JD Gem (From Sept 9th)

I left work early so I could meet the bus since daddy had a doctor appointment that day. JD was so excited to see me and when we got in the house, he's jumping around and says "Mommy, chasing girls is good exercise!" Hhhhmmmm, I wonder what goes on a recess. ROFL

A new rule...

This happened a little while ago and I never posted about it. It's too funny not to share. I had been reading a book called "How to Tuck in a Superhero" that I found on Pinterest and a friend recommened. It's about a woman who has 5 sons and the crazy life they have and the crazy rules she never thought she'd ever have to make. I laughed alot reading it and then I had to laugh at myself, because I had the "I can't believe I had to make that rule" experieince. One day at grandmom's, JD decided he didn't want to put underwear on when he got dressed, so when he got home, he decided he should. When I got home, that's all he was wearing...his underwear...backward. Okay. So later in the evening I saw him taking small toys and things and putting them down the front of his underwear (remember, they're on backward so he's got lots of room). Okay. Then he comes to me in the kitchen and tells me how much he likes collecting things and walks off to the living room and starts removing his "collection." And I'm in the kitchen listening..."I've got a car, and another car, and a bunny, and a block, and a truck and a trash can (from his Trash Pack toys)...and a PIECE OF CHEESE, and..." "What?! Please tell me you don't have cheese in there" I call to him. He comes to the kitchen with a big goofy grin and a mashed up Kraft Single, still in the wrapper...that he had "collected". (I had asked him to put it away earlier after he took out more pieces than he could eat and left it on the coffee table.) So, I told him, "New rule, no collecting food in your underwear!" Really.

Life is never dull.

JD Gems...as told by his speech therapist

JD's speech therapist told us this in the meeting yesterday. She was trying to get him to say a word with a "th" in the middle so she showed him a picture of a bathtub..

Tammyy: Joseph, what is this a picture of?
JD: A tub
Tammy: Well, yes, but there's a longer word for it. Can you use that?
JD: (Looks at Tammy for a few seconds) Tuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuub?
Tammy: (Cracking up laughing)

There you have it folks, she did ask for a longer word for it.

Five is Fantastic!

JD turned 5 on January 12th. We had a little family dinner with his Grandmom and Grand-daddy (unfortunately my parents we'ren't able to come down from NJ), his Uncle Joe and his cousins, Brynn and Zach. I let him choose what was for dinner...pizza!...and he decided on cupcakes for dessert. I found some great ideas on Pinterest and made tye-dye cupcakes. They were so easy to do and look awesome! I even had help from my neice to make them.

We decided this year to have JD's party with his friends somewhere other than our house. Last year it was a little crowded...in fact, I think that's an understatement. After doing some research, we found our best bet was Adventure Park USA in New Market, MD. It's about a 30 minute drive from our house. The party included pizza and soda for the kids, unlimited time in the indoor playgound area, and 50 credits for each child to use in the arcade. We ordered extra pizzas so the adults could have lunch too and it worked out perfectly. We could have gotten the cake from them too, but we brought one that JD picked out. He saw the Tron cake and decided he wanted that. At that time, he hadn't seen Tron so I can only assume it was the motorcycle that lights up blue that sold it for him. LOL By the way, do you know how hard it is to find any kind of Tron party supplies? Let me tell you it's nearly inpossible. I was able to get some kids paperback books about Tron on Amazon that were reasonable and found some flying discs (looks like the rings on the Tron players backs) and glow stick bracelets at the party store.

The party went well and the kids all had a great time playing. JD loved running and climbing around in the playground with Lindsay, Savannah, Leo, Lucy, Lilly, Sam, James, Maxwell and Connor. As I expected, he came out of there all swetay and red-faced. He played air hockey (first time) with his friend Sam and a little help from Sam's dad and Reece when the puck stopped mid-table. He jumped in the moon bounce with Sydney and Teyla. JD got lots of great gifts from his friends and we're working on thank-you notes at the moment. My mom made us do them and I want JD to learn to do the same.

I think the funniest birthday moment was on the morning of his birthday when I dropped him off at Grandmom's. Our first 5 year old JD Gem. Here's the conversation we had as I was getting him out of the car:

Me: "Come on 5 year old boy, let's get you inside."

JD: "I'm not 5."

Me: "Yes you are, it's your birthday."

JD: "I don't feel older, so I'm not 5."

See, I knew that's how it worked. I tell myself the same thing every year on my birthday...I'm don't feel older, so I'm not older. LOL

Here's to year number 5 buddy...there are lots of great things to come!

Frustration

As some of you know, JD attends the early childhood special needs program in Carroll County. We had him tested in November of 2009 at the suggestion of his pediatrician. He wasn't talking and had virtually no communication skills. The testing showed his communication and verbal skill were at an 18 month level, but his understanding/cognitive (I think that's what it was called) were at a 48 month level. Since he started school in March of 2010, he's made great strides. In fact his speech teacher started off the her part of the last IEP meeting with "Wow! Just wow!" A few goals were changed and one of the things JD is working on in his IEP now is to follow through on difficult tasks. He gets extremely frustrated when he can't do something the first time or he doesn't like how he's done something. In the last few weeks, this frustration has come out as crying and I mean CRYING! He gets all worked up and starts coughing and it's hard to calm him down, so it goes on for 10, 15, 20 minutes. I have a feeling it may be due in part to the schedule change now that Reece is back to work. I now drop him off at grand mom's everyday on my way to work and she takes him to school. Another possibility is that he's really tired after he comes home from school and that makes things worse.

At home and in school, the message we're trying to get across is:
1) No one knows all the answers, so we do things like got to school and read books to learn.
2) It's okay to ask for help; everyone needs help now and then.
3) You need to try things more than once.

We've also been working on getting back to using the house rules that we came up with when Reece and I were taking the parenting workshop through Carrol County schools. We were doing really well, but have really fallen away from it. In addition to this, we've put a limit on the amount of time he can play on the Wii.

These are the rules:
1) Listen and answer
2) When you are done playing but your toys or books back where they came from.
3) When you are finished eating, plates and cups go on the kitchen counter and trash goes in the trashcan.
4) Use "excuse me" (i.e., if we're on the phone and he wants our attention)
5) Be a good friend to Bobo kitty

We've been telling him that if you break rules or misbehave, there are consequences. He got to see an example of breaking rules/consequences in the adult world on Monday...which provides me with another JD Gem to share. I got home and he says "Daddy broke a rule today!" I was thinking he was referring to the rules at school (they call them the cardinal rules, after the school mascot and his teacher said the kids might bust us parents for not following them at home). So I asked what rule and he says "The speeding one. That's what the policeman said." Reece walks in and JD goes "I toooold her. I told mommy." I laughed so hard. Luckily Reece only got a warning, but it sure provided a huge laugh for the day.