Horses in the Mail

I told you earlier about how Haley started a new chart so that she could buy Daylight merchandise when her money was All Gone.  Well, it didn't last long.

One day this summer Haley came to me all excited and wanted me to follow her.  I did.  She took me to the desk where her laptop resides and she showed me the horse that was on the screen.  She does that sometimes.  She shows me Schleich horses and I say things like "That is a pretty horse." or "That is a Palomino."  or "What color is that horse, Haley?"  

We talk about the horses.

This particular day something new happened.  Instead of being satisfied with our usual banter Haley reached out and tried to grab the horse that was on the screen.  I wish I had known that she was going to do it so that I could have captured it on video. (yeah, right)  

Anyway, I know that she didn't think that she could pick up that horse off of the screen.  She was making a point.  And, when people are trying to make a point they will often repeat themselves.  

Haley did that.  

She tried to "grab" the horse again.  Then she looked at me in a way that said "I want that horse right there and I want it now."  I saw all of that on her face.  She didn't say it, of course.  What she did was walk over to the refrigerator and point at the chart and say "Money."  

See I told you she was smart.

So, picking up her hint, I said "Let's see.  The horse that you want is $5.99 and you have $15.00 on your chart.  So, yes, you have enough money that you could buy that horse."

She got that.

So I said "Are you sure that you want that horse?"

"Yeah."  she said.

"OK, then I will order it for you."

Then I sat down in front of her laptop and I clicked the button to put it in the cart.  Immediately after I did that I realized that it was probably a bad idea.  I thought that if I showed her how to buy a horse online I might have trouble down the road.  So I changed gears and said "Just a minute, I am going to buy your horse on my computer."  I left the room and went to fire up my laptop.  I found the site that she was shopping on and I found the horse and then I put it in the cart.

Then Haley came and got me again.

She showed me another horse that she wanted on the the same site.  I said "OK, you can get two horses, but that is all you have money for."  

She said "Two.  Horses." 

I said "Yes, just two horses."

She pointed to another horse.

I said "You need to pick which horse you want."

She looked for a bit and then pointed at one of the horses.  I said "OK, that is the horse you want?"

"Yeah."

So I went back to my computer and I found the other horse and put it in the cart.  I entered all of the shipping and payment information and then I asked her to come and look at the cart.  

"These are the horses that you want, right?"

"Yeah."

"OK, I am ordering them now and you will get them in the mail in a few days."

"Yeah."

So everyday she was very interested in the mail.  We were very lucky, they came quickly.  She was so excited when her horses arrived in the mail.  We opened the package and gave them both names.  They were her favorite horses for a couple of weeks.  She took them everywhere.  They even got to go to Yoga with her. 

Instead of starting a new chart Haley wanted me to write words on the Magic Whiteboard.  We wrote words like Grandma and Grandpa and tractor ride and marshmallows.  A week or so went by and then one day I asked her to help me take out the recycling.  She got up and came in to the kitchen and pointed at the white board on the refrigerator door and said "Money?"  

I said "Yes, I will give you money if you take out the recycling."

"Horses."

"Yes, if you earn enough money you can buy more horses."

"Yeah."

I think I have created a monster.

~ Haley's Mom

I am participating in 31 for 21 Blog Challenge this month. The challenge I have accepted is to blog every day in October to raise awareness for Down Syndrome. Learn more about Down Syndrome at the National Association of Down Syndrome.

All Gone

At the beginning of the summer Haley's grandparents came for a visit.  Haley's grandma noticed that Haley was not tracking her Daylight Dollars at the time.  She encouraged Haley to do that.

Haley decided that she wanted the 'HO' scale model of the Daylight steam engine.  That model costs around $300.  Part of me just wanted to talk her out of it, but I went ahead and made a chart with as many squares as I could get on it.  It turned out to be 120.  I thought if she got that far I may consider letting her buy the engine.  In the back of my mind I thought that would never happen.

So Haley started taking out the recycling again.

This time I gave her two dollars each time she took out the recycling because we have two baskets.  She needs to do some sorting.  We are supposed to separate the glass from everything else.

