Wednesday, March 11, 2009

A Little Appreciation Goes a Long Way




We have been working on teaching Tess the word thank you. She has picked up the sign for thank you from her signing video, but I'm not sure she really understands what it means. She does understand that we when we say thank you, we are generally pleased with her, and she'll repeat the behavior for more thank-you's.

We have discovered we can use appreciation to our advantage. So far it has worked with kisses (she'll give 10 slobbery kisses in a row if you pepper them with thank-you's), goldfish crackers (it's mom who usually takes advantage of this opportunity), and unloading the dishwasher.

It used to be that Tess helped empty the dishwasher by unloading the silverware piece by piece, licking each utensil, and then throwing it on the ground. I found that with a few thank-you's, she'll hand me an item, wait for me to put it away and then hand me another. Much more productive!



The only problem now is that she doesn't understand the difference between dirty and clean dishes. Whenever I load the dishwasher, she'll take out a dirty fork and hand it to me. Not especially productive. She's such a sweetheart though, and she tries so hard to please.

Since I'm on the subject of gratitude, a big thank you to Mom and Mer for helping with ideas for my Enrichment presentation last night. Our RS does such a great job with these activities. The theme was "Bloom Where You're Planted." They decorated with flowers everywhere--check out these beautiful flowers that my friend Caroline made for centerpieces. I never, ever would have guessed they are made from coffee filters (kind of uncomfortable to submit that receipt for reimbursement, huh?). They totally looked like expensive silk roses. You have to watch the video--they're amazing!

We had dinner and then three 10-min. workshops: "Weeding Out Your Obstacles," "Nurturing Yourself" and "Look to the Son for Strength." I taught the mini-class on nurturing yourself. I set up the room as a "10-Minute Soul Spa." I had the lights out with soft lamps on, played spa-like music and set the chairs up in a semi-circle. I wore a robe and pedicure slippers and told the class we would learn to "nurture body, mind and spirit in 10 minutes or less."

There were four mini-spa "services," and for each one I talked about a special "technique" or "treatment" they could do at home to get the same feeling of renewal. The first one was closing their eyes and listening to the music, and we talked about developing our talents to set the atmosphere of our lives. Then I passed around a bowl of strawberries and had everyone eat one slowly, appreciating the taste and nutrients of the fruit. We talked about how we can do that with all the food we eat, and renewal that comes from taking care of our bodies. Next, I had them turn to the right and give each other a shoulder massage, then switch and return the favor. We talked about nurturing friendship and the enrichment that comes back to us when we extend ourselves in friendship. For the last "service," I passed around hand lotion and we talked about the nurturing that comes from extending a hand to others in service. It was a quick presentation, but I had fun with it and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Well, she certinally didn't inherit the Higginbotham hatred for unloading the dishwasher!! Glad to see it skipped a generation :o)

Maureen said...

Her expression is so sweet in that video. What a dear heart!

Your mini-spa sounds like so much fun! I might have to find a way to adapt it to a Young Women's lesson...

I'm going to go look at the flowers now!

Ryan said...

Laura, notice that she quit helping after three items.

Ry

Ann said...

Oh I wish I could have been at your Enrichment! That honestly sounded heavenly! What a fun idea!

And I was laughing my head off at Tess licking the clean silverware and then throwing it on the floor. Do not let that child anywhere near Nana's dishwasher!

Maureen said...

She MUST spend the day learning to walk. This is boot camp, sister, no breaks. Want your diaper changed? Walk to the wet wipes!