Owen LOVES Nail Polish

We took Owen and Elsa for their 3 year check up yesterday.  We told the doctor that Owen is quite a handful.  Not malicious, by any means, but definitely curious and he doesn't care about consequences.  She suggested we try positive reinforcement.  Try our best to ignore the trouble he causes and, instead, reward him when he is good.  He gets the attention he craves, but it is for being good, not Owen.

So, after the doctor's appointment, we came home and had dinner.  After dinner and baths, Peter was reading to Vance and Elsa before bed.  I was off uploading pictures and came upstairs to find Owen missing.  I walk down the hall towards the bedrooms and I smell nail polish.  Yes, I can smell the nail polish, even though I have a terrible cold.  That is how blatant the smell is.

I find Owen in our bathroom and his legs and feet are covered in three different color nail polishes.  Gold, pink, and purple.  The kid has taste, I'll give him that, because he went for the Chanel nail polish first.  Anyway, I remember what the doctor said and I did not yell or lose my temper, at all.  Instead, I asked him where he put the nail polish on (worried that it was all over the floor somewhere, too) and quickly cleaned him up.  Oh, he was also rubbing Peter's brand new face lotion all over his legs when I found him.  So, that's kind of awesome, too.

After I cleaned him up, I brought him into the living room to read books before bed.  He read books with us and went to bed without a problem.  I made sure to tell him how much I loved him and how proud of him I was that he was being so good that night.  Who knows?  Maybe these Owen stories will diminish with my new outlook on rewarding him.