Responsibilities and Rewards

Last week was our fall break. We never had a fall break when I was in school. We had Thanksgiving break but never one before that.

That's not to say that I don't look forward to sleeping in and having a chance to do what I want all day.

Not that I got to sleep in or do whatever I wanted.

Dude had the responsibility of shopping for his troop's camping trip that weekend. So we got that done on Thursday morning.

That afternoon, after some lunch, we had to make a trip to Orange Leaf.

When we first began schooling with Rugrat, she had a hard time with listening and behaving well during our lessons. We usually had it good about the first hour in the morning and then the first hour in the afternoon.

After that, boredom set in or just plain stubbornness and she didn't want to do it. So she would start in being a general pain in the rear -- either outright refusing to answer me or not cooperating.

So, I introduced the jar. It sits next to a little bucket of 'pebbles' (filled from a bag of floral stones I got from the store -- shiny ones of course). When she completes a lesson in a satisfactory way, she gets to add a pebble to the jar with the goal of a special treat when she fills it. I've given her a bonus one here and there for doing an extra-good job at listening and I've taken one away for acting just plain ugly too.

The first couple of weeks were a almost a toss-up. She earned several and she lost several. But it seems to have done the trick. While there have been times more recently that she did not earn her pebble for being difficult, I can't remember when I last took one out of the jar. And even the times when she doesn't earn one have gotten fewer and fewer.

Last Thursday was her first reward for filling it -- a trip to Orange Leaf. She wanted to go there after Dude suggested it several weeks ago as a reward. I would have sucked it up and gone to lunch at McDonald's (can there be a better place to eat in her opinion -- I think not) or taken her someplace else. But Orange Leaf was what she wanted.

And, hey, I get my employee discount so I didn't complain.

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Friday was another eye doctor appointment. I forgot to 'talk it up' though. That meant there was some crying and resistance when it came to the pressure check but even then it was soooo much better than usual. She eventually settled down and let him do it.

Other positives were that she actually sat in the chair by herself for most of the exam. That was definitely a first.

She also managed to identify some of the pictures on the wall. She usually just says "I don't know." Refusing to cooperate is something we will be working at breaking her from for some time I think.

And, as usual, she hopped right down when it was over to give the doctor a hug, letting him know all was forgiven.