Star Jar

So let me tell you a little tale about how this:

and this:

lead to this:

and this:

It is not hard to guess but let me tell you anyway.

After a delicious dinner of roast and potatoes Sunday evening, I was on my hands and knees cleaning up Shortstop's dinner escapades. There was food everywhere and the picture does not do it justice. And then I turned to find the playing cards strewn everywhere. Strewn people! And I realized how tired I am of things being strewn (is it strewn or strown? Whatever). And I decided to make a chore chart. Not because I think it will make a huge difference in my work load but I want the little man to see he needs to clean up after himself at a young age. So I found a white board, painted some stars, glued on some magnet strip and mounted it on the wall as a protest to Shortstop's toddler-ness. Then I got a cute jar, glued a star on it and so originally called it...wait for it...Star Jar. Genius and hard to come up with, right? For every day that the yellow stars fill the All Done column, Shortstop gets to put a colorful pom pom ball in Star Jar. When Star Jar is full, Shortstop gets something special (we have no idea what but we have time to come up with something spectacular). One day down and I think he likes it. When I told him it was time to clean his toys and he said no, I asked him politely if he wanted to put a star on the chart. He looked at me, pointed to the chart, said "Star?" and immediately started picking up his toys. Here's hoping it lasts. And I am not going to make him or get upset when he doesn't do stuff. I will just remind him about the stars. My favorite chore on there is "mom's choice" because each day there is a new Shortstop original to clean up after. Wish me luck!