Presumably as fall-out from our move to Africa, Auggie picked up the habit of biting his nails. I think it began roughly around the time that we put our house on the market last October. After using a variety of useless arguments to convince Auggie to stop, I decided that positive reinforcement might be of some use. So Auggie and I made a deal that if he could let his nails grow long enough for me to clip them, he would get a smoothie reward at our favorite smoothie shop.
Auggie did in fact let his nails grow long enough for me to clip them--I am seriously impressed with his ability to be motivated by delayed gratification.
After the smoothie I told him that next time I clip his nails he could pick his reward of a smoothie, ice cream, or cake. He picked cake as his next reward, but unfortunately he has gone back to biting his nails a bit. But I'm still willing to bet that he will eventually earn that slice of cake.
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| Pre-smoothie |
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| This guy is lucky enough to reap the rewards along with Auggie |
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| Mmm! |
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| "Oh yes!" |
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| "Deeeeeelicious!" |
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| "I'm sure there's some left in here." |
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| "Gonna get it all!" |
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| "Yep, got it all." |
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| One happy boy, who will eventually grow up to be a non-nail-biter |
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