"While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about." Angela Schwindt

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

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!!





Photobucket

No comments: