Day 42

I get to sleep in. This is an amazing experience. One I hope to repeat. But I doubt it.

We wake just in time for a quick breakfast before scooting off to Sportsball. There’s a small tantrum about taking a taxi, but I talk her down quickly before it escalates. After Sportsball we stop off at Plaza Singapura for a quick shop at Daiso (for stickers) and a cup of tea. We sit there with our drinks watching the sky get darker. Before long, we race home to try and beat the rain. We fail.

The rest of the day is spent finding ways to keep Stormy entertained inside the house. I find instructions on-line to create a hammock by tying a blanket under the dining table. However, before I finish, she decides to turn it into a fort instead. She spends most of the afternoon lying inside “Fort Hammock” and alternatively playing with her stickers or her tablet. About mid-afternoon I manage to escape Stormy (and the house) for a few blissful hours.

Over dinner Stormy and I have a serious conversation about her behaviour and setting “big girl” rules as she grows up. We talk about how it’s time to set some formal rules and rewards. I want to move away from the punishment model (you lose desert if you don’t eat dinner) to the earning model (you earn desert if you eat dinner). She sits (on top of the table, don’t ask) and actively contributes to the conversation. We think about what rules we should set and what rewards are appropriate. She’s intensely engaged in this conversation. It’s brilliant. Together we come up with 7 rules.

1. Dinner = Desert.
2. Brush Teeth = A small treat (the day after).
3. 5x Go to Sleep = Movie Night.
4. 5x Get to the School Bus on Time = Daiso on Saturday.
5. 5x Tidy Up her Toys = Ice-cream.
6. 5x Be Good (no tantrums, practice writing, etc) = A new book.
7. 5x Be Brave (do something that scares her) = A poster for her wall

We create a poster which I’ll print off tomorrow and stick it to the wall.

She spends the rest of the evening after dinner tidying her (already tidy) room. She even goes and gets the dustpan from the laundry to clean some imaginary dust.

What have I created!!!

« First Day | ‹ Yesterday (Day 41) | Tomorrow (Day 43) › | Final Day »

* For those who missed the context, I’m not actually single. My wife has started a 5-month contract in Australia (yay). This is a Very Good Thing™. Stormy will be staying with me here in Singapore and I have great help both remotely (from my wife) and locally. I’m writing this purely for fun and to practice writing. :-)