purple plusses...instant reds...

In Little Leighton’s (aka LL aka Biscuit) kindergarten class, there is a reward/punishment system this almost-65-year-old Grammy finds interesting. Fascinating. Confusing. (And it’s the entire kindergarten that uses this. Maybe the entire school—which goes up through 3rd grade.)

Each new day, a student starts out with a green stick. All throughout the day, said student can be rewarded with another stick of 5 other colors or disciplined with another color. 

The color order for the sticks (from best down to worst behavior) is this:

Purple (and, recently Purple Plus—which I think means they may have received more than one purple stick); Blue; Green; Orange; Yellow; and Red. There is the “red” a student slowly (or not-so-slowly) regresses down to or—can digress to in a fairly fast manner. 

(You and I totally get it: The purpose is to inspire/encourage all students to strive to achieve that Purple Plus Stick Status. TLC’s Purple Plus Sticks? Shopping at Nordstrom or Anthropologie. Sigh. Mine? A red velvet cupcake. Two of them! YES!)

So Biscuit explained to Grammy that someone could have a purple stick in their jar—but if they do something “really bad”—they can go to (insert tres scary music here...):

INSTANT RED. (Psycho soundtrack/shower scene might be appropriate at this point.)

I have sooo many thoughts and opinions on this system. 

My first reaction when learning about it was this: 

HOW IN THE WORLD does a teacher get anything done in a day??? When she (or he) is messing with 22 kids’ sticks going up and down. In and out. All. Day. Long. God bless them ANYWAY! Just for choosing such a challenging profession many of us could NEVER handle. 

Then I thought about all of the kids that probably stay below green most of their days. Kids that really NEED some Purple Stick Days! Because, seriously, I’d welcome more Purple Stick Days in my old life!

One day not too long ago, Baby Belle (aka Belle) was staying with us for a few hours. She heard me complaining to My Sweet Hubby (aka MSH aka Pa-Pa) that he kept forgetting to put something up for me on a high shelf. Belle looked at me with a quiet sternness and said:

“Grammy, Pa-Pa needs an Instant Red!” (This wisdom from My Angel Princess that goes to the Timeout Chair at least once a day. Picture me getting a little tear trickling out of my eye.)

I giggled and replied:

“Baby Elle, you are exactly right!”

Since then, Pa-Pa gets an Instant Red almost every time Belle is with us. Luckily, MSH loves the concept of fair/kind discipline. He is probably the most self-disciplined person I’ve ever known. He accepts his Instant Red with humility and a smile. 

Since no one has asked this old gal what she thinks of that system, I can only assume the powers that be consider it effective. It’s certainly not up to me to judge its validity. 

However...Here comes a thought or two (You knew you couldn’t escape this.):

When I was growing up in the American public school systems, our reward/discipline system basically boiled down to this:

BEHAVE at school. There were paddles in your future if you didn’t. NOT WHAT I WOULD EVER EVER EVER agree with. Paddling. Spanking. Not then. Not now. But they were there. When you heard someone getting a paddle? Not something you forgot the rest of the day. Or week. IF you did NOT behave at school? And your parents found out? It was dealt with at home, too. 

I must say that given these two choices? And as a retired counselor that worked with many troubled kids? I vote for Biscuit’s School’s System. I do. (I still worry the teachers have literally no time to ever sleep more than 3 hours a night. Sheesh.)

Biscuit has many MANY Purple Stick Days. TLC and I learned in the first 2-3 weeks to not ask her what color her stick was at the end of the day. She (like her Mama) puts alot of pressure on herself to achieve perfection. She doesn’t need to think we don’t have faith that she did the best she could all day. (And, all TLC has to do is look in the folder that LL brings home ever day. Somehow her Amazing Teacher has filled out each student’s “Stick Status” at the end of the day. With all they have to do, how is this even possible???)

As January comes to a close, I wish All of Y’all a new month of many Purple Stick Days! If you have a few Red Stick Days? Or get some Instant Reds? Hey, we’re going to love you anyway. (After all, February is the month of LOVE, right?)

Hugs and Smooches, Friends...

ELC

goodie girl...

Last week, we celebrated Little Leighton's Half-Birthday (#summerbirthday) at school with her class.

What did we celebrate with?

Goodie Girl's Birthday Cake Cookies!

Y'all. These are insanely delicious and delightful. (I buy three boxes at a time via Amazon Prime!) They brought LL such joy to share with her friends. She was so proud.

