Maya and her teeth
We don't celebrate Halloween here in Nepal but I thought this picture from a few months back would be fitting.
In one of my many attempts to discipline Maya I decided to try the reward technique. I came up with a plan and decided that if she could go 5 days without cursing, spitting or biting I'd take her to the shop up the road and let her choose ANYTHING she wanted.
At the end of every day we'd talk about her behavior. I also checked in with the teacher at school at the end of each day when I went to pick her up. After a few failed attempts she was able to tally up 5 days. A very happy Maya and I held hands and walked up our little dirt road to the shop at the end of the street.
Picture this... a little shop filled with an array of any kind of colorful candy you can imagine, bubble gum, chocolate bars, cookies, toy cars, EVEN ice-pops.
Maya walked up to the counter and looked around, carefully skimming all the different treats and toys. Suddenly she pointed to something in the far left corner of the shop.
"Teeth!" she exclaimed.
"Teeth?" I asked, clearly having no idea what she was talking about. I don't even know how she spotted them.
"I want those teeth over there," she said with her impish smile pointing to a jar filled with vampire teeth.
The shop keeper and other people standing around all laughed. "She could have anything, anything she wanted, and she's choosing teeth? You don't want chocolate or candy or an ice-pop?"
"Teeth," was all she answered.
We all laughed.
Her reward for not biting, and she chose vampire teeth! Just a little bit ironic.
She always keeps me on my toes this little one.
Happy Halloween.
*To those of you in the Deerfield neighborhood... be sure to stop by my parent's house to trick-or-treat! Halloween is one of my dad's favorite holidays... Not sure what he has planned for this year but he always goes all out and has the BEST candy.
maggie doyne
