Pennies!

Trying to teach a child anything is hard work, especially when it involves consequences (good or bad). Having a strong willed, very independent child makes it almost a battle when trying to teach between good and bad behavior. Dan and I had order a dinosaur bank from Bedazzled and we were planning on using it as a reward system for potty training purposes but since that is not going so well, we decided to use it as a reward system for other things. We created a chart using a dry erase board and listed 4 tasks that Joshua could do and get pennies for. Each task has a different value to it and when Joshua reached 100 pennies he could trade in his pennies for a prize. I had no idea if this was going to work or not, because once again Joshua is all about "his turn" and "I do it!" so I didn't know if he would get the whole concept of "if you do ______, you will get pennies." We decided to list these tasks first 1. Feed Milo=1 penny 2. Pick Up Toys=2 pennies 3. Use your words=2 4. Stay in bed=4 pennies. So the last two on the list are the ones that we have been struggling with lately. He has a tendency to get very upset and shut down when he can't explain something or we do not understand what he is saying, so we thought if he was able to stop and use his words instead of pitching a fit then it would help with the tantrums and he would get rewarded with pennies(everyone wins!) Staying in bed was a huge issue for a couple of weeks, with Joshua screaming and crying and wanting me to hold him and not wanting to be by himself. It only happened at bedtime and it was exhausting for everyone. So once, again use the pennies and see what happens. He actually has gotten over the getting out of bed thing, I think he was just sensing a change happening at school or something, not quite sure, but he is going to bed and staying in his bed now. If Joshua chose not to do the tasks then he did not get any pennies for that task. At first it was a learning process. We showed him the board, the pennies and the bank(which he thought was cool!) and explained to him that he would get pennies if he did these tasks. It took a couple of days, but we kept pressing on and he finally caught on and now he goes up to the board to count his "penny marks" before he goes to bed so he knows how many he gets to put in the bank. He also is starting to understand consequences to what he does and doesn't do. He sometimes chooses not to feed Milo and he will say "no penny" and we tell him that is correct. Sometimes he is ok with that and other times he isn't, but for the most part he has caught on and it is working out wonderfully for us. He gets so excited before bedtime to put his pennies in the bank and it has even become part of the bedtime routine. I know eventually we will change up the task and hopefully add potty training too, but for now this works for us. Last week Joshua reached 100 pennies after 2 and 1/2 weeks and he traded in his pennies for a cool airplane that he was so excited about!

The Penny Chart

The cool bank we ordered from Bedazzled!

Penny time! (that is what Joshua calls it)

Part of our nightly routine

One happy kid with his prize!!

If you like the dinosaur bank in the picture, just go to
http://www.bedazzledplano.com/htmlver/ to order one of your very own. There are different ones to choose from and they can customize it with your child's name!!!

Turtle Class Update

Joshua has now completed his 3rd day in the turtle class. He is adjusting for the most part and his afternoons are better than his mornings! They have a spiral notebook that Ms. Maria journals in everyday about their day. I thought I would share what she has written over the past 3 days about Joshua.

Monday Aug. 23, 2010

Joshua was a little bit sad today. Most of the day he was OK, but every time he saw Ms.Pam(old teacher) he would get sad again. He carried his blanket around for comfort and really didn't eat a whole lot. He napped soundly. I noticed he likes to write and makes very good circles. Great pre-writing skills.

Tuesday Aug. 24

Joshua had a good second half of the day. He was sad at first and would get sad off and on, but by the second half of the day,
I saw his happy side come out. He ate lunch well.

Wednesday Aug. 25

Joshua had a great day today. He stopped crying about 5 minutes after mommy left and then he was fine. He likes playing with the cash register and enjoys the (big wheel) that's what he calls it on the playground. He ate well and napped soundly.


Dan and I were so happy to read how well he was adjusting each day. Sounds like each day he improved more and more! Maybe by next week we will have tear free mornings! WAY TO GO JOSHUA!!! You are such a big boy!!!

Rainy Day!

The other day we had a summer shower and Joshua got to experience playing in the rain! Don't worry we promptly went inside at the first sound of thunder! To which Joshua said, "that's loud!" and put his fingers in his ears!! Ha!

