big girl privileges

We have had quite a busy month (sorry for the lapse in posting), we had Ada's birthday, our wedding anniversary, and a visit out to see Eric (HI Eric). I had intended to post a great story with pictures about Ada's birthday but never really got around to downloading the pictures. Needless to say she had a great birthday with a party down at the beach with all of her favorite adult friends because that is how Ada rolls. As requested she got a purple bike, and a purple helmet, and purple gloves. She also got something we like to call 'Big Girl Privileges'.

Now that Ada is three we've decided that it is time to start teaching her that each action has a outcome and these outcomes can be good (Yay we like these actions) or bad (Boo we don't like these actions). To put it in Ada terms she can't scream and kick and throw a fit when she doesn't get her own way without some sort of punishment. What are these privileges you might be asking? Well given that Ada is truly our daughter there are things she likes a certain way: lights on and door open when she goes to bed, watching movies on mommy and daddy's bed, swinging on the swings after a long run, and basically anything that I see that she wants while she is misbehaving. And we aren't tyrants about taking away these privileges, she gets multiple warnings and explanations of what actions will result in losing her privileges, but in the end, if she purposely misbehaves, there are now officially consequences in our house.

We are only a few days into this experiment but so far it is going pretty well. She has pushed her limits a few times, as all three year olds should do, but she has also felt the harsh blow of consequences and learned her lesson. Of course as this is Ada and she is one smart little cookie I'm sure she will find a way to work the system in a few weeks to get around those pesky privileges. Until then I'm declaring victory.