Kicking off the Starry Eyed Year!

MOPS has begun! We had an Open House where new moms could come and see the lay of the land. It was nice to meet new moms, see where the nurseries will be and have our first leadership meeting! We had our kick-off party at Burrito Gallery on the rooftop. It's always nice getting the guys together, although some of them snuck away for a kick-off shot at the bar. Our first meeting was a success! It was a lot of 'nuts and bolts' and introductions. The room was packed! We've had some neat play dates, too! Vanessa has had a few back-yard pool parties in her awesome new house. We went to the zoo and Lauren had us over for a pool party in St. Simon Island!

Say "Popsicle"! Vanessa's pool party

Enjoying the tigers (and ac!) at the zoo

Our second meeting was on Conscious Discipline. Our speaker was Patti Moody from Melrose Avenue Preschool and Kindergarten. It was pretty interesting to hear her explain the method. Although, I'm not so sure about having the time to actually do this. My favorite take-away is choices. Give your child two good choices. "You can play with the car or the jeep, but you have to give back the truck." I also totally agree with the distraction technique. If you can spin your child's "mini crisis" into something positive, that's a guaranteed win. The example Patti gave was the child tantruming on the ground in the entry way to the school. She got him to come upstairs by asking him to come fish. We talked a lot about the "safe place" instead of time out. It's a spot to learn to breathe and get into a state of mind to make good choices. It has comfy pillows or blankets. Maybe a rug and photo album. I was rolling my eyes until Patti said, "It's a gift to learn to self-sooth, not a reward. You shouldn't reward negative behavior with negative attention." Good stuff! She mentioned the book, I Love Rituals and making connections with eye contact, touch and presence. "Your face is telling me you are angry". It's important for children as they get older to be able to stand up for themselves. "Stop! I don't like it when you throw sand at me." We've definitely had some great follow up conversations from this meeting!

Patti giving Jessica a sweet example of connecting and calming down using a hand game.