Sticker Reward

In an effort to encourage Gideon to pick up his toys before bed and brush his teeth without complaint I created a sticker chart reward system.  Here is the chart:

The plan was that he gets a sticker for picking up his toys, brushing his teeth, and anything else we feel goes above and beyond the call of toddler duty.  At five stickers he would get a small reward (movies, museum visit, special time with GG) and at 50 he would get to select a toy from the box.  We have had to amend it to 10 stickers for a small reward because mommy underestimated his sticker earning ability.

I also have decided not to give him food rewards.  I don't judge those who are able to use candy or ice cream as a tool to guide behavior, I just have a really messed up relationship with food that I am trying to avoid passing on to Giddy.

Today Gideon earned his first small reward: a trip to the A.W. Perry Homestead Museum
 with grandma (GG) and mama!  Gideon was pretty excited if not a little surprised/confused.

I haz stickers

It started out as kind of a comedy of errors.  We stopped for bagels on the way and the bagel shop was out of bagels.  We are talking about a large, chain, bagel focused, restaurant.  And ALL OF THE BAGELS WERE GONE.  So we went to Chick Fil A, which turned out to be perfect because they had a toddler play area.

that must be the best milk ever

Then we headed to the museum....which was closed.

Is this not one of the saddest pictures you have ever seen of my child?

According to the A.W. Perry Homestead Museum's website, the museum is open Wednesday-Saturday 10a.m. - noon and 1 - 5 p.m.  We got there are 11 am on a Friday.  There was a car in the parking lot and the lights were on but no one answered the door.  So my mom and I stayed overly cheerful as we walked around looking in the windows and throwing around oohs and ahhhs for Gideon's sake but deep down I was beyond upset.  Gideon was disappointed for sure but then he realized he could run like a crazy person in the  field around the house and he felt much better.  By the time Giddy was done running it had gotten pretty hot so we headed home and made lunch.  Afterward GG asked mama for some help with Angry Birds which lead to Gideon's absolute favorite part of the day:

Gideon helping GG play Angry Birds

In the end Gideon had a really special day and that is all that matters.  And I guess that means I need to stop being angry at a museum, right?  And I shouldn't egg it or TP the trees or....ahem, yeah.