She was doing a great job.

She got up to $30 on her chart.

She showed me a DVD online that I could tell she wanted.  It was about the Daylight.  Then she showed me a DVD in her train catalog that she gets.  It wasn't the same DVD, but it was also about the Daylight.  Then she pointed to the chart on the refrigerator and said "Money."

I said "Yes, you have enough money for one of those DVD's."

She wanted one of those DVD's.

I asked her to show her Dad, I thought that he might be able to tell from the descriptions if they would be good.  He looked at them and said that he thought she would like them both.  So I told her if she really wanted a DVD she was going to have to choose between them.

She chose the one from the online store.

I said "Are you sure you want to buy this DVD with your money?  It will take all of it."  

She said "Yeah."  

I explained to her that it would take several days to get it.  I told her that it would come in the mail.  "So, you will have to wait for it.  Do you want me to buy it for you with your money.?"

She said "Yeah."

So I ordered the DVD.  She was so excited.  She was very patient.

Then it came in the mail.  She gets so excited every time we get a package.  They are rarely for her, but she always wants to see.  This time it was for her.

We opened the package.  Then I went over to the chart and I erased it.  I told her that she spent all of her money on her DVD and that her money was all gone.

She repeated "All gone."

She watched her DVD.

Then she brought me her catalog and pointed to the other DVD.

"Haley, your money is all gone."  I said.

"ALL GONE!" she yelled.  

She was mad at me for the rest of the day.  

So we started another chart.

~ Haley's Mom

I am participating in 31 for 21 Blog Challenge this month. The challenge I have accepted is to blog every day in October to raise awareness for Down Syndrome. Learn more about Down Syndrome at the National Association of Down Syndrome.

Not Quite Enough

During dinner last night Haley was pointing to a model of the Daylight steam engine in her Historic Rail catalog.  It was a model of the engine when it was painted red, white and blue as the American Freedom Train. 

She wanted to know how many dollars it was.  I looked and told her it was $185.00.

She pointed at several other things in the catalog during dinner.  Some videos and some puzzles and a t-shirt.

After dinner I was in my office when I heard a sound that I didn't recognize. 

I went in to the kitchen to find that Haley had dumped her wallet on to the island and was counting her money.  She was counting it one, two, three even though she had many different kinds of coins.

I reminded her the difference between the coins.  We talked about the dime being 10 cents and the nickle being 5 cents and the penny being 1 cent.  Then I helped her count her change.  She had 85 cents.

She pointed to her catalog again and said "Money."

"Haley, that model is $185 dollars.  You have 85 cents.  That's not even 1 dollar."

I know she doesn't get it. 

I don't know when she ever will, but she is definitely thinking.

The Drama

There has been a lot of drama around here lately. 

Some good, some not so good.

I will start with the good.

Haley loves to watch videos.  She watches many videos a day.  Sometimes the same video over and over all day long.  Sometimes a different video is put in after the last one ends.  She (we) have watched some videos so many times that she (we) have them memorized.

I can't help it.  I have the kind of memory and flair for the dramatic that I tend to repeat what has been said on the screen.  Or I anticipate it.

Haley does the same thing.

It started a long time ago.  She would mimic what was happening on a video.  Not really saying the same words, but making sounds that sounded like what had just been said.  Especially if it was said with enthusiasm.  Later on she would repeat the last word of a sentence.  Then some time later she started anticipating what the character was about to say.  She also reacted to what was said.  She would laugh if something was funny, or silly, or scary. 

I mean it might have been scary to another kid, but to her apparently it was funny.  Her favorite characters seem to be the villains.

This week something has changed.

Not only is she saying full phrases (not just the last word) she is saying them with the character.  She is acting them out.  If the character turns to the left when they say it she does too.  If they flourish with their arms, so does she. 

It is fascinating to watch. 

And, like I said, I have a tendency toward the dramatic so I have a tendency to join her.

The Drama...

Now the not so good.

