Wednesday, August 3, 2011
CRMS Playdate
I met a few of my teacher friends at the Coon Rapids Lions Park for a playdate in July. The other kids were a bit younger than James, and I think it's rude to take pictures of children other than your own so I didn't capture any moments :) It was a HOT day and James worked up a good sweat playing and playing some more. Like I said, the kids were younger than James so he didn't really play with them but there was a daycare group there too and James did follow another young boy around and they played in the sand. Fun!
July 7 T-Ball
I don't know if I ever updated with the progress we've made at t-ball. The first couple of practices James didn't participate fully and really needed me by his side. I started to bring a folding chair to his practices and I let him show me where I should set up the chair, so I could sit with the rest of the Moms. James took this very seriously and would show me EXACTLY where I could sit. I would sit and show him where the water bottle would be, so he could come back for his water breaks. He would then run over to the field and get buddied up with another kid for some throwing practice.
The team is led through some activities. This was kind of like follow the leader combined with red/green light.
Batting practice. He's doing so well!
A thumbs up from far away.
Receiving instruction from Coach Tim.
Another thumbs-up.
I have to say that James really made a lot of progress. I am considering ourselves lucky because this other child didn't have so much luck. I don't know his name but I've called him Pigpen in my mind. He spent the entire practices shuffling around in the dust. The coaches tried to draw him in but he ignored everything.
After his practice James was HUNGRY. He prepared this picnic for us. Cute!
FTMCD
James used his bath crayons to draw a picture of our house. I guess it's Christmas time and he drew many presents and even a chimney for Santa to come down. His Daddy helped and drew the AT-AT (from last Christmas) at James' request.
If you look closely there are three stick figures. I think one of them is me.
The Day Mommy Got Tough
In early July tantrums were bad. They were unbearable. I tried gentle parenting, re-directing, time-outs and nothing worked. I had a whiny, defiant child on my hands so I decided to hit him where it hurts (not seriously HIT him, people). Legos. I told him that the next "fit"would mean his Legos would be taken away for a whole DAY.
The next fit did happen and I followed through. James watched while I packed up every single one of his Lego ships, every Lego guy, every brick. He took it very well. Too well. He started to HELP me. (Mommy note: I started to think, This isn't working. He thinks this is fun!) But at least I followed through and James would see that I meant business. I was TOUGH.
I decided that I would get a bit more creative with the consequences after this. It was A LOT OF WORK packing up all these Legos and then hauling them upstairs out of his sight. I didn't want to just throw the Legos in a bin and risk breaking the fragile ships (i.e. more work for me later to put them together) so I carefully put them in bins, on a tray, and even used my triple decker cupcake holder for the smaller creations.
So the behavior improved. The Legos were barely missed until later that night. James asked for his Legos back. (Success!) I said no and reminded him that because he had a fit he had a consequence and he would see his Legos tomorrow. He accepted that pretty well and we found other toys to play with.
I haven't had to take away Legos or any other toys since. I don't think it's just because I got TOUGH one time. I think it helped a lot that he saw that this Mommy wasn't going to put with that s#%@! I think we've also been much more consistent and followed through with our discipline. No means no, Later means later, and sometimes You need to go potty first or Eat your food first means just that.
4th of July
We went to Grandpa Roger's for the 4th of July. I didn't take ANY pictures because it was a... trying visit. James gets pretty overwhelmed and/or fussy in new situations. We hope each time that it will be better, but we just never know when he'll cooperate. The visit started with an accident. James fell asleep in the car and when we pulled up to Roger's we discovered that James had wet himself. And we FORGOT an extra change of clothing. We headed to Wal-mart, really the only store open, and bought new underwear, some wet wipes, and a change of shorts.
James was REALLY clingy for the first hour. It was a HOT day too, so this Mommy did not enjoy the extra weight or body heat on her lap. Hey, I'm just being honest. Hugs are nice but not when they are whiny, hot, cranky little boys giving them.
He cheered up eventually when Uncle Joe and Shannon arrived and brought a new SQUIRT GUN :)
We were home before any fireworks and that was fine with us. We aren't a big fireworks family. We are always happy to see them in the distance from our living room windows :)
James drew this picture at his school. He said it is "Fireworks in the City"!
National Ice Cream Month
James doesn't need an official declaration to enjoy or celebrate ice cream. He does enjoy a small cone most days as a "snack". It's hard to say no. I buy low-fat chocolate frozen yogurt and limit his portion size to try and make it better.
