Jasey

So, Jasey's potty training is going well. On Sunday morning, she came into the bathroom while I was taking a shower took her diaper off and sat on her potty. Low and behold she went pee. Then today she told me twice "mama pee" and went into the bathroom with a dry diaper and preceded to pee in her potty. It's exciting, but I am careful not to push her.

Yesterday, the kids had their dentist appointments. Both are cavity free!!!!! They did so well letting the dr. look in their mouths. Jasey cried a little bit,but got a cool toy in the end and was happy.

So Jasey loves to dress up. She will spend hours in her room emptying her dresser and trying things on and taking them off. I think this is great. I love her imagination as she throws together different combos, and this is great for motor skill development. So the other night Chris and I were in the kitchen when she comes in again, to so us her newest outfit. She was being cute and I admit looking good, But the best part was when she turned to leave.

School part 4

C.J. was about 1 and a half when we noticed his speech wasn't developing as fast or as clear as one would hope. We got his first evaluation done at 2 years and he was still average, but on the lower end. We were advised that he would more then likely have many new sounds emerge in the next six months. During that time I read and read to him, we practiced talking and I tried very hard to make him slow down and say things clearly. Also during this time he had his four front teeth removed. He was reevaluated at 2 years and 9 months. While he had learned many new things, he had also aged 9 months and was placed even lower on the scale. We were advised to receive speech therapy. We tried to go through the child care connections, but it was a mess, the directer quit, they had to reschedule 3 appointments. The one appointment we did have he didn't want to talk. Finally 6 months after that I contacted a private speech therapist and we began working with him on his speech, doing things to strengthen his tongue and jaw, practices to make him pull his lower jaw back and ways to pronounce certain sounds. We continue working on this daily.

One thing people don't realize is how hard it is to learn to read if you are not pronouncing a word correctly, for example my son thinks "really" starts with a "W" because he pronounces it "weally". So in addition to working on speech, we also work on the alphabet and proper pronouncement of each letter. We have sight words we practice. We also have a preschool book, where we identify what words start with what letters and practice drawing the letter.

I'm not a slave driver. I want him to excel, but how can I expect him to sounds things out if he can't say things correctly? So this is why we do this. It has also improved his fine motor skills, letter and name recognition.

The flash cards and preschool book I bought at Walmart. The sight words I made at home.

Basketball

So this year is C.J.'s first year playing basketball. we are doing a Start Smart Basketball through Park and Rec. He is loving it. Every practice they stretch and then move among 4 stations, learning and practicing new techniques. They work on passing, dribbling,shooting a basket, walking while dribbling and running sideways and so forth.

It has been so much fun to watch him do something he loves. He suddenly seems so grown up. I'm excited that he is showing an interest in sports. This can be a fun way to get exercise, improve motor skills, learn to follow directions, work as a team, make friends and develop a live long love of being active. You can see his self-esteem rise and build as he masters new skills.

Green

So I have many wonderful friends who are "Green" and just very amazing. I have to say I've been inspired. While we are far from "Green", we do a couple things and I find myself doing more. Thanks, to Brittany's blog "My Journey to Going Green" I remain inspired and receive a lot of great ideas.

1) We recycle cans.
2) We use all extra paper to start fires in our fire place.
3) We bought green light bulbs, that last longer and use less electricity.
4) I find my self reusing glass jars.
5) We save our old torn up jeans to cut squares out of them, and my Grandma makes these awesome Jean Quilts.
6) We use our fireplace in the winter.
7) My husband picks up trash on Rampart, to throw away.

I'll post more as I can think of them and as I start doing them. I'm glad my kids can see how we are caring about our environment.

Potty training

Sorry no cute pic this time. It has been a week. Chris has been working some crazy hours (snif) I miss him when he's gone. I swear my kids act totally different if Chris is not here, and if he works late and our bed time routine differs, they can tell and get really hyper it seems like.

So this week Jasey has been taking her diaper off non-stop and wiping herself with wipies,toilet paper, tissues. Really annoying and messy. I also noticed some irritation and took her to the Dr.'s she had a yeast infection, very common in little girls. He asked if we had been doing bubble baths and just two weeks ago I bought a different kind of bubble bath that was on sale. Soooooo, no more bubble baths at the moment.

