Hook'Em the Bear

I had heard about this new Lego store that had 8ft Toy Story characters built completely out of Legos, so I thought Joshua would love to see them and enjoy looking at all the Legos. So, on Saturday morning we headed down to Barton Creek Mall which is about 20 to 30 mins away to the Lego store. I am not going to lie I think I was more excited to see these Lego characters than Joshua. We walk into the Lego store and to much disappointment the 8ft characters were nowhere to be found. Apparently we missed them by a day! They had just been there for the grand opening that was a month ago and they were on there way to Detroit for another grand opening. BUMMER!!! I am actually thankful that Joshua still doesn't understand some of the things we take him too, so therefore when there is a disappointment like this one, he is still good to go. He was all over that Lego store. They did have some really cool displays and Legos. So we left the store and Dan said that we needed to do something else for Joshua, because we didn't drive all the way down to this mall just to leave after being there for 10 mins. So, Dan decided that we should take Joshua to Build-A-Bear. We both thought he would really like that, since he loves to see how things work and get put together. So below is the picture story of how Hook'Em the Bear came to be.

Joshua trying to see which one he wanted from outside the store. He eventually went in and chose a bear.

About to stuff the bear. He didn't care too much for the stuffing, he wanted to push the buttons on the side(4 little heart buttons in the pic)

watching the lady stuff the bear

choosing the perfect heart for his bear

helping put the heart inside the bear

"Bath time"!! This was Joshua's favorite part. He washed the bear 3 times until we finally had to pick him up and move him to the next station

Time to choose the name and make the birth certificate.

Meet Hook'Em the Bear!!!

Joshua loves "Hook'Em"!!!(at the time he was playing and didn't want to take a picture with the bear, so this is the best I could get.)

So, that is the story of how Hook'Em the Bear came to be! Joshua loves this bear. He sleeps with it, does the hokey poky with him and covers him up when it is time to go "night, night". Last night Joshua told Dan to take the shirt off of Hook'Em because it was time to go to sleep. I guess he thought since he has to change clothes to go to bed so should Hook'Em.

Hook'em Saturday!

This weekend our friend, Jana came for a visit and she surprised us with tickets to the UT game that was on Sat. We were all stoked, especially the guys! Luckily, my mom was in town and was able to watch Joshua so we could enjoy our Saturday, kid free. I was so thankful she was able to watch him, because I think Joshua would have been miserable with all the walking that we did and how he would not have wanted to sit and watch! The game started at 6 and we left around 230, because we thought the traffic was going to be terrible, but it wasn't, so we decided to go hang out at a bar and grill among the other fans until it was time for the game. We had so much fun! It was extremely HOT, but despite the heat and us being nasty sweaty we had a great time and Texas won!! It was a good time with my husband, my brother and my friend! It was a great surprise and we thank you again, Jana for the fun filled Saturday!!!

Make-up melting off but still having a great time

The band performing

Yes, It is that time

The time of year where fans start wearing the colors of their favorite teams and where some women loose their significant others to the TV. It is time for FOOTBALL SEASON!!!!! More importantly it is time to cheer on the UT Longhorns! Every year, we all wear some type of UT gear on the day that they are playing and last season Joshua wore a UT shirt every Friday to school(he has quite a few UT shirts!) This year will be no exception I am sure. So, needless to say we are pumped about Saturday as UT plays their first game against Rice. Technically, today, Thursday marks the beginning of college football, but for us it starts on Saturday!

To me, the start of football season also brings a little more excitement because that means that Fall is right around the corner, and then the holidays! This is truly my favorite time of year! Labor Day through New Years!!! I just love it!!

HOOK'EM HORNS!!!!!

In honor of the UT football season kickoff, I have done my post in UT colors!!

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!