Last week Josh and I had sat down and made a list of 'responsibilities' that we felt like needed to be done on a daily and weekly basis.  It came on the heels of him being super rotten for 2 days in a row and I felt like things needed to change.  I felt inspired to make this list and add the chores at the bottom, even though I was afraid it would make him throw a fit.  Turns out, he was ok with it all.  He was bummed about no screen time for a week but said that he knew he hadn't behaved well.  He picked the vacuuming while I added the rest.  It was his idea that we both needed to sign it, so we did. 

At this time I also told him that he was no longer allowed to sneak into our room at night and sleep in the recliner.  He complained about sleeping on his bunk bed saying that he was always afraid that he would fall off and that he was worried because he didn't know if there was anything underneath him while he was sleeping. So we compromised with the plan that I would put his mattress on the floor but that he HAD to sleep on the mattress.  Not by his door, not in the hallway, but on his mattress.  He agreed.  I also told him that I was setting up an alarm clock for him and that he would now be responsible to get himself up because every morning turned into a fight.  Me trying to wake him up, and him pretending to be asleep.  We negotiated the time and came up with 7:20am.  I know, I probably shouldn't have thrown everything at him all at once but things had seriously gotten out of hand. 

And guess what?!  He hasn't slept in our room since!!  Everyday hasn't been perfect, but it's 100 times better than it was.  Who knew he just needed more responsibility?  Crazy. 

Josh got a check for $17 for doing online surveys. He said he wanted to buy a new toy. When I asked where he wanted to go to look for this toy he said ShopKo.  "I know that they don't have very many toys there but you know what?" he said. "That just means that the ones they do have are the VERY best of ALL the toys."