Dishes

Ethan has been really good at getting dishes done lately. This is probably due to the fact that he had his allowance taken away. At first he had a set amount he would get every two weeks. He was doing ok with it, but would fight it almost every night. Then I tried giving him a certain amount every day he did do the dishes. That made the situation worse. There was a week that he decided he didn't care about the money and only wanted to do them twice. In my opinion, this is not how chores work. I told him that doing the dishes was not just a way for him to get money, but for him to help out around the house. This was something he needed to contribute, and it was not asking much. If he wanted to get his allowance back, he would have to show me that he could do them for a period of time, every day (or almost every day), without arguing.

Amazingly, the last two weeks or so, he has been awesome. He even said that doing them every day is easier because there aren't as many, so its a lot faster. Really?! Didn't I tell him that?! :-) I guess that's one of those things they have to learn for themselves. Friday he did get his allowance, but I told him that if he started slacking again on purpose he wouldn't get it next time.

This is what we heard before he got an MP3 player for Christmas. Either that or arguing with Natalie about something!

This is what we hear now! It cracks me up!
Can you guess what he's listening to?

(Sorry about how loud the water is...)

I got a bunch of '90's "dance hits" for Natalie, but Ethan loves them too! The song he's signing is for sure from the '90's! He listens to his MP3 player more than I thought he would! He runs the batteries down every two to three days!