Old Habits Die Hard

Actually, this one died easier than I thought it would originally. Anyone who has spent much time around Dallin knows he is a huge thumb sucker. Also, they would have seen the ratty blanket he named Elmo that goes everywhere with him.  Well, at the age of 5, he has decided to stop sucking his thumb. He has not sucked it for 4 weeks now.  Here's how it went down: We make him save his own money to buy toys and it was taking much longer than he would have liked so I finally told him that is he stopped sucking his thumb for 10 days straight I would buy him a toy and if he went another 20 days after that he could get another one.  That seemed to do the trick. For the first 3 days he wore a glove on his hand and after that he didn't need it anymore. Only a couple of times he forgot but instantly remembered as soon as it went into his mouth. We told him that was OK and as long as he caught himself he wouldn't have to start over on his day counts. It wasn't long until he realized having Elmo around made it harder for him not to suck his thumb, so he asked me to put Elmo up high in the closet where he couldn't get it. He was very sad about it but said it had to be done. After Elmo was gone, he didn't wear the glove at night anymore and didn't have a problem falling asleep without sucking his thumb. This Saturday Dallin is going to pick out his second toy.  I did tell him if he starts to suck his thumb again I get to take the toys back, but I honestly don't think it will be a problem. He doesn't seem to miss it anymore. I am one happy Mom. I wasn't loving the idea of sending him to kindergarten a thumb sucker. I would like to say it was because of some awesome parenting technique of mine, but in reality all I did was offer the bribe. He wanted two new Skylanders so he figured out a way to stop sucking his thumb.  Awesome Job, Dallin!

Remember, It Is Still Winter

I have to remind myself, as well as Dallin, that even though we had a weekend in the 60s that is it is still winter. All the snow has melted, but here are some photos of after Christmas when we got a ton of snow. I am sure more of this is to come. I will say one thing I like better in PA than in MI is there seems to be a lot less wind. When I dress warm, I actually stay somewhat warm because there isn't a cold wind constantly blowing. 

New Year's Eve

We let Dallin stay up this year till midnight. He was way excited. He spent most of the night making confetti out of paper. And there was no waiting till midnight to throw it either. We threw it quite a lot between 10 and 12. 

Also, we made a costume. We have been having a Harry Potter marathon this past week, so Dallin has been having fun playing wizard, even insisting people at church call him Harry. Dallin and I decided he needed a wand, so we made one from this and a bit of this tutorial. Russ had an old pair of glasses he has not worn since before we were married that he removed the lenses from, and we were set. Dallin played Harry Potter all day, even at the grocery store.

Not bad for paper, hot glue, and paint, huh? Dallin wants me to make more so both Mom and Dad can have one too. He has been making Russ use a chop stick.

Confetti!!! And movies. "The animal is inside out.....And it exploded." Can anyone name that movie?

I also so a cute idea to interview your kids every New Year. Since Dallin loved to make videos, he was all for it. Enjoy!


VID00009 from Nicole Richins on Vimeo.

Dallin made it all the way to midnight, though it was close a couple of times. When I tucked him in bed he wanted me to lay by him. It was literally 2 minutes and he was asleep. He was up at 8 am. We will see how long he makes it tonight. I hope he doesn't crash before 7pm.