Turtle Class

So, I wish I could say that Joshua's first day in the Turtle class was awesome, but that is not the case. He woke up this morning around 615 crying only to be followed by a fight to put his clothes on and then there were the pictures that he did not want to take. I have to post them because it shows the truth of how the first day went down! Remember back in a previous post were I said that they were trying to get Joshua adjusted to his new teacher and classroom and that he finally started saying "hi" when he saw her, well yesterday around 4pm we get a phone call from his school saying that there has been a change to the Turtle class and Ms. Jolene will not be his teacher anymore(WHAT?), that Ms. Maria will be his new teacher! Ok, that just threw me into a nervous tissy! I was already nervous about taking him because I knew he was going to cry, but I was comfortable knowing who his teacher was and that he already met her. Now we both have to do it cold turkey, from scratch(not cool!). So, after I got over my "whys" and "hows" I began telling Joshua that he is going to have a new teacher and her name is Ms. Maria. He repeated her name a few times and we talked about the turtle class. Ok, so back to the first day, as we went to school he was a little bit better (no tears) and when we got in the parking lot he was fine, going through the doors he immediately went for his old room and I told him that he was a big boy now and that he goes to the turtle class. Well, it went down hill from there. He refused to go into the classroom and just stood against the wall for a good five minutes saying no, no, no! I was trying to comfort him and tell him how much fun he was going to have, etc. Finally, I just picked him up and went into the classroom. Ms. Maria was in there and she looked just as lost, that is because she was! This was apparently her first day as well. YIKES!!! After reassuring Joshua that he was going to be fine and putting away his backpack and nap mat, he started playing with some toys all the while looking over his shoulder to make sure I was still there. Ms. Maria was very kind and was trying her best not to show how nervous she was and tried to get to know the kiddos (there are 8 kids total, 6 boys and 2 girls). I finally got up the nerve to leave and told Joshua goodbye and I would be back when he completely broke down again. Pulling on my dress, saying "momma, hold you hold you", honestly I wanted to pick him up and leave but I knew that wasn't the right thing to do. Instead I bent down and gave him one last hug and asked the teacher to take him and get his blanket. I started to tear up and he was screaming, so I just went out the door trying to fight back the tears, until I got to my car where I promptly called Dan and began to cry. I hated that, I hated leaving him like that.

First Day of School Pic!

He would not wear his backpack this year either but he liked to zip and unzip it!
When I went to pick him up today, she said that he cried off and on the whole day. His old teachers were helping her out with her class since she was new and every time Joshua would see them, he would melt down again. So, today was not the best first day! Alot of tears were shed today and I know that there will be alot of tears shed tomorrow, and the next day and the next. I just hope that everyone gets adjusted well and Joshua begins to like his new class!

He was all smiles when we got home!!!

In case you were wondering, Ms. Jolene was moved to another class and that is why he has a new teacher. I don't know how I feel about this teacher yet, because 1. It is the first day and 2. she is brand new to the school. I am sure it will all work out, it is just going to take some time!

Last Day As A Teddy Bear

Today was Joshua's last day as a Teddy Bear! He had a blast at his party today. They played in the sprinkler, ate Popsicles, and tried to catch bubbles from the bubble machine. Joshua was all about the sprinkler, of course!! The Popsicles were the biggest hit for the kiddos! When I came back at 2 to pick him up I also had to clean out his cubby of all of his things. Kind of sad, because my little boy is growing up right before my eyes and it seems to be happening so fast!! Today, kind of brought me back to the first day we walked into the Teddy Bear class. Joshua crying and plastered to my leg not wanting to let go and both teachers trying to welcome him in and me being nervous when I finally left wondering if he was going to be ok. Oh how much he has changed since that first day. He loved his class, his teachers, and friends that he made over the school year. So, today Joshua was crying but not because he didn't want me to leave, but because he didn't want to leave his classroom. It made me feel good that he was so comfortable and had so much fun that he didn't want to leave. I finally convinced him to go with a promise to watch Elmo when we got home and goldfish(he said no to that offer a few times before he finally decided that it sounded like a good deal). I am so thankful for Mrs. Pam and Mrs. Elaine, they made Joshua's first year at a "school" a success. Joshua had such a full day today, that tonight he climbed up in my lap at 8:15 and said "momma night, night" and then climbed down and walked to his room and crawled into bed. I haven't heard a peep out of him since I shut the door. It has been a good day! Now on to the next chapter in the book, being a turtle!! I have posted a few pics below of his party today!

Here is the Teddy Bear class minus a 2!

Some of the kids with Mrs. Elaine and Mrs. Pam

Mrs. Elaine, Joshua and Mrs. Pam

Bubble Fun!

Every Friday since June they have enjoyed Popsicles on the playground and since today was their "Friday" they got Popsicles

Just cute!!