Here, we did go to DQ. Chocolate is his flavor of choice this month.
Full Day
July 2nd. Now, I don't have pictures and blog posts for each day!
On this full, summer day we went to the playground. James pretended the playground equipment was his "space ship".
Looking up at him through the equipment floor.
I believe it was on this day that I created a Monster. A Wii Monster. I showed James how to use the Wii game controllers and off we went playing the Star Wars Lego game. I think we've played the game darn near every day since.
A nice cold beer for Mom and Dad at the end of the day! No photo editing, it was just a perfect beer :)
It's a Zoo over here!
I am now back-blogging, which means that I am going through all of my pictures and memories from the PREVIOUS month. Yes, all of July. I didn't blog really all of July.
So.... on July 1st these are the pictures that I have. Jim sent me this first picture of them checking out the "humongous" (one of James' favorite words) turtle in our pond. The turtle was exploring our lawn.
Later that day Grandma Rose dropped off her "pups" for our family to dogsit. James had a great time playing with the dogs. Even Jim liked the dogs. I mean, kinda. He said, "I'm almost sold on the idea of a dog."
Yay!
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
James... I am your FATHER!
You have to say that title in your best Darth Vader voice.
At Disneyland James had the thrill of assembling his own custom lightsaber. Daddy had the thrill of paying for it!
We have plenty of lightsabers now (we have more sabers than people living in this house!) and we were due for battles that would prove to be legen... wait for it... dary!
James uses the force to knock Daddy off his feet!
I taught James this next move. Spins!
And attack!
Yup, legendary stuff.
T-Ball Game
SIGH OF RELIEF. T-ball was a success :) Jim and I both gave separate pep talks to James about participating in t-ball. On the way to his practice today James told me, "Daddy said I should be brave at baseball."
And he was brave! I was able to sit with the other Moms on the sidelines and just watch my beautiful son play t-ball! He waved at me constantly, gave me the thumbs up once (haha), and blew me a kiss several times. Awwww!
First, a little warm up with one of the Coaches.
Group huddle explaining that they will play in the field.
This Coach drew a circle in the sand for each kid and told them that it was their position to stand in for the game. James is standing in his circle.
And he never left his circle! I think he took it very literally that he should stand there. I almost intervened and tried to tell a coach that he should be encouraged to move around and catch balls, but I didn't want to ruin his new found independence. I stayed put.
Waiting to bat.
On first base!
Did you see in the videos that he never let go of the bat? They had to take it out of his hands at first base. Haha. And then I'm not sure if he ever made it to 2nd base. I think he wandered around a bit before the coaches noticed him but at least he made it to Home Plate!
Shaking hands with the Yellow Team (aka Macaroni & Cheese, as they called themselves). The Orange Team doesn't have a nickname, but that's okay, James said.
Group huddle.
"Mom! Did you see me?!"
Yes I did! I was so proud :)
Snacks after the Big Game, from the Coaches.
We hit the playground right next to the baseball field.
Jazz Hands!
Hi Mom.
Monday, June 27, 2011
We're in the $$$$
Because we're not buying diapers or nighttime pull-ups anymore!
I told James that after vacation he is a big BIG boy and would just wear underwear to bed. James actually reminded me about this when we came back. I had purposely waited two nights to get used to the time zone change and for all of us to get some good nights of sleep (anticipating that we might need to get up several times in the night to change sheets, help him to the potty, etc.)
This is the picture I took of James in his underwear on the first night. He was pretty darn proud of himself.
This is his self-portrait.
Results from Night 1: Bedtime at 8pm. I checked on him at 10pm and he had wet the bed already :( I woke him up, took him to the potty, and changed his sheets. He is pretty groggy but cooperative. No accidents the rest of the night. But he was slightly wet AFTER he woke up. Ooops.
Results from Night 2: A friend suggested restricting James' liquids in the late afternoon/night. After dinner he was only allowed sips of water if he was thirsty. Bedtime at 8pm. I checked on him at 10pm and he was dry! I tried to whisper to him, asking if he needed to go potty. He sleeps pretty hard so no answer. I tried again at 10:15ish and finally pulled him up to wake up. He didn't say a word but staggered to the potty. He went and then stumbled back to bed. Dry until the morning but again slightly wet AFTER he woke up. Mental note: Encourage him to go potty first thing when he wakes up.
Results from Night 3: Same as Night 2 but NOT wet in the morning! It is so hard to wake him up at the 10pm check. He is such a heavy sleeper! He reminds me of his Tia Kiki :)
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