Merry Christmas!

Some Sixth Sense Shenanigans

While brushing her teeth, Ava started talking about someone named "Nicholas". She doesn't know a Nicholas, that I am aware of. When I asked her where she met him, she said, "in the castle, mom". She then went on to tell me that Nicholas likes her, and that he is her cutie. She described playing with him, but said that "some people don't like him". When I pressed her further, she said, "he's far away, mom". She then said, "mom, what do you do when people don't like you?", and "mom, some people don't like me". I was already creeped out big time by her talk of Nicholas (whom she later called Nicky), but then felt a pinch of a different kind of pain when she talked about not liking people/people not liking her. It was that odd parental moment where you want to say something that will stick with them and form their psyche in a productive and meaningful way, but where you (I) end up feeling stuck, start mumbling, and don't know quite what to say. I ended up saying, "it's not nice not to like people". I am not satisfied with this response, but at 3, maybe this situation does warrant a simplified response? I put Ava to bed feeling a little like I did when I watched the movie Sixth Sense and that creepy girl said "I see dead people". While I am constantly amazed by the depth of Ava's imaginative little mind, and I know it's completely normal to have pretend friends, I nevertheless just checked to see that the doors are locked and have all the lights on.

A Dad Poop and Some Baby Poops

Today I helped wipe Ava after a number two. She looked down into the toilet bowl after going, and said, "look, mom, it's a dad poop and two baby poops!" I agreed that it appeared as if there was a big poop and two little ones in the potty. She then said, "wait, mom--more poop is coming". Indeed, one more baby poop joined the others. She then said, "those poops are swimming away, but one poop is waiting for my pee. See, mom, pee is poop's best friend. Here comes the pee!"

It's never dull around here.

Psychology and the Mother Today

Do you know what intermittent reinforcement is? As a psych major in undergrad and a clinical psychology student for graduate school, I know just what it is.

Intermittent reinforcement is when a behavior is reinforced only some of the time. A great example of intermittent reinforcement (variable ratio, at that), is a slot machine, which randomly gives a reward, on no set schedule (now if you think slot machines are rigged...but that's a whole different subject entirely). Scientists have found that behaviors rewarded intermittently are actually harder to extinguish than those given continuously. That is, if you give a rat a pellet of food randomly and intermittently for performing a behavior, the behavior is strengthened *more* than if you give the rat a pellet every time they perform said behavior. It's a really cool phenomenon. I am reflecting on this phenomenon more than I would like to now that I am a parent.

Here's why--- my little Alley throws tremendous earth shaking fits when he wants to watch Diego or Yo Gabba Gabba videos. I mean, he screams, beats his head, cries, and tries to destroy things. I do my best to ignore the behavior. I also repeatedly tell hubby "no more TV every single day!, this kid is addicted!" Here's my quandry---by only letting Alley watch TV periodically (and not continuously) am I actually reinforcing the negative behavior (the tantrums?).
Something for you to think about.

Crap.

WikEd reinforces (pun intended) my very contention:

The interesting thing that Skinner [one of the fathers of behavioral psychology] discovered about intermittent reinforcement and maybe one of Skinner's most important discoveries was that behavior that is reinforced intermittently is much more difficult to extinguish than behavior that is reinforced continuously. "This is why many of our student's undesirable behaviors are so difficult to stop. We might be able to resist a child's nagging most of the time, but if we yield every once in a while, the child will persist with it." (Crain, 187) Therefore, when we begin to teach a desired behavior it is best to begin with continuous reinforcement, but if you wish to make a desired behavior last it is best to switch to an intermittent schedule of reinforcement.

Double crap.

What's On Your Mind, AlleyBoy?

I realize my blog has become a baby book of sorts. Hopefully you aren't too bored with the details of what is going on with my babies.

Words Uttered Frequently by Alley Boy (also known as: I am not one of those moms who hear a tiny utterance of a word one time and think that my child said "submarine").

mama
da-da
kitty
gog gog (dog)
icky
seesee (sissy)
shoes
kitty
uh-oh
choo-choo
ba ba (sippy or binky)
cheese (when having picture taken)
mmmm good (when eating something he likes)
ball

In the past few weeks he can also show us where his hair, nose, and ears are.