Stinky, moving on, and chores

Pew! My house reeks. I used a straightener on my hair this morning so every part of my house smells like a perm. Now its even easier to meld into any shape I choose, depending on my mood and day. The freedom that comes with uber short hair is amazing! I think everyone should hack off their hair at least once.

I sold my daughter's crib this morning. I'm helping her move on. A friend of mine is prego and was looking for baby furniture and I thought...hmm...this might be a way to help Mattea move past crawlforeverscreamforwordswanttobeababyallmylife phase! So, my friend shows up, and we start to take the crib out of her room. Mattea was sitting by her dresser, studying every move (as usual). As soon as we started walking out of the room with it...Niagra Falls....she started wailing and screaming..actually no, it was more like mourning the loss of her crib! OK, first of all, she HATES going to bed. HATES being confined to her crib. I have no idea why she was so upset. I'm holding out hope that she'll be excited when we bring home the toddler bed and decorate her room a little...in a more toddler-esque sort of way, of course.

And finally to the chores...we found the perfect system for my son! He was entering his own type of phase...the IdontcareifIstinkI'llliveinafilthybedroomforever phase. I think every pre-teen gets to this point. You know, when you have to remind them to bathe themselves and brush their teeth or it never gets done. Like ear wax will be overflowing out their ears, knees and hands will stay dirty, clothes would be worn thrice before finally ending up in the wash...that kind of phase. So we had an FHE lesson on cleanliness and helping around the house (issue, part 2). He has an envelope for "do", one for "done" and one for "reward". The chore cards from the "do" envelope are moved to the "done" envelope once completed (daily..before playing) and at the end of each week he's allowed to draw a reward. These range from $5 to a night of bowling. He also now gets ready each morning to a timer. He has 45 minutes to do everything necessary to be super cool and studly for school (including his cologne he wears). So far he hasn't gone over the timer. This might just work!