First Dentist appointment

Maybe chocolate chip filled pancakes were not the best breakfast plan right before going to the dentist but I know my little guy and he ate them right up! He has really loved the pancake balls.



I switched dentists in the fall and I had asked about James and when he should come in. Three is actually a great age to start visiting the dentist. They said it's great practice to sit in the dentist chair and get used to someone looking at their teeth. They also said to not expect miracles, that sometimes preschoolers don't cooperate. So we went not really thinking we'd stay too long.





James sat in the chair and within a minute did start crying. I ended up sitting in the dental chair with James on my lap. The dentist came in (I don't think I even caught her name in the rush) and started speaking calmly to James about how she wanted to count his teeth and then look at his teeth with her tool. She did get James to open his mouth wide and she got her gloved hand in there, to feel his teeth and his bite (how his teeth bite together, not that he bit her hand!) He stopped cooperating at that point but it was a great effort.

He earned a new toothbrush and he was excited to pick the color. Green!


He also got a sticker from the basket. I think it was a Transformers sticker.


We headed to Maple Grove after that for lunch and some shopping. We ate at Granite City Brewery. We have ended the lunch bag. We've always traveled with a "lunch bag" of back-up foods for James. We decided today that he would eat entirely from the menu. Well, we wanted him to think that. I did sneak a pudding in my purse :) He did eat the carrot sticks and ranch dressing, munched on some of Dada's waffle fries, drank plenty of milk from a cup with a straw, and had one bite of chicken.

After that we went to Borders to look for Star Wars books. James constantly wants Jim's fancy Star Wars books and we're afraid he'll rip them, so we want some kid-friendly ones. They did have some Learn-to-Read SW books, and I got them, but they're a little mature for him. I don't think he understands all the words and they're not simple story lines but he likes the characters and he always likes when we read to him. He'll grow into them, I guess.

We have more fun for tomorrow- bowling!! I called ahead and they have toddler shoes, lightweight balls, bumpers for the bowling lane, and a ramp that we can use for James. He places the ball on the ramp and it will roll down and into the bowling lane. What fun! Look for pictures tomorrow or soon after.

My Students

I just wanted to include the latest picture of my students. We met for a yearbook picture this last week. I have almost 100 members of my Multicultural group- it's a group that meets after school, but thankfully not all of them show up on the same day. We mostly just hang out but they also do talk about some of the issues they experience in school and in the community. I love them all :)


This picture is a submission for our school's Extreme Reading Contest. Students are supposed to photograph themselves reading in some extreme or creative way. One of my students had an idea to hop into the Black History display case that we put together and pretend to be reading those materials. This is the pose that ended up being the best. The bell rang right after this picture and the girls had fun scaring people as they walked by the display case. They looked like zoo animals behind glass! I thought it ended up being a cool way to draw attention to the Black History display- maybe we should have more interactive display cases?

POOP!!

On Thurday Jim was informed that James pooped in the potty!!!!!!!!!!!

I was at parent/teacher conferences so I heard the news by phone, before I drove home. James got on the phone and told me the great news. I was eager to get home, talk to Jim, and hear the details.

I guess James just told his teacher, "I need to poop." They put him on the potty and soon after he pooped! I know they probably gave him HUGE praise. He proudly wore two stickers on his shirt. (He came home and put them on his kitchen, with the rest of the fruit label/stickers.) When Jim went to pick up James that day I guess the teachers dropped everything and were very excited to tell Jim the poop news.

It's very exciting! We haven't had much progress at home. For example, today James has pooped three times in his diaper/pull-ups. We ask him several times in the day if he needs to poop but he says no. The smell hits us and we realize he did poop in his diaper. Ugh. So three changes today and the last one was pretty bad. He had a rash :( Poor James!

"Are you my best friend?"

This has been the cutest question from James. He is full of questions but this is the one I like to answer. The answer is, 'Yes! Are you my best friend too?" And he giggles and says yes. Jim and I are both his best friends. We're like the Three Amigos!

The other great question is "Guess what, Mama?" Me- "What?" James- "I love you!"

Playing with his remote control car.


I was a little tired of all the blankets and pillows on the couch and floor so I had the brilliant idea of throwing them in the "clubhouse". It's now become James favorite place to crash and wrestle around in. He invited his Dada to play in there...


Poor Jim ended up getting smacked in the nose and yelping in pain.



We just have to be careful!

Artsy

The latest work of art reminded me that we have several art pieces to share with y'all.

This "Winter Garden" went home with Grandma Laura. She came over for dinner on Friday and brought James and I some beautiful flowers. She had to go home with some flowers too! She is right, it's pretty enough to frame!



February's curriculum theme included castles, princes and princesses, dragons, wizards, etc.


Art made at home. James was on an ice cream cone kick for a while.




Puff the Magic Dragon puppet.




This might be artwork from January.


This one too.


Yup, January.


This was our Valentine's Day card from James.

Ebube and James

I know I've mentioned James' dislike of Ebube, from daycare. He has told us several times that Ebube has pushed him or hit him. He seems scared of Ebube. I've mentioned it two different times now to the daycare staff and I know they are fully aware of the concerns. One of the teachers listened to my concern and then did an observation the next time Ebube was in school. He's only there on a particular day, and only for half a day.

The teacher observed that James was on high alert as soon as Ebube came in to the classroom. James seemed nervous, maybe scared, but he followed Ebube all morning. Watched him all morning. And then they played. James and Ebube played well until Ebube pushed James. Now, that's pretty common at this age. What was concerning was that James really played it up, called for attention and repeated several times that Ebube pushed him. The teacher had watched the whole thing and James really kind of exaggerated the incident. They handled it, Ebube was talked to and then everything went back to normal.

