1. One hour of TV a Day. I'm finding this one impossible to stick with. Our temporary apartment has one living space (includes kitchen/dining/family) and the only way i can keep my sanity is to let the TV be on far more than I would like. I can't wait until we have more space and a backyard where I can send the kids when they need to release some energy or I simply need a break from being a human jungle gym.
2. No Sponge Bob Squarepants. Ever. Well, maybe just once. Many of you know I have a major, probably irrational dislike for this program. But I actually put it on for the kids last week when they couldn't stop antagonizing each other. It worked like a charm. This leads me to another broken rule. .
3. No rewarding bad behavior. I think the above illustrates how this rule is broken far too regularly.
4. Everyone sleeps in their own bed. I have always been maniacal about this rule. If Sophia appears in our bedroom in the middle of the night, I walk her back to her room. And if that doesn't work, I make a pallet on the floor for her. And I've held pretty tough with Zachary, even in the face of his seemingly endless sleeping challenges. But no more. I don't know how many nights I've fallen asleep with him in the past few weeks. And when he wakes up in the night, 9 times out of 10 I wake up in his room. Perhaps I can chalk this up to exhaustion? I simply can't keep myself awake long enough to "sneak" out. Of course, I shoudn't be sneaking out at all. He should be going to sleep on his own. But I can't risk a full-scale tantrum - the neighbors are sympathetic but no one wants to listen to a 3 year old scream bloody murder at 4 am. If there is one thing Zachary can do, it is scream until he gets what he wants. Here's hoping that the arrival of his beloved race car bed - which thank goodness is a twin! - will help me remedy this situation.
5. No more than one sweet treat a day aka food is not a reward. Its amazing what a distraction (and incentive) a cookie can be. And I've been using that to its full advantage. It has allowed me to sit quietly at a cafe, to have a peaceful 3 minutes in the afternoon and pass time on a rainy afternoon.
If nothing else, I hope all of this illustrates how excited and happy I will be to move out of our apartment and into our house. But that's not to say that everything about apartment life is terrible. The location couldn't be better. It beats a serviced apartment in the city by a mile (or should I say a kilometer!) And then there is a view. Hard to complain about my 5:30 am wake up call when I get to watch the sun rise over the water. I shall leave you with a photo from our living area (it is cloudy this AM so it really doesn't do it justice but. . .)
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