Farming and Friends

Here are some pics are what we were up to last week. We did do some tot school activities but the weather was so nice (summer returned for one last hurray)that we fell back into summer mode and spent a lot of time outside.

Jadon still loves building with his giant blocks. His structures are getting a little more complicated now. I like seeing the progress his creations have made.  He used to just line up the blocks or stack them straight up like a tower.  Now he tries to build houses.

I was told to get a picture of his lovey who was hanging out in his new house. 

Beading pipe cleaners was one of our tot school activities last week  He was really into it and it was a great two handed activity!!

Jadon got to farm with Uncle Gary again.  This time he was combining beans.  Jadon seems to enjoy riding in the combine.  I have noticed that he has been getting his toy tractors and combine out a lot since helping Uncle Gary farm.

I snapped some great pics of Jadon and his buddy John playing outside.  They are such good pals. 

Hugs!

This close up is my favorite!

Back to School and Tot School

First day back to school.  Shelby-Junior. Jacob-8th grade

Summer is over and the big kids are back to school.  That means it is also time for Mommy and Jadon (and friends) to go back to tot school.  Jadon is definitely in need of some more structure lately.  We have had some very frustrating weeks lately with Jadon.  He has been wild, throwing fits about sharing, and has bit his friends.  Not good behavior at all and Mommy has had days where I just want to cry.  All I could think is what is happening...this is not my sweet little boy?

So I sat back and looked at our days and what I could change to make Jadon's day more peaceful.  I remember that Supernanny always says that "bad behavior" is usually because of something the parents are or are not doing.  Well, we had not gotten out of our summer routine of just going with the flow and I also had two little ones start back when school started.  I think Jadon was needing some one on one time with Mom and some more structured activities to keep his mind busy.  Time for Tot School mom!!  Duh!!

So we are now almost three weeks into tot school and there have been some improvements.  Still have struggles with sharing, a couple time outs a day, and unfortunately after two weeks of not biting, he bit his friend yesterday.  They were fighting over a toy and Jadon just leaned over and bit his hand.  I HATE biting.  It is the worst!  I hope we can fix this issue FAST!!!  Jadon will be starting speech soon.  His speech evaluation showed that he has a 40% delay in speech.  He knows what things are but he can not verbalize it.  When he was asked to point to something he did it without hesitation.  When asked to say or name an object nothing so something is going on there.  He is a smarty pants though.  In his developmental evaluation he scored at 39 months cognitively (8 months ahead).  I am hoping that speech will help some of these behavior issues that are showing up.  I think (hope) if he had the words to tell his friend what he wanted yesterday perhaps he would not have had to resort to using his teeth.   Now that he is biting I can no longer leave him alone in a room with anyone for even a few seconds.  I take him with me to the bathroom and everywhere.  Makes for a stressful day.

For now I am just trying to teach him sharing, keep him busy with more structured activities, and playing lot of "games" with him.  He loves when we play games. We started tot school with a letter A theme.  Played matching games and used these tot school printables for about two weeks.  This week we are doing a Farm theme to go along with harvest time.  Jadon is hoping to catch a ride on a combine with Uncle Gary very soon.  We will probably do the letter B next.  Here are some pictures of what we have been up to......

Working on pre-writing skills.

Building tall, tall towers.

Practicing cutting with scissors and also a great Righty activity!

Jadon loves playdoh time!

This is an Elmo matching game we are working on learning how to play.  He does not quite have the patience to take turns but he is learning.

Working with stacking cups.

Pouring and scooping with the stacking cups in our Autumn sensory bin.

I found some plastic relish trays at garage sales for a quarter.  I was so excited because they had been on my tot school wish list for awhile.  They are great for sorting objects and learning colors.  We used mini porcupine balls with the trays yesterday.

We have decided we need to shop at Kroger more often.  They have these little carts for kids and it was great therapy for Righty.  The cart go pretty heavy and he was using both hands to push it around all by himself.  He loved it!!

And I wanted to show you my favorite garage sale find from this last weekend.  I have been looking at jogging strollers for awhile.  Our umbrella stroller just can't handle our country roads and the wagon is so loud we can't carry on a conversation.  I looked at new jogging strollers and they were $150 and up!  Ugh!  But Saturday I found this one in great shape for $20!!!  Hooray!!

A Good Week

We had a pretty good week at our house. It was filled with evening activities but they were all fun end of summer activities. This was the last full week of my kids summer vacation. They start back to school next Wednesday.

On Monday evening a cold front brought some much needed (but not enough)rain. After the heat we have been dealing with the cooler temps and the rain were very welcome. As the storm was rolling in my kids moved outside to the porch to watch it come in. We all love a good thunderstorm. Well....except maybe Dakota our Red Heeler. He hates them.

When it started to rain the kids decided to run out and cool off. It was so fun to watch them play in the rain!

Tuesday:
We had amazing weather the rest of the week after the rain. Tuesdays high for the day was in the 70's!! The kids spent ALL morning running and playing outside. They were loving it.

Jadon finally got brave enough to go down the big yellow slide all by himself on Tuesday! I was so proud of him. Of course I was close by snapping these pics. Not sure if he would do it without me close yet but at least I did not have to hold his hand!

"Here I come Mom"!!

"I can do it"

I did it!!

He was so proud!

On Tuesday evening I had an appointment to get my hair cut then we went into Stanford to the pool for the annual 4H pool party. It was almost too cool to swim! How often to we get to say that in August!!??

Wednesday:
 This was one of just two evenings we were actually home.  We grilled pork chops for dinner.  I made some zucchini cakes.  I saw the recipe HERE and thought they sounded delicious and they were.  Grandma Cindy came over for dinner so she got to enjoy the very first "watermeme" from the garden with us.  Jadon was very excited!

Thursday:
Another great weather day!  The temps remained cool with the high in the low 80's!  When Daddy got home we all loaded into the truck and went in to town  to our local zoo for member's only night.  They had a couple unusual animals that we could touch.  My favorite was the Armadillo.  My least favorite was the python.  I touched it but eeewwwwww......

We also go to see some of the areas of the zoo we don't normally get to see.  The kitchen where they prepare the animals meals was open.  A zookeeper was in the kitchen to answer questions and show us some of the diets.  We got to see what the tiger was going to eat for breakfast the next morning, and the Gibbon's dinner.  It was pretty cool.

Jadon trying to decide if he wants to touch the Armadillo.  I touched it but he would not.

Hanging out while Jadon rides the carousel with Daddy.

Daddy and Jadon picked out the polka dot giraffe.

The python....eeeewwwww.

After the zoo it was time for our picnic dinner that I packed.  I made THESE sandwiches.  I have made them before and they were a hit.  I think they mostly just like the bread.  We had the sandwiches, applesauce, some of our dill pickles, and Cheez-It's for our meal.  Then it was off to play at the playground.

The kids finally got Jadon to play in the splash park!  We had tried one other time but he would not.  So glad to see him enjoying it this time.

Then we hit the swings right before leaving.  Love this picture!

Friday:
Was....yes....ANOTHER nice weather day!  Jacob went out early in the morning to squirrel hunt.  This is his first hunting season.  He took his hunter's safety course over the winter so he could get his permits.  Friday was his third day out trying to get a squirrel and he got one!  He was so proud!  

Unfortunately that means we get to try squirrel for the first time........Yay (insert sarcasm here).   He has to get a few more before we will have a meal.  I am supporting this because I love that he is outside doing something he enjoys that does not involve video games.  Just never thought I would ever be eating squirrel.

Never say never.