However, she is still taking her diaper off. I tried telling her no, taping it on with scotch tape and nothing is working. So we are beginning to potty train. I felt that I pushed it too young with CJ and didn't want to make the same mistake. She seems ready. She will tell me immediately if she pees, she has her pink potty that she loves, she can put on underwear by herself, pull her pants down by herself and climb on and off the big toilet by herself. She also seems interested.

I'm not pushing it, she wears big girl underwear during the day in longer increments. We set a timer and go sit and 'try' every 30-45 minutes. i take her right when she wakes up and right before she lays down. When she has success we praise her and she gets a piece of candy.

Today is day two and no success today, but yesterday she said pee and then we went and sat and she did it!!!!! I guess it's just one day at a time.

November

So today we had corn and talked about the Indians. My son wants to know what they ate corn because it taste bad. Jasey discovered if she pinches a kernel just right it can and will shoot across the room. When trying to explain that they didn't have the same kinds of food as we do now, and that they had to grow their own food, my son thought and pondered this. For a split second I thought we was realizing all that we have. Then he declares he hates corn and wants to be done eating.

On another note we played out side this afternoon, such a beautiful fall day it turned out to be!

Family Style Dinning.

(First, please excuse my kitchen, we decided to paint so that is why everything looks so empty and bare.)

After I began allowing my kids to self pour their drinks and drink only out of actual cups that stay in the kitchen by the way. Both began to show more interest in meals. So I began letting them self serve and letting C.J. set the table.

We start off with C.J. giving each place a plate, napkin and fork. Then he makes sure each spot has a cup and that their little pitcher is on the table. Next, I place all our food into bowls or on plates that are not hot and set them on the table each with a tong or spoon in it. After we ash hands we set down and the kids pour their drinks and we begin passing food around and they serve themselves. Jasey does make a mess. She also spills while pouring, whatever. She does however drink out of a cup by herself without spilling and she is one.

The rule is they have to have some of everything and at least take a bit of everything. C.J. has been eating way better, he really enjoys being involved. Eating this way encourages manners and communication. They both also put their plates and fork in the sink and help clean up their mess. I noticed how when everyone is involved in readying the meal, serving and cleaning up the meal. It actually runs smoother. I'm not worried what they are doing as I'm fixing or cleaning up the meal, I know, because they are right their.

Another thing I have noticed just from sitting together and eating is that C.J. copies us and Jasey in turn copies him. They are using their utensils more and correctly. I see Jasey developing way more motor skills as she watches him spoon, pour, wipe, drink, stab and attempt to mimic. I am seriously excited how well this is going.

Catching up

If only I could just have a camera crew following me around to capture my life for me. Chris is now back at work, his vacation was very productive and I am loving my new kitchen floor. I even got new rugs!! Oh the things that excite you in life. Now we just have to paint and trim.

As we enter into November and creep up on thanksgiving. I sit here and wonder what can I do to enhance my children's learning. To me this is very important, because as a while I feel society isn't has grateful or thankful has we should be.

I want my kids to be thankful for what we have, to appreciate what we have and to learn that happiness isn't something that can be bought. I want my kids to make the most of everything they have even if they don't have the most of everything.

I'd be very interested in hearing what other family's do to teach their kids thankfulness.

Pouring

One of the things that they work on in preschool is pouring their own drinks. I have to say I buy the gallon plus size pitchers and it never occurred to me that my kids need to learn to pour. To remedy this situation, I found a small glass pitcher and four sturdy glass glasses. Plastic cups are not very useful in pouring because they tip over easily. Before we attempted pouring our drinks we practiced pouring in the tub, with cups and little medicine cups.
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Halloween

Halloween this year was busy,busy. On Thursday the 28th, I went to C.J.'s class and helped out with their little Halloween party. It was a ton of fun. I was at the play dough center. It gave me a chance to meet my son's friends and put a lot of faces with names. I also was able to see more of their class room and see how the teachers interacted with the kids. It made me miss my preschool teaching days.

Since we were advised against bring in edible treats, we picked out spider rings, kaleidoscopes, and pencils to give to our friends.

Then Thursday night we went to treat-street at the high school. It was fun, I'm glad we went early, before it got really busy.

On Sunday we went trick or treating at Walmart, Safeway complex, stopped to get our free happy meals at Burger King, and then hit the houses. By 8 pm we were done and my kids were tired. We ended at my mother-in laws house were we had some snacks and hot cocoa.