Braden wrote his first sentence!

This is really what made me update the blog. Braden wrote a sentence all by himself. I'm so proud--I should make it into a giant button and wear it around!

This is a computer-generated version of what it looked like:

I LiC MRCRS.

Isn't he brilliant?? (It says, "I like markers." Sheesh, can't you read?)

He was inspired to write this sentence because he is currently grounded from his markers and crayons. He scribbled on my very favorite coffee table with a red sharpie that he fished out of a drawer somewhere. I didn't yell. I didn't cry. I didn't spank him or put him in time out. What I did was much, much more effective (and maybe a little mean?): I gave him a giant plastic bag and told him to go put all of his markers and crayons in it. When he did, I brought him over to the coffee table and showed him his scribbling. We confirmed that it was, indeed, Braden who did it. I explained that it is my very favorite coffee table and that it is the very first piece of grown-up furniture I ever bought, and that his scribbling ruined it (I'm not sure he caught all of that drama). Then, I told him that as punishment, I was going to put his markers and crayons away for a week so that he would learn not to write on things.

Every day he has asked for his markers back. We then go through the days of the week and discover how many more days there are until Saturday.

So, all in all, this has been a week of learning for Braden: he learned the days of the week, he learned how to write a sentence.

Hopefully he learned not to write on anything, too!