklace on which we could string beads every day. Every time someone caught her not sucking her thumb, she would get one bead to put on her necklace. Hopefully at the end of 3 weeks, she'll have a necklace full of beads.

So far, she has done an awesome job! She talks all the time about how excited she is for the Princess Ball and how she's not going to suck her thumb. I might even throw in a new fancy dress because she's done so well. It's so great to see the look of pride on her face when she tells someone about her goal. She even took a nap today without sucking her thumb, a major accomplishment! GO LARA!

Labor Day Weekend Festivities

9/12/2010 06:41:00 PM Edit This 0 Comments »
We had a great Labor Day Weekend with a bunch of fun activities.

Friday night- Sweet Corn Festival













Saturday- Laurelville







Monday- Pseudo Dual Ward Labor Day Party (long story)



Future Plans

9/04/2010 04:59:00 PM Edit This 5 Comments »
Just an hour east of Yellowstone there is a small town named Cody, Wyoming where we stopped for dinner. Sometimes we post things on here to make things official and also so we can look back and see if we actually did it. So here it is- Reed and I absolutely fell in love with the area so we've made it a goal to move there! As soon as we are debt-free and I don't have to work, we will be buying land out in Cody, maybe even building our own house. We, of course, will have chickens, horses, and maybe a few beef steers.

Here is one of the properties on my list of dreams-

http://www.eaglerealestate.com/residential-out/10004965pg.htm

Isn't it beautiful?