My daughter has done a complete 180 and all because of the MARBLE JAR. We had some days and some events that would make your hair curl last week. Jared and I were at our wit’s end. It is amazing to me that someone who is a behavior analyst by trade was having such a difficult time with her own child. It is so COMPLETELY different when it is your own child. I was too close to our situation and I could not see what was really happening. I made the mistake of not doing what I would do with any other child that I was consulting on. I made assumptions. I assumed that I knew why she was behaving the way that she was…and I was wrong. In the field of behavior analysis, when looking at a problem behavior, we take what we call ABC data. It means writing down what occurs directly before and after the behavior occurs. It helps us to determine the function or the reason that the child is doing the behavior. Jared and I were talking through the events that had occurred and I realized that her behavior was not attention-motivated as I had thought, but it was actually triggered by demands placed on her. Soooo…cue the marble jar. She started earning marbles for good listening ears and when her marble jar was full she got to pick from the prize box. It has returned my sweet girl to our home and we are back to happy days.
Tonight she earned her prize box for the first time and she said “brother, do you want to pick out a prize?” Melt my heart.
I don’t know what it is but she looks entirely too grown up in this picture I took tonight.
She wears a different dress up outfit everyday. I am always amazed by the different combinations that she comes up with.
Life with this little boy is so funny and never boring. He is so very different from his sister. I remember she SCREAMED her head off the first time we tried a sprinkler (around 15 mos if I remember right). Not this little man, he wanted to dive right in.
Paging Dr. Gray…
Hello mini-Jared
We had a fun little trip to the park today
Little man loves swinging
Missy rode her bike around and around and around and around
Dino man. He is getting so big!
We saw this crow at the park and Maya and I laughed because I always tell her that her brother sounds a crow because he says “cah” “cah” “cah” when he is talking to us
No fear!
We even rode over the bridge!
I know that I say this a lot, but I am truly amazed every day by what these two wonderful little people add to our lives. I am one lucky mommy.
Happy week everyone!