Having Celiac Disease as a child can be lonely. But having fabulous treats like these makes it so much easier.

Thank you, Goodie Girl!

Happy Sunday!

parks...plumbers...pizzas

So this past Friday, My Sweet Hubby (aka MSH aka Pa-Pa) and I took Baby Elle (aka Belle) to a park very near our new casa. She was BEYOND excited. She LOVES being outside. She ADORES parks—slides and swings. The whole shebang.

It was chilly. Chillier than I expected. But sunny. We did it all and had a happy time! Her favourite thing to do? What Pa-Pa and I called “The Boat.” She could have sat on that swing forever.

TLC was running errands while we played. Her Hubby was home trying to find a plumber to come fix a broken kitchen sink faucet. ASAP. We were all a bit worried. Seems like many MANY service people don’t work on Fridays any more. Or—at the very least—don’t want to! Her Hubby found a nice man after 12 calls to 12 other companies. Sheesh. 

At the point where it was about to be time to pick Little Leighton (aka LL) up from school, it was looking like The Sweet Princesses might need to spend the night with us. (Water had been cut off to the entire house.) 

TLC dropped LL off to us and the four us—plus Buddy Boo Bear—went for a walk to our “Community” Gazebo. We then spent some time in our backyard. (We’re having a great company/landscape architect redo 75% of our backyard—that’ll happen at the end of February.)

TLC was able to come pick LL and Belle up after we had a pizza dinner. Faucet was fixed! Their casa was back to normal—water was on. It didn’t cost as much as TLC feared it could/would. 

We had a bitter COLD weekend—but a delightful one. We wish each of you a wonderful week! Visit a park! Go for a walk! Sit with someone you love outside for a while. Fresh air goes perfectly with family and friends making special memories...

HUGS, Y’all!
ELC

pa-wetzels...

So our new casa is slowly coming together! At this point, we have 80% of all rooms—EXCEPT the office/library (It, sadly, is still a “storage” area full of boxes and “stuff.” What’s so bad about that? It’s at the front of our home. When you walk in the front door, it’s to your immediate left. To the right is our “formal-but-not-at-all-formal-for-us” dining room.)—finished. 

The Little Princesses’ Room (aka the room any family member/friend/guest might prefer if they don’t mind a twin bed and want a TV!):

(I’m waiting on a canvas of My Sweet Hubby—aka MSH—and TLC when she was about eighteen months old. They’re walking on the beach in Galveston. It is the SWEETEST picture. Ever. When TLC was working on the “gallery” wall for me, I thought of it as the perfect addition.)

Guest Room #Deux:

I’m about to change it around a bit. Taking a desk out. Putting a black table that was previously in our country casa’s master bedroom in its place. (Both my Sissies are ready to come spend the night! And the baby lives 10 minutes from us. That cracks me up. She knows we’ll take GOOD care of her.)

This is our Master!

We love it! It’s very similar to our Master in the country casa. But we are diggin’ our cozy cubby where we read and watch TV. We’ve had to buy a TV, console, storage bench—from Target on-line!—and that small leather chair for MSH. I’m also still trying to decide what pictures to hang where. I have a few left that are in our storage unit in Weatherford. (Said unit’s contents are being transferred to a new unit we’ve rented close to this home on Thursday. I can’t even remember what framed pictures I have in that unit. I’m gettin’ kinda excited to see what they are! And a bit worried about my memory...)

Baby Elle gets to come see Grammy and Pa-Pa (while Little Leighton is in school) a couple of times a week. (Sshhhh...don’t tell Little Leighton...) Grammy treasures this time! Baby Elle NEEDS snacks. Alot of them. Like something every hour. (She’s also potty-trained! YIPPEE and WOO HOO! But she still thinks her Reward M&Ms are necessary. I don’t blame her. I need one or two every hour-ish, too. Winky. Wink.) A go-to snack for both Baby Elle and Little Leighton is pretzels. Gluten-free, of course. Snyder’s? Delish. Trader Joe’s? Delish. Aldi’s? DELISH. Glutino’s? Yep—also delish. I adore how Baby Elle shyly asks for these delightful little treats:

“Pa-wetzels, Grammy? You have pa-wetzels?”

Yes, Baby Elle. Grammy will always have your pa-wetzels.

Here’s hoping it’s about time for Y’all to have your hourly snack...

HUGS,
ELC