Ta Dah!!! She did it!

We have another winner! The final contestant in the mermaid challenge has completed her chart and is enjoying her reward.

Sweetie finally got to number 30! She was very close on Wednesday but had a major meltdown when I didn't have time to brush her hair after she'd spent too much time in her room goofing off instead of getting dressed like she was supposed to be doing! She did settle down quickly & I wondered if I shouldn't count that episode but she'd already had sooooooooo many warnings and chances on other days..... I told her I'd think about it and see how the rest of the day went. She did manage to behave the rest of the day but Murray & I talked about it at supper. We decided that the last day would have to be a good one, with no freak outs whatsoever. She was disappointed but didn't have a fit so maybe we're getting somewhere???
Thursday was a perfect day for her & she went to bed knowing she could have her mermaid when she got up.
And she didn't wait a second when she woke the next morning. She was right into that package as Murray was eating breakfast & getting ready for work. She was sooooooo happy to finally have it!

That afternoon, I let them have a mermaid bath, complete with blue lagoon water & their Mermaid Falls set. They stayed in there for more than an hour I'm sure. The bath has always been very entertaining for htem but today more so than ever!

Congratulations Sweetie! We hope that you've begun to grasp that screaming and crying are not the best way to talk to us when you want something.

These last few days she has definitely been putting more effort into keeping her cool and using her words when she wants something or is upset/needs help etc. We may need another challenge/incentive program before she falls off the wagon though!

Honey & Lovey were both excited when Sweetie was finally able to open that package so they could have all the mermaids together. That night when they were saying their prayers, Lovey thanked God for helping Sweetie get her mermaid. I thought it was so sweet of Lovey to care that much! Sometimes they can be so atrocious and then every once in awhile you can tell they really do love each other.

Down the Road Again...

We took Murphy for a walk the other day and I ended up having a couple other "puppies" join me!

Mermaid Alert!!!!!!!

Well! it's been an interesting race! Honey completed her chart awhile ago & Lovey & Sweetie were trailing behind by quite a bit. Sweetie was ahead of Lovey for the longest time as Lovey continued her stubborn streak and refused to try supper. I'm not sure what happened but there was a complete switch and suddenly Sweetie was having freak outs every day and Lovey was choking down meat & vegetables every night. Lovey got very excited at the prospect of catching up and then as that gap got narrower and narrower, she began to talk about passing Sweetie.

That is exactly what happened. Sweetie couldn't hold it together for a single day and Lovey kept plugging away and gained on her and a week or so ago flew on by as Sweetie remained stuck at #23. Well, she did it! She was verrrrrrry close last week. She could have had her mermaid on Friday night and I even made a meal she'd been requesting for awhile. We always have something fun to eat on Fridays. Murray & I have been doing this for as long as we've been married I think. We call it Fatty Fried Food Fridays (healthy I know!). It's not always deep fried, it could be donairs, nachos, pizza etc but not a regular meat & potatoes meal. So for Lovey's big finale, I made her fish & chips. She just recently discovered them and is in looooooooooooove. So I figured this would be a cinch. Eat the meal, have a baby carrot and you are swimming with the mermaid!

Ahhh welll, you know what they say about the best laid plans! I'm not entirely certain what sent the whole plan into an utter tailspin of brainscalding disaster but here's my recollection of events as they happened. Murray cooked the fish and put it in a dish on the counter while we waited for the fries to finish. During this time I believe the fish may have cooled somewhat & perhaps lost a tad of its crispiness. This in itself is obviously a serious affront but some would just let that go. However, he made the grievous and unforgivable error of incorrectly cutting it up for her. Now it wasn't that she didn't want him to cut it, she took great offense to the way it was cut. I'm not sure if he went left to right instead of right to left, or whether the chunks weren't aesthetically pleasing enough for her but oh my! the wailing that ensued was unbelievable. She was M A D!!! I don't know where he learned his fish cutting techniques but somebody really screwed up somewhere along the way and whoever you are, I hope you can sleep at night! :)

So Friday night was a bust and then we were away for the weekend. While we were away Lovey blew another opportunity when lasagna and chicken pot pie were served. Murray & I couldn't understand this. I'm pretty sure I can put away a whole pie and Murray has never met a lasagna he couldn't handle! The next night though she had it made. Nanny made meatballs and a chicken rice casserole. The mermaid was hers for the taking...... but I didn't pack it :( She was pretty excited just knowing she could have it! This was the night of the Olympic gold medal hockey game and she came down to sit on the couch with us and piped up "can we go home now????"

She had to wait one more day til we got home on Monday but she had that mermaid out of the box and into the tub in pretty short order! Honey's mermaid was very excited about the whole affair as she'd been waiting for her friend to show up!