Almost forgot, at the beginning of the school year Mrs. Pam said that by the end of the year one of her goals would be that she would have all these kiddos drinking out of cups with no lids or straws and would have them using good table etiquette and she accomplished that goal! Pretty impressive, I think, considering she had 14 two year olds to teach!!

Welcome to the Turtle Class

On August 23rd, Joshua will be in a new classroom, with new teachers and new friends! It is hard to believe that Joshua has been going and loving this school for a year now! Since, Joshua was born in 2007 he is the oldest in his class right now, so the school decided that it would benefit him more if he skipped the 2 year old class and went right into the 3 yr old class, also known as The Turtle Class. Dan and I agree that this is probably the best thing for him to do, but I know it is going to be a big adjustment, because he is going to not move with any of his friends from the class he is in now and he will have to make all new friends, which isn't a bad thing, but Joshua is a very structured kiddo and doesn't handle change very well, but I know he will adjust beautifully. He will become completely comfortable with his new teachers and make new friends, just like he did while he was in the Teddy Bear class.

Over the past couple of weeks, Ms. Elaine(his favorite) has been taking him over to The Turtle class to meet his new teacher, Ms. Joelene(JoJo) and get accustomed to going to that class. He was not happy about it! I guess he will just have to do it cold turkey come August 23rd. He does wave to Ms. JoJo and say hello now, so that is a huge step. They have given us a "jump start" packet, so we could read over and get an idea of what goals they will be teaching and trying to reach over the school year.

There are 4 main goals that the teacher will try to achieve with each student during the school year and they are as follows:

Goal #1: Reinforce Social and Emotional Development

Example: making choices between 2 or more things, taking turns, table manners, learning how to appropriately interact with peers and teachers.

Goal #2: Potty Training(HOORAY!!!!!) Potty Training will be the main focus for the first 2-3 months. Let me tell you how excited I am about this goal, SUPER EXCITED. Hopefully, it will help seeing other kids go to the potty and make Joshua want to do the same!!

Goal #3: Reinforcing Fine and Large Motor Skills

Example: cutting with scissors(age appropriate ones), learning how to properly hold a crayon/pencil, putting simple puzzles together, walking in a line, etc.

Goal #4: Intellectual Development

Example: Following simple directions, learning colors, body parts, numbers, begin matching shape, color and size, asking who, what, when and where questions, etc.

I am so excited for Joshua to start this new class with his new teacher and friends! He has learned and gained so much from being in this school! I am so happy that we found this school for Joshua to attend!

Be sure to check back on Aug. 23rd to see how Joshua's first day as a Turtle went!

Sing A Song

Joshua has been singing alot lately! Here he is singing "Sing A Song" from Sesame Street. Turn up the volume and enjoy!!!

Imagination!

Joshua's imagination is starting to expand more and more everyday! Here lately we have turned into butterflies and flown up,up in the sky! We use fly swatters for our wings! Joshua came up with this idea all on his own. He also has been cooking breakfast for me at school with their pretend kitchen, while we wait on his teachers. I have had fried chicken, milk, mac and cheese and many more "pretend" foods for breakfast. All of these foods are washed then "stirred" in a pot before plating and eating! He loves the kitchen at school, he also likes dressing up in different hats! One day he put on a firefighter hat and pretended to be a fireman! Sometimes I will pick him up from school and he will have all these random band-aids on his arms and legs. Come to find out they were pretending to play doctor. Joshua is a very good doctor. He checks your ears, nose, eyes, head and mouth, to which he says "say ahhhhhh" and "open wide". After your check-up he will tell you "good job" and give you a hug! It is so cute to see Joshua being creative and using his imagination! There are endless possibilities!!!!

Dr. Joshua checking daddy's mouth

now the head,

ears look good!

Suuupper Jooosh!!

Girls Weekend 2010

This past weekend was my family's annual girl's weekend! Where the girls go one way and the men go the other along with the KIDS!!! I look forward to this weekend every year! Every year I look forward to the fellowship with all the ladies, the swimming, the shopping and the RELAXATION! Everyone trickled in at different times on Friday and a few showed up on Saturday. Below are a few pictures of our relaxing weekend!

Most of us girls in the pool!

Pretty Pedicures!

Relaxing and chatting while getting pampered! We took up all the seats they had at the spa! Awesome!!!

We did a lot of girl talk around this table!

I will never get tired of saying this, I love my family and I love the women in my family so much! It was so much fun to sit and chat to the wee hours and not have to get up at a certain time or hear little voices saying "mommy! mommy!" We all enjoyed our time together and wish it could have been longer. We actually talked about having it twice a year instead of just once a year, but we are still working out the kinks on that!!