Just Don't Panic, Alright?

Tonight Noah put the toilet paper tube in the toilet and flushed it. Yeah. It was not awesome. After spending about five minutes telling him, not yelling at him, that what he did was wrong, how it was wrong, and that some privileges were going to be taken away, he said to us:

"Mama, Dad, I feel ashamed. I am sorry that I put the toilet paper thing in toilet, but right now is not the time to panic. If you panic, it will only make the problem worse. If you don't panic, then you will come up with a solution, and it will be fixed. I am sure by tomorrow it will all be better."

No one was panicking, but I am sure he is right - by tomorrow everything will be all better. :D

I did my very best... This time!

I spent the better part of the day today cleaning the house, top to bottom. James was at a conference, and there is no better way to spend a sunny, warm Saturday than cleaning. And when I say "cleaning," I mean CLEAN-ING! I always try to involve Noah, so that means rinsing and stacking the dishes, cleaning picture frames, and cleaning his room.

Today was a particularly hard day to get him to clean his room. I had no problem getting him to do anything else, including mopping. He just didn't want to do clean his room. No matter how much bribing, then threatening, then just full on yelling could get him to clean his room. Finally, I closed the door to his room while he was in there and told him he could only open the door if he was cleaning. He cried. I felt bad. But not bad enough to open the door.

After a couple of minutes, he finally stopped crying, opened the door and said he was ready to clean his room by himself. Fine, I told him.

He came out of his room about five minutes later and pronounced that he was all done. He cleaned his room. I told him I just needed to finish washing the dishes, then I would inspect his room. I asked if he tried his best, and he assured me he did.

"So, if you tried your best, everything is cleaned up, right?"

"Right."

"And that includes the stuff on your bed, right?"

"Uhhhhh. Yeah. But, there might be stuff on my bed still."

"If you tried your best to clean everything, then there shouldn't be anything on your bed."

"Okay."

"But, if you didn't try your best, and you lied to me about trying your best, what should your punishment be?"

"No video games today."

"Sounds like a fair punishment."

*Pause*

"Uh, I better double check to make sure I did my best."

About five minutes later: "I really did my very best this time, mama!" With that assurance, I went to his room, and he really did his very best! Noah cleaned everything. He even took the sheets of his bed.

Apparently, making him choose his own punishment is what "motivates" him to do what is asked of him. Let's see how long this works!

Conversations with a five year old boy...

As Noah was getting ready to go to Lolo and Lola's house today, he asked me what the "pocket" in his underwear was for. I don't know. I don't have a "pocket" in my underwear, how would I know? I asked him what he thought it was for.

"Is it to put your hand in?" No...

"What if your titi itches and you have to scratch?" Still no.

"Well, I think it's for your titi to come out for air." Absolutely not.

My answer to his question? "Ask your dad. His underwear have the same thing. He knows what it's for."