Afternoon Activities

I have to say, I am thoroughly enjoying being home in the afternoons when Anna Kate gets out of school. After picking her up today we ran a few errands and picked up the ingredients to make our own silly putty. She was so excited to make 'what's that stuff you said we're making mama?' but I made her eat some lunch and rest a bit before we started. (She has pretty much stopped napping, however she NEEDS her down time in the afternoons. I've explained that she doesn't have to go to sleep but she does have to sit quietly and watch a movie, read a book or whatever she would like that doesn't involve playing with toys and being loud/active. It worked great!) With only two ingredients in the silly putty recipe you would *think* I couldn't mess it up. Wellllll........after our silly putty disaster (yes, Mommy used the wrong glue) we decided it was time to prepare dinner (we'll try the silly putty again tomorrow). She helped peel the potatoes, mix the dressing and tossed the potatoes in the dressing and placed them on the baking sheet all by herself. She was so proud (as was I)! She is becoming quite the independent little girl. Then I started to patty out the ground beef for our burgers. I couldn't believe it, but she wanted to help with that as well. She did pretty good too (although she didn't eat hers.)

Speaking of not eating, we have been having battles in this house because Anna Kate doesn't understand that if she doesn't eat her meal she doesn't get a snack two hours later when she's hungry. Boy, it's been a battle. Do you remember the sticker chart we started to reward her for sleeping in her bed? Yea, well that chart has one sticker. *insert rolling of my eyes here* Okay, so she's clearly not ready to sleep in her own bed yet (sigh) and I don't want the chart to go to waste, so it now serves as her Chore & Achievement Chart. Basically there are daily things that she either needs to do or already does but needs to improve on that she will receive a sticker for. If by the end of the week she has all her stickers (give or take 2 or 3) she will be rewarded.

Here is a picture of the chart - * click to enlarge

And yes, your eyes are not failing you. First thing on the chart is 'TT & Wipe' because you see, just like her mother, Anna Kate is not a morning person, to say the least. So waking in the mornings and going potty and wiping seems to be one heck of a chore for her. It's a 10 minute ordeal every morning. I'm hoping the incentive of receiving a sticker for peeing and wiping herself will remedy this problem.....The rest is pretty self explanatory.

And before I close, I'll leave you with a slide show of our afternoon activities. Enjoy and check in tomorrow for Silly Putty Round 2.