Messy=Learning

Today when I went to pick Joshua up from school I noticed that he had on a different shirt. When I asked him what happened to his shirt he wore to school his reply was "I had fun!" Not quite sure what he meant by that I asked Ms. Maria and she said that he had gotten all kinds of things on his shirt! Red glitter, glue, chili from lunch and much more. To which she told him,"it looks like you had a fun day!" The shirt has since been put in the washer, but I have always heard that if you are not dirty you are not learning. While I don't totally agree with that, I do agree with letting the child explore with creativity and the world around them. As a mom who has a very OCD, germaphobic personality, this is a true test for me. I think I am getting better though. Just last night Joshua wanted to paint because I was painting and by accident he knocked over the paint and the water all over him and the floor. Now "old" me would have totally freaked out and expressed it out loud, but instead I freaked out on the inside and told Joshua that it was ok and we can clean it up together. So, see I am getting better. That is a good thing because this boy loves to get dirty and messy!

Here is the shirt from school. I like to call it "fun at preschool"

He does clean up well though, don't you think?

Thanksgiving 2010

This year we decided to go to my Dad's for Thanksgiving! My Dad and Jan live on a bunch of land and have quite a few animals too. We left Wednesday around 530 and we just knew there would be traffic, but thankfully there wasn't! We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner with all the traditional food like turkey, stuffing, gravy, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, etc. We all ate until we were stuffed! The rest of the time we just hung out and on Saturday we went to the Botanical Gardens in Orange. They were having a scarecrow display through out the gardens and it was really awesome to see. Each company in Orange created a scarecrow to have displayed in the gardens(yes, Orange is that small, so they can do that). We had a wonderful time while we were there and on Sunday we left after breakfast to head back home. It was a nice relaxing visit.

Below are a few things that I know Joshua was truly grateful for. He did not verbally express it to me, but actions speak louder than words!

Joshua was thankful for Mocha the horse. Mocha let Joshua pet him constantly and let Joshua feed him hay!

Joshua would talk to Mocha everyday while we were there and Mocha loved getting the attention!

Joshua was thankful for the hay, not only to feed Mocha with but to play in

and throw in the air!!

Another thing Joshua was thankful for was DIRT and SAND! It is like his own