Friday, February 20, 2015

The face of a dude that just learned how to tie his shoes 👌👟



via Instagram http://ift.tt/1FEZqOu

Fit to be Tied!

Dear Henny, 
Today you learned to tie your shoes!  We set the goal on Februrary 1st, 2015 to learn to tie your shoes on your own by your 6th birthday.  It seems like with many things we've worked on over the years there is a period of tumult and unraveling just before a break through.  Today that happened.  We had been having you add a step every couple of days.   It seemed to be working, but today on the drive home from school I suggested if you could tie your shoes you could get something sweet at the convenience store.  Apparently the prospects of sweets or not was more than you could handle.  Fearful you couldn't do it, you started shaking and crying as your first two attempts didn't end as you had hoped. You confessed and screamed about just how hard it is to tie ones shoes.  As you calmed down we discussed effort and attitude count for a lot.  Then we came home.  I had some little Jawbeakers that looked a lot like bribery material.  After dinner I figured out that some of your efforts appeared to be purposely muddled.  Yeah, I know, hard to believe you would avoid tying your shoes when such a reward was at stake.  I called you on it.  I said, "You know Hen, I think you could tie your own shoes but you're not because you don't want to give up Mommy helping you with it."  You looked at me and tried to remain dead pan but a smile cracked your face with a little giggle, "Maybe?!"  So, when 4 Jawbreakers were on the table to fortify the challenge you did it 4 times in a row with no faltering.  

So freakin' proud of you!  I texted JoJo to share the accomplished milestone.  We called Bahboo and Grandma P to share the news.  They had you tie them again while you were on the phone.  They waited, you said done and they cheered. 
A repeat performance for Grandpa Tim and Trish in Florida with a visual via Skype.  For even more praise we called Grandma LaJean.  
We are so proud of you!  Goal set, goal accomplished!  I am so excited that you over came your block and pushed through.  So, what's going to be next???  Love, Mama