Although I did set quite a few goals for the year in January, sometimes I think it's more helpful to set goals for smaller blocks of time. I was pleased when I looked through January's list to see that several have been accomplished already such as my weight loss, teaching Oliver to eat solid foods, reading at least 25 chapter books to the kids, going to Disney World and Sesame Place, Nadia and Ian have taken a t-ball class, Nadia is playing her second season of soccer, the kids took swimming lessons, we went to the pool very often this summer, I did a lot of purging around the house, and Ian started memorizing Bible verses this summer.
On Monday I started using sticker charts for the first time with Nadia and Ian. I plan to use these for a few weeks (at least) and will change what they have to do to earn stickers slightly each week. This will be one of the ways I work toward accomplishing some of the goals listed below. This week Nadia's chart has included making her bed, not putting any clothes on her bedroom floor, practicing the piano, being well-behaved at church, and blowing her nose. Ian's chart this week has included doing a good job of eating at lunch and dinner and being nice to Oliver. Next week one of Nadia's is going to be about flushing the toilet.
1. Help Ian become completely independent with going to the bathroom as well as dressing and undressing himself in the morning and at night. To accomplish that he needs to learn how to wipe himself and to take off and put on his own shirt. I also want to help Nadia do a better job of remembering to flush after she goes to the bathroom. I'd also like to see him learn how to pee standing up before he turns four. Paul will have to help with that one.
2. Serve vegetables at least four times a week. We've been eating LOTS of fresh fruit this summer, but aside from corn on the cob haven't been eating vegetables very regularly. I recently stocked up on frozen veggies so now I need to start serving them and insisting that Nadia and Ian eat some. Nadia did a great job of eating baby carrots with her lunch yesterday and today!!
3. Continue to help Nadia with her handwriting, drawing, coloring, and cutting skills. In particular I want to have her start using lowercase letters in her journal. Her drawing skills have come a LONG way this year! I'd like Ian to learn how to write his name. This week I taught him how to write capital "I".
4. Continue to work with Nadia and Ian on their behavior during the church service. I will not allow Nadia to attend Children's Church any more. Ian may attend it during the second half of the service, if he so desires. Last Sunday he was perfectly quiet during the entire service because he took his nap in my arms.
5. Help Nadia completely break her thumb sucking habit.
6. Start teaching Nadia and Ian Spanish.
7. Help Paul get a tenure track job that would start in August 2014.
8. Take at least one video of each child every other month.
9. Continue to give Nadia frequent practice with adding and subtracting (with concrete objects) as well as adding coins. We finished the Kindergarten math textbook on Wednesday and started the Apples book (by Life of Fred) on Thursday. We'll start the first grade math textbook after we finish Apples. I also want to work with her on counting by 2's and 5's. She can already count by 10's.
10. Continue to work with Nadia on the Level 1A piano book and Level 1 spelling curriculum. Start working with Nadia on the Level 1 reading curriculum.
11. Only let the children watch tv a maximum of 1-2 times a week. This summer we made a great improvement in this area as previously they used to watch something 1-2 times a day. Part of the reason I want to continue to keep the tv watching to a minimum is because I recently bought an iPad (hasn't arrived yet), and I want to keep their screen time as low as possible, even if they are using educational apps on the iPad. Tuesday night will be one of the times they watch tv most weeks since Paul won't come home until after they're in bed.
12. I'd like to see Nadia learn to ride her two wheel bike without training wheels and Ian learn to ride a tricycle (he puts his feet on the ground rather than on the pedals).
13. If the FET doesn't result in a pregnancy, I'd like to lose ten more pounds by the end of the year.
14. Get into a better routine of cleaning the house (particularly dusting, cleaning the bathrooms, and vacuuming). I'm going to use an app on the iPad to help with this, which I think will be better as I won't have to print out the checklists. I've been mopping the kitchen floor regularly now that I own a steam mop. I'd also like to use an app on the iPad to track my Bible readings for my daily devotions.
15. I hope that Oliver will be walking independently and able to crawl safely up and down the stairs by the end of the year. I also am working with him on responding to the word "no." In particular we're working on not throwing food on the floor when he's sitting in his booster seat, not touching the cd player or my laptop, and not putting books, paper, Kleenex, grass, etc. in his mouth.
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