Haley does chores for money.  She has been doing really well with the chart on the refrigerator that tracks her money. She had been earning money for a train video by taking out the recycling.  Most of the time I just say "Haley, can you take out the recycling?"  and she comes running.  Sometimes she doesn't and I have to remind her the reason she does it.  "Haley, do you want to earn a dollar?"  She says "Yeah."  And then she does it.  If her Dad asks her she usually gives him the "teenager grunt" and doesn't move.  Then I ask her and she complies.

The other day I asked her to take out the recycling. 

She didn't move.

I reminded her about the money.

Nope.

I told her that if she didn't get up and do it that I would. 

Still no response.  So I took it out. 

When I came back in and put the basket back in the pantry she walked in to the room and pointed at the white board.  I told her that I would not be putting an 'X' on the board because she did not do the job. 

She threw herself on the floor and had a fit.  She pointed to the refrigerator and yelled "Money!"

"Haley, I took out the recycling by myself.  You didn't help me.  You didn't earn any money."

Her fit went on for quite a while. 

I left the room.

The Drama...

Haley's Job

Haley has a job.  She does her job well.  She is taking out the recycling.

She has experience with earning money.  She has earned Daylight Dollars and dollars for other things that she wanted.  She is now just earning money for no particular reason.  She likes to have some money in her wallet.

When she was in school they would occasionally have an outing planned. They would send me a note telling me that they would be going to Safeway or the bowling alley and if I sent money Haley could buy something or participate. It was great for her.  I knew that they were using it as a learning opportunity.  I happily put money in her wallet.

Now that she is out of school I thought that it would be better if she earned her money.

Taking out the recycling is something that she started to "help" her sister with and now she can do it all by herself. I found out in the last couple of weeks at school that recycling is her job at school as well, maybe that is why she does such a good job of it.

We separate our recycling into two baskets. One is for paper and the other is for cans and bottles.  Once she is out in the garage she can dump either one into our big blue recycling bin. We have to separate the glass into a small green container.  I usually help her sort out the glass in the kitchen and then she takes it into the garage as well. Once she has done that I mark off three 'X's' on the white board. One for each trip to the garage.

The other day she walked up to the refrigerator and pointed at the white board and said "Money."  I walked over and told her to count the X's.  We counted them.  She had six. She wasn't satisfied.

She said "Money!" and held out her hand and pointed into it.

"Wallet." 

She apparently wanted actual money in her wallet. I got some money out of my wallet and counted it out into her hand. Then she got her wallet and we put the money in it.

I then erased the white board.

She did not like that. I told her she could earn some more. She just walked off in a huff.

Making Plans

Haley brought home a drawing yesterday.  Someone had folded a piece of paper into quarters and numbered each quarter.  There was a pencil sketch in each quarter.  Haley was really excited about it. 

She showed it to me and I asked her what it was.  She pointed to each drawing in turn.  Number one was a frog, number two was a bird, number three was a pig and number four was a tiger.  I recognized most of them.  I was glad she told me that number four was a tiger, I thought it was a cat.

She put the drawing on the refrigerator.  She likes to hang her artwork on the refrigerator.  She hangs something on the refrigerator everyday.  She is not particular.  It doesn't have to be her own work.

This morning she pointed to the drawing on the refrigerator and told me about all of the animals again.  Then she got out a dry erase marker, she wanted me to write cat, frog, pig and bird on the white board. Apparently the tiger is a cat this morning. 

I told her that she could write those words. 

She didn't buy it.

I started spelling the words for her, I know she knows her letters.  I thought she would write them as I said them.  She wasn't fooled, she wanted me to write them. 

I held my hand over hers and we wrote C A T and F R O G and B I R D and P I G. 

She read the words again.  Then she said "animals" and then she said "zoo."   Then she pointed at the calendar on the refrigerator and she wanted me to write zoo on the calendar.  I hesitated and then I wrote it.

I went upstairs to get something and pretty soon Haley was behind me.  I turned to see what she was up to and she held out a dollar to me.  She said "dollar."  I said "Yes, that is a dollar."  She turned and went back downstairs.  I have no idea where that dollar came from. 

