And so it begins....

And so it begins.... I have begun " rewarding her good behavior with positive reinforcement by using a visual aid to spark interest and show a tangible reward" you know, fancy talk for bribing my kid to do what I want so we can all live peacefully... some what normal... you know... so I don't go "mad mom" on her cute little tush.

And seeing how my house had become a non stop wonderland of this:

And yes, that is her telling me "No" for the 100th million time that day when I asked her to pick up a few toys.

So we needed to start reigning in that "terrible two I'm the boss" attitude before she ended up shipped back to Texas.

One of the biggest things was her total disrespect for prayers. She did great at folding her arms for a long time. But then she turned 2 and apparently you don't pray when you are 2. Oh think again sweet child of mine- you need all the prayers you can get! It had gotten bad..... my brother commented on it, my mom noticed, and her BFF yelled at her to fold her arms and she still didn't. Oh yeah.... time for a beat down... I mean a teaching opportunity.

Enter: THE CHART.

That's right, I typed up a Big Girl Chart. It consisted of 6 things- 3 she was good at and 3 things she needed to work on. One trip to the dollar store for 100 girly fun stickers later and we were in business. I wasn't sure it would work, but I under estimated the power of sparkly stickers. It was a hit!

She was so proud of herself. She got to pick the sticker and put it on the chart herself. What a big girl. There is a happy dance involved after each sticker placement. That's right... BY ME. The things I do to get my way....

She even started getting stickers in the ones that she needed to work on.

And best of all: The girl is back to folding her arms and saying prayers- now without any help from mom.

Her prayers go like this:

"Dear( mumbles something here- cause she is trying to say heavenly)Father, Bless daddy. Bless Mom. Bless me. Hooray. Go Party Amen"

I can't make this crap up. Everything is a party to her. :) And the back talk and yelling no are better- which is great because nothing makes me go crazy screaming I'm going to have a nervous break down mom like her talking back to me.... yeah yeah.... I know: it's not like I never back talked my mom.... but it's a button. and pay back I'm sure... whatever mom.