Recovering. Printable for toddler schedules.

Oh these little feet... how much I love these little feet. These little feet didn't want to get shoes on...

These little feet had a difficult time easing into real life from being sick the past week. Little man has been extra needy, demanding, clingy, and just plain emotional. His whiny voice (nails on a chalkboard to my ears) is pretty much all he knows how to talk in these days.

Here is a scenario that just occurred this weekend. Little man very capable of putting on his shoes- refused to do so and kept insisting that I did it. Me being tired of over doing things for him the past week was ready to have him start doing things for himself again.

Total and complete MELTDOWN.

 My parent brain was saying "Oh he is just doing it for the attention. He has been spoiled this week with all my attention and nurturing around the clock that he just wants to take advantage me some more. Don't give in."

My child counselor brian was saying, "He is emotionally regressed right now due to his recovery from his illness, disruption in his schedule last week, excessive amount of TV consumed, lack of nutrients due to his limited appetite, and most importantly is yearning to maintain the connection he had with his me all week because he still doesn't feel back to himself. What he needs is MORE positive interaction and attention with his parents and perhaps some reinforcement that he can do hard things."

Do you see what goes on in my head? Parent vs. Counselor dialogue! But I usually have to fight off that parent brain sometimes and dig deeper to understand where the child is at in his world and all the factors that play a part of his mood...and all of a sudden "ah ha!" I understand. 

So I pulled out the chart we used when he first started learning his daily routine. I had to go back to encouraging and motivating through external reward which in this case is a star that says he completed it and one "listening ball" which I will explain on another post later. 

And you know what happened after I pulled out the chart...

 Crying stopped...and he put on his shoes. Then he walked over to the sink and started to brush his teeth again. I didn't have to ask him- the chart did it for me.

Oh how I love this chart.

 Just in case you are wondering how I made this chart you can read this post {here}!
And if you want to download my printable for this chart- go ahead and do so below!

TODDLER DAILY/NIGHTLY ROUTINE (2 pages)

Download here

Anyhow- enjoy time as a family this holiday!!

besitos, xo