I went downstairs again and found her in the kitchen.  When I walked in she said "money."  She had her wallet on the island and was counting dimes.  She said "One, two, three, four, five."  I looked and sure enough she had five dimes.  I told her that she was right and that she had 50 cents.  I opened her wallet and found the five dollar bill that I knew was in there.  I added the dollar to it and asked her what she had.  We talked about the five and the one and I told her she had six.  We put all of the money in her wallet.  She turned to me and held up the wallet and said "money, zoo, go see animals."

Haley's sister has been wanting to go to the zoo as well.  I wrote it on Saturday.  I hope Big Sis is feeling better by then. 

As far as Haley is concerned we are going.

Daylight Shirt

When we got home from Montana it didn't take Haley long to remember that she wanted to earn money for her Daylight shirt.  She went right over to the refrigerator and started counting.  She had four more dollars to go.

In the morning she saw her bag of videos that she had taken to Grandma's house sitting by the TV.  She pointed at it.  I said "Are you going to put those away for a Daylight Dollar?"  She said "Go away."  I knew that meant that she would, it didn't take her long and she had them put away and she handed me the bag.

She helped me load the dishwasher and then she helped her Big Sis take out the recycling.  That is working out really well, Big Sis likes to help her earn her Daylight Dollars so we don't have to hound her to take out the recycling.

She was down to needing one Daylight Dollar.

Yesterday she was in no mood to do any chores for me.  I didn't push it.  I gave her the opportunity a couple of times, but if she didn't want to do it I just let it go.  It was kind of late in the day when she finally decided that she would empty the dishwasher (she puts away the silverware and the plastic cups.)  We went over to the refrigerator and crossed off the last dollar.

While she was celebrating I ram upstairs and got fifteen ones out of my purse.  I came back down and counted them into her hand.  She helped me count.  Then I told her to show her money to her sister while I got the package that had arrived in the mail while we were in Montana.  I had ordered the shirt before we left so I she would have instant gratification.

She came back to me and I showed her the package.  I asked her to count out the fifteen dollars into my hand and then I handed her the package.  She was so excited.  We held the shirt up to her and we talked about it.  We even went into the downstairs bathroom  and turned off the light so that she could see that it glows in the dark.  I don't think she cares about that.

I was going to throw the package away when I noticed that there was a new catalog in it.  She likes the new catalog. 

She has already figured out what she wants next.  She has her eye on a DVD which is twenty dollars.  That should take just a little longer to earn, but I think she has the concept now. 

She never got anxious about the wait for her shirt and actually she didn't even question the fact that she would get it.  She really got into the process of earning it.  It has been really fun for all of us.  Who knew?

What You Have Missed

Tuesday I was busy on the computer, but the whole day went by and I didn't blog.  Wednesday we didn't have Internet access most of the day.

Here is what you missed:

On Tuesday Haley's Big Sis had a friend over.  This friend is a boy, but not a boyfriend (you know the drill.)  He has been over before, a couple of times.  Haley's Dad and I found out, after he left, that when he comes over (every time he comes over) Haley flirts with him.  Apparently she bats her eyes and smiles and "acts" shy, but makes a point to be where he and her Big Sis are.

Although cute and funny, this is not good news to me.  I have not witnessed it, because I give them some space, but it scares the living daylights out of me.  I don't know if it is just this particular boy, because she doesn't have the opportunity to be around boys very often.  It just makes me even more happy that she has a one on one all day at school. 

That is all I am going to say about that right now.

Haley is still very much into her Daylight Dollars.  It has been kind of fun to say "Haley will you come and put away the dishes...for a dollar."  She says "Yeah!" and jumps up and runs into the the kitchen and gets busy.  It's great.  She has seven dollars so far.

On Wednesday Haley's Big Sis decided to spend a chunk of her savings on a new gaming system.  We came home and set it up and then I had to leave for a meeting.  While I was gone Haley apparently wanted to play with her sister so Big Sis gave her a controller that was not plugged in to the game and they sat there together and played.  I love it when stuff like that happens.  They worked it out together and they were both happy.  Maybe this "two teenage girls in the house" thing won't be so bad after all.