Tuesday, January 24, 2012

You never know which one will surprise you!

Brooke is pretty convinced that Baylor Grace was put on this Earth to "test" her.  I think its funny because she is generally a sweetheart to her Daddy.  Those two ram heads like no other.  If you want proof, watch the video below.  Brooke is on the right, Baylor Grace on the left.
Normally after a long trip, we have a week of pure hell from the girls.  It takes them awhile to get back into the swing of things, back to being disciplined, back to routines.  During this week there is normally lots of tears, fighting, screaming, crying, and that is just from Brooke.  Our house is a war zone when we return.  Add to that, the girls have been gone for about a month total, are in a new house, new schools, and haven't really had their own house since mid November..... my house more resembles Pickett's Charge on July 4th (the day after the charge) 1863, than a home.  Two days ago Brooke brought back her stoplight color chart.  It was a great tool to teach the girls right from wrong.  They really bought into and the "bucks" reward system.   Green meant they were good all day and received a buck that they could used to buy themselves something later on.  Yellow meant they weren't great but not awful, however, no buck for them that day.  Red, well that is a nuclear status not often seen in the Ayers household.   It helped curb negative behavior and rewarded good.  With a house full of girls, I was all for anything that will make it more quiet. It became such a part of their daily routine that Brooke and I didn't even need to actually do the chart anymore.  They just kept up with it in their heads.

Reagan is your typical first born and has the most desire to be good, although sometimes she loses patience with her sisters negative behavior.  In reaction to that, she blows her lid.  Ms. SassyFrass has been known to appear but generally its because Reagan needs more sleep. Caroline, no question Caroline is our Angel.  She is almost never bad, to a fault.  It would do her good to pop her younger sister once, just to show her who is boss.  Instead, Caroline will just sit in a corner, cry, and suck her thumb.  No mean words, no mean hands, no mean stomping feet.  Nope, won't be Caroline moving to yellow first.  Then there is Baylor Grace.  Safe money is on her living on yellow with an occasional flirtation with red.  Yep, Baylor Grace would be the first to lose her bucks.  Hadley "Badley" is too young to really count.

We are now on day three and only one girl has received her buck both days.  In fact, only one girl has received her buck at all.  The winner.....Baylor Grace!!!!!  Whiskey. Tango.  Foxtrot?  Who knew that Baylor Grace would be dominating the color chart contest?  The one kid who has had a date with the color red....Caroline.  As shocking as it is that Baylor Grace has been on green the past two days, is Caroline being on red yesterday.  Perhaps it had something to do with it being the Chinese New Year, I don't know?  Caroline is testing out her attitude boundaries and losing.  Big time.

I am pretty convinced that Caroline and Reagan will work their issues out.  Caroline already was working extra hard to be nice this morning.  Reagan has been pretty good, just not good enough.  No melt downs from her like from Caroline.  Having said all that, I am so proud of Baylor Grace for being on green both nights.  The girl with the most attitude is behaving the best.  Watch out world, Baylor Grace is going to take you by storm!

2 comments:

  1. Love it. I have no doubt BG will take the world by storm, and the world won't even know what happened. As for Caroline and Reagan, the chart is not new to them and at least not as much of a challenge. Also, BG sees an opportunity to be better than them at something. I'm sure sensitive Caroline is under a lot more stress than usual right now. I mean, good grief, talk about upheaval, and Reagan is "managing". But, your description is so funny, and I can picture each one of them, including BG's smirk.

    ReplyDelete
  2. BTW, you don't suppose BG is a lot like her mother, do you?

    ReplyDelete