Wheels

Our boy, for as long as we can remember, has loved all things with wheels. I remember watching him "vroom" a car across the ottoman in his bedroom, shortly after he learned how to pull up on it. And so it began! Cars, trucks, motorcycles, bikes, wagons... you name it, he loves it. And recently, he added roller skates to his list of wheeled obsessions.

Gus' parents sent each kid a pair of skates for Christmas. Maya was pretty good at using hers, because her pair had a speed control on it-- basically, we could make it so the wheels didn't spin as easily, making it less likely for her to lose her footing. Nikos' skates, however, did not have this feature, and he really couldn't stand on them for more than a minute before his feet flew out from beneath him.

Fast forward to yesterday... he figured them out! To quote him: "LOOK MOMMY! I got my balance now! I'm SKATING!" haha! The rest is history. He has barely taken them off since then. He wears his skates at the dinner table, to the bathroom, etc. All day long! After lunch, I suggested we all go outside for a bit so the kids could run around. Nikos was so excited! Why? Because he could skate on the porch! That's right, our son roller skated on the porch when it was 35 degrees outside. With his snow jacket and mittens on. It was hilarious!

When Nikos said he wanted to skate outside, Maya instantly decided that she wanted to ride her tricycle outside, too. Gus went down to the basement, got it for her, and set it on the porch. "Nooooo! I want to ride it OUTSIDE!" Commence crying. Just so we're clear, the porch IS outside. It was freezing! But Maya wanted to ride her tricycle on the grass. And whatever, it doesn't hurt anyone... so I let her do it. I think she was a little disappointed in her ride, though, haha!

Back inside, our boy continued to skate around, and really had a great day. Made even greater by our new arrangement! Back up for a second to Friday morning. We were heading out on our playdate, and Nikos threw a fit about getting dressed. This has become a frequent battle for us, and I was sick of it. He was also complaining, saying he didn't WANT to go to this friend's house. He wanted to go to our OTHER friend's house because her son had a toy he wanted to play with (a racetrack, of course-- in keeping with the "wheels" theme of this post!). That's when it hit me: marble jar! I'll set up a jar, let him put a marble in it when he listens well or does something generally good and sweet and nice. Then, when he gets enough marbles, he can earn that toy. Everyone wins! Sounds great, right?

Except... I didn't have any marbles. I thought I did, but I couldn't find them. And he was continuing to misbehave throughout the day-- I was desperate! So, on a whim, I wrote "Niko's Points" on the kitchen chalkboard, and put a tally underneath when he helped me clean up the living room. The effect on his behavior was IMMEDIATE. The next time he earned a point, he asked if he could write it on the chalkboard himself. Sure, why not? So... not only is he behaving better and working toward a goal, but he's getting some (very limited) fine motor practice! Win!

I took a picture of the chalkboard to show where his points are. And to show how much neater I wrote out this week's menu, hehe! Funny thing is, Nikos does NOT understand why I put the diagonal one in there. I tried to explain that we were grouping them into fives, and how the diagonal line means that we have a group. He mostly just thinks I messed up. And, if you ask him, he will argue that he only has four points. sigh!

One final picture. This one has absolutely nothing to do with wheels, but it's exciting nonetheless: our dining room light! The old light was in the strangest spot, and we were constantly bonking our heads on it. This is much, much better! We had to run the wiring through some electrical conduit, because we didn't feel like cutting into the ceiling, but I think it looks pretty good! Let there be light!