Let's Catch Up & Talk About Bribery

14 months since I last blogged?!?  Wow!  I'm sorry.  Things have been quite busy this past year, but I should be able to blog regularly now that I will soon be unemployed.

So to quickly recap the past 14 months - Arianna turned one.  We took her on vacation to the Bahamas and had a wonderful time.  She was a Cheetah for Halloween.  She became - and remains - obsessed with cats.  She received a play kitchen for Christmas and loves making tea.  Last month, Arianna turned two.  She is extremely smart, talks nonstop, and has very specific likes and dislikes.  (All of which I'll introduce you to throughout my upcoming blogs.)  Simply, Arianna is amazing and we are all head over heels in love with her.

I thought I would start off my return to blogging with something controversial I did yesterday...  I engaged in extreme bribery.  

Okay here's what happened...  After about a year hiatus from swimming lessons, we returned last week by taking the 2-3 year old swimming class.   Despite the fact that Arianna is usually a very sweet and friendly girl, she does not like to be touched by strangers.  (Victory?  Seems like our "Your Body Belongs to You" book is working!)  But here's the problem - the swimming class requires a bit of teacher touching - such as to help them adjust their swimming bubbles or holding them so Mommies can get in and out of the pool.  Well, Arianna was so offended the teacher helped me adjust her swim bubble, she screamed bloody murder ("Get away from me!"  "Nooo") every time Miss Christine came near us during class.  Obviously, I told Arianna to stop and to be nice to Miss Christine, to which she replied:  "I don't want to be nice, I want to be bad."  I'm not going to lie - it was so difficult not to laugh, but somehow I remained composed and told her she could either be nice in the pool or bad out of the pool.  She opted to be nice.  Until class was ending and Miss Christine helped her up the ladder.  Then she was back to screaming.


This week, I decided to try a new tactic.  Between the car, the locker room, and the pool I reminded Arianna several times to be nice to Miss Christine.  I told her if she was nice to her the whole time, I would give her M&Ms after class.  When Miss Christine came over to say hello, Arianna responded with a fresh "No.  Go away!"  I leaned down and whispered in her ear, "That was not nice.  If you want to get M&Ms after class you have to be NICE to Miss Christine."  Arianna thought for a moment, looked at the teacher and smiled, "Hi Miss Christine" she said.  For the next half hour, Arianna was her usual sweet and friendly self to Miss Christine - even allowing her to hold her while I climbed out of the pool.  After class I praised Arianna for being nice to Miss Christine and handed her a small baggie of M&Ms, "You get M&Ms because you were a nice girl to Miss Christine and I'm very proud of you."  She was beaming.


Bribery is a controversial issue.  A lot of people think its sends a bad message, yet there is a huge movement now for "rewards."  Aren't rewards essentially the same thing as bribes?  Regardless, it worked and it worked well, with no unhappiness or frustration for anyone, and we all - Arianna, me, and Miss Christine - enjoyed class.  Hooray!

Special note to my MSR girls:  Since Arianna told me she wanted to be bad at swimming class during week one, I cannot get the song "I want to be bad" by Willa Ford out of my head!

Big changes are coming in the next few months.  For one, I will be out of work and Marc will be working full time in the city.  So, Arianna will be staying home full time with Mommy instead of with Grandma, Daddy, or Aunt Jill.  Potty training and a better bedtime routine are amongst our first orders of business, as is the scheduling of more play dates with other kids.  With summer coming up, we should also be spending a lot more time outside, more time cooking, and more time away from home.  We even have two vacations booked - a short weekend getaway next month, and a two week trip to the beach this summer.  I should have lots of new things to blog about.  Oh, and I will finally get to posting about how much I despise Caillou.  Can't wait!


Here are some links to products I've mentioned in this blog: