Ice cream for dinner

We are admittedly lax on making our kids do anything around the house. Occasionally we remember to have them help us with picking up, but we hardly have regular chores. Off and on I get a chart for Andrew and that helps motivate us...but usually we just do the chart so he can earn something that he really wants.

The latest? He really wants a new Wii game. So we dusted off the old chart and thought of 6 goals that he can earn stickers for. I like this chart because there are smaller goals set...so you get something at 10 stickers earned, 21 stickers earned, and then 40 stickers earned. Andrew has YET to clean the bathroom sink or to wipe the pee off his toilet (I keep getting to it first, believe it or not). But he is rockin' the "eat 3 bites of a veggie" and "try a new food". These used to be the most challenging when he was 3 and 4...I can really tell he's growing up...he has no problem anymore...which makes me wonder why he doesn't eat them normally. ;)

So he earned a prize on Monday night...one of the early prizes. "You choose dinner." This was quite overwhelming to Andrew...such a huge decision. It took him nearly 12 hours to decide what he wanted to have...and I'm sure you've guessed what it was based on the title of this post. Ice cream. I immediately start thinking of these fabulous ice cream sundae's, what a cool mom I am to let him have ice cream for dinner, how much I would like to have that for dinner, etc etc.

We went shopping yesterday to pick out the ice cream. This is tough for Andrew, since he detests chocolate (yes, I'm considering genetic testing...but I'm afraid what we would find). We stood in front of the freezer case and pondered all the flavor choices. Well, I did. Our conversation went something like this:

Me- Wow, Andrew, Look! There are so many to choose from. There's cherry vanilla, raspberry swirl, strawberry...

Andrew- I want vanilla.

Me- Really? But look at this one. Doesn't it look yummy? Something different for a change.

A- No. Vanilla is my favorite. Where is the vanilla.

M- Okay, okay. Here's vanilla. Now let's go look at the toppings.

A- I want rainbow sprinkles.

M- Like the ones we have at home? How about waffle cone bowls? Whipped cream? Cherries? Syrup?

A- Just sprinkles.

M- sigh.

Sometimes your children are just different than you. And even though having a bowl of vanilla with a few boring sprinkles on top doesn't seem like much of a prize to me...Andrew was thrilled. Literally jumping out of his skin excited as dinner time approached. Lily was so confused/delighted/shocked that we were serving up ice cream she was almost hysterical..."We having ice-ceam? I want ice-ceam now. Mommy? Ice-ceam. Peese." I think she wanted to get that bowl in front of her before I changed my mind. And we tried to explain to her why and how Andrew had earned it. But apparently it is not something she can understand since she turned to him and said, "A-U, dank you for the birt-day." And then she began shoveling spoonfuls into her mouth (they. could. change. their. minds. at. any. moment.) Andrew polished off his bowl and then asked for something healthy so his tummy wouldn't get sick.

-sigh- WHAT? Judging by the level of disappointment I had at Andrew's reward, apparently I need to get my own chart and earn ice cream for dinner. Except I would have brownies, fudge, caramel, mmmmm...I'm just getting started.