So I don't think Ebube is the terrible bully that James believes him to be. I KNOW that James exaggerates things because we see it at home. We can be changing his poopy diaper/pull-up and holding up his legs and James will cry out "You're hurting me!" (Yeah, we've been scared that he'll go to daycare and repeat that one- I had a talk with the teacher and we've agreed to always talk out whatever James says- whether he says something happens at home, or whether he says things about students/staff.)

So that day the teacher really stressed to us that James and Ebube played so well that day. We were saying this in front of James, so he could hear us. We think it's probably best to keep saying positive things about Ebube and not focus on the pushing and the fact that James thinks "Ebube is naughty". We got James to say that Ebube is fun, they had a great day, etc.

Two days later I was told that Ebube and his family went to Africa to visit family for the next few months. Figures.

Grandpa Frank

It didn't take long for me to give up my "break" huh? Well, I am still on a break. I felt a little guilt in not posting these particular pictures sooner- frustration forgotten, even though some of the pics I lost were from this visit with Grandpa.

Grandpa Frank was here last week for some ice fishing. As always we spend a few days with him. I really got James excited for his Grandpa's visit. We came home from daycare, and Grandpa was waiting for us. James burst through the door and went right up to Grandpa, no shyness. I was so glad. He can be a little stinker sometimes when it comes to visitors, really familiar or not. He immediately started showing off his toys and played with Grandpa. James got this tea party going, and spilled water everywhere. Oh well!

First, some chips and salsa. James loves to share.









So I did lose some pictures but I'm going to ask Ana for the pictures she took on her camera. She took some posed pictures, something I'm not good at doing. I always forget! Look for them later, if she's willing to share :)

Golf!

Dada needed a break today (I said), so I took James to Grandma Rosie and Grandpa Larry's neck of the woods for some mini golf and lunch. James pulled the shy thing at Grandma's house, he sat huddled on my lap for 10 minutes but soon after that, he was chatting with Grandpa in the car like they were BFF's.

Here they are, hand in hand, walking to the indoor golf course. James was so excited! I know this because we bought him new shoes yesterday and he refused to wear them until I said they were special "golf shoes". He then was so happy! I always think to myself, I just have to be quicker (or smarter) than the three year old to avoid drama and unnecessary crying/whining!



The first shots. Apparently Grandma got a hole in one on her first shot. I did not actually witness this... riiiiiiiiiight, Grandma...




I did it!




I did it again!


Did you see that, Mama?


I did it! (and nope that's not a porcupine!)


Tough shot ahead... gotta miss those rocks...

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Nope, that's not the grumpy old troll that lives under the bridge (a Dora ha ha). Said with love, LarrBear.


James insisted that Grandpa hit the ball between his legs. We held up the 8 kids behind us but we didn't care. They were rushing through the entire course behind us.


Grandpa and Grandma threaten to throw James in the snow.


And they did! How mean!


At lunch James wowed us with his Spanish skillz.

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And then he amazed us at home with his technology skills. He doesn't get to use our phones often but I have special programs (apps) that are toddler friendly. It's not something we encourage but every once in a while it's fun to see how well he does with it.

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Yeah, those eyelashes are still amazing!


I made some mini chocolate cheesecakes for a friend's birthday. Yum.

Blogging

I haven't forgotten this blog. I am very, very, very frustrated. I am taking a break from blogging. My pictures are all over the place. I can't keep up. I don't have one computer to really call my own, so the pictures are scattered between an old laptop, a work laptop, my work computer, and then Jim's desktop computer. I can't count on any of them to contain everything of mine. I feel like they're all borrowed.

I just need to take a break and relieve myself of some of this pressure that I put on myself!

Catching up AGAIN

Artwork from iPhone. James loves to play around on our phones, there are a few easy "apps" that he likes- art, a Goldilocks interactive story, the lightsaber noises, and then a matching game. We've limited his use of the apps not because we're worried about his use of technology but because we just don't want him to break our phones!

Jim said that after he "drew" this picture, James wondered why his fingertips weren't brown or blue :)

Daycare rainbow. This replaced the winter wonderland, Christmas tree display. The colors of the rainbow are kids' handprints, in corresponding room colors. James is in the Orange room so his handprint is orange.


James was reaching into his locker to find his gloves, hat, and boots. His t-shirt says, "The world revolves around me." Yup!


We left for breakfast early on Saturday. So early that Jim didn't shower and he was hiding his hair under his Twins cap. James wanted a cap too. We've got an early start on Twins season! (We're looking forward to going to the new stadium! Even me!)


Air hockey


Lightsaber play. James pretended flashlights were lightsabers. He makes swishing noises and swings it like a sword.




I turned off the light and the camera flash to see if the light would reflect better.


Things sometimes get a little rough and tumble before bedtime.




One last golf swing before bedtime!


Oven-fried chicken for dinner. (South Beach friendly)


Key Lime pie with coconut pecan graham crust. NOT diet friendly :)


It was a fast weekend. We didn't do much but get things done around the house and play. Lots of playing. Jim spent a little more time with James than me, because I was cooking and prepping for my Dad's visit. (Grandpa Frank is coming to town!!! We've been hyping it up with James :)

Play: "bathtime" in the blankets, lotsa Legos, golf, sorting and playing with Valentine's day cards, cars, coloring, Leapfrog video games, lightsaber play, air hockey, Dora computer game with Dada, books, dance party (James was introduced to "Walk this Way" on my ipod) and probably more play that I'm forgetting! Oh yes, and nonstop chatter!