reindeer dust and good nights
thank you all who left lovely comments and suggestions re Miss M's sleeping endeavours. Last night we had a really long talk to both of them about what bed time means and reinforced the rules. I also offered stickers to the first child who did a bedtime task..ie. the first one to go to the loo, gets a sticker, first one to get their pjs on, gets a sticker. I'm sure there are some of you reading saying,"you shouldn't play them off like that, its not good for their egos" Bollocks. Life is competitive and they need to understand that you can't always win. So the first child to fall asleep would find a sticker left outside their bedroom door this morning.
They reacted so well to this. Mr A fell asleep first, no surprises there. And Miss M only took 25 minutes to settle down, and not once did she get out of her bed to ask for something. We were ecstatic. Except..... remember how I said everything backfires?
Well this morning at 1.15am she entered our room and announced 'mamma, I don't want any stickers.'
We will try again tonight with enthusiasm and live in hope.
meanwhile, it is Mr A's last day of kindy ever. So Advent yesterday was making magic reindeer dust for kindy friends and teachers. Today, being the 11th day, they found some Christmas stickers to decorate presents.
To make your own reindeer dust. sprinkle some bird seed and glitter into a bag and follow the instructions.
magic reindeer dust
on christmas eve, sprinkle all over your lawn
the glitter will shine in the moonlight
and lead santa to your house before dawn.
We call it Magic Reindeer Food with a very similar message. We also put in oats with the bird seed and glitter (and sometimes we use edible glitter when we can find it).
:)
Posted by: Cindy K | December 28, 2007 at 01:07 PM
We do reindeer food too, only we put glitter in porridge oats!
Happy Christmas.
Posted by: suse | December 27, 2007 at 02:52 PM
Fantastic reindeer dust idea !
Saving this idea for next year .. we've only latched onto the idea of 'Santy Paws' this year, so the reindeer might be a tad too much :)
xx
Merry Christmas xx
Posted by: h&b | December 24, 2007 at 04:31 PM
Thank you for posting this, what a great idea! :)
Posted by: Sara | December 24, 2007 at 06:41 AM
We have this toilet competition at our house every night, first to the toilet wins! I'm all into competitions, it works so much better than talking to them ;-)
Posted by: Kajsa | December 18, 2007 at 06:41 AM
Your blog is so much fun to visit! I have been loving all you beautiful birds.
Posted by: Jess | December 12, 2007 at 11:35 AM
And how good is that reindeer dust. Beats the multitude of candy canes that are coming home with Christmas cards from school. Aaaggghh, stop giving my kids sugar overload! Or as my father will say, "They'll rot your teeth".
Posted by: Violet & Rose | December 11, 2007 at 10:28 PM
Sleeping advice, it is so hard, Edward did not sleep properly until he was about 6, and that was mainly because we had to give up with some things, and force him into other things! No easy answers, sorry!
Reindeer dust, I may have to nab that idea!
Posted by: raspberry | December 11, 2007 at 08:54 PM
This is such a cool idea...I almost want to do it for myself :) fantastic!
Posted by: Bianca | December 11, 2007 at 07:46 PM
This is great! Miss M is clever, she can’t live up to the expectations, so she says she doesn’t like stickers. Oh my dear, education is the toughest job on earth! You’re doing great with the stickers, lots of little ones of friends and family members were trained receiving stickers, or tiny little presents. As long as you don’t buy them a Ferrari everything is OK!
Thanks for the glitter dust tip!
Posted by: nicolette | December 11, 2007 at 07:28 PM
Oh, I love this idea so much Tiel. Thankyou - I shall definitley be using it! :)
Sorry to hear about Miss M's sleeping habits. No tips here (we are the soft/sucker parents who still lay down with their 4 year old every night), but lots of empathy from a solid 3 years of sleep related angst. Hope she settles down into her own routine soon. xo
Posted by: Fiona | December 11, 2007 at 04:06 PM
Oh I remember those nights. Wait a minute...I'm still having them. My kids often get up in the middle of the night to crawl into our bed. As long as they go down at night I don't mind snuggling up to them in the morning. My son did that, and he is now 10. So I am going to choose to cherish those times. Keep experimenting until you find what works for you.
Posted by: cindy | December 11, 2007 at 01:41 PM
WHAT a great idea! Fantastic for small people to give to classmates, love it! Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Nanette | December 11, 2007 at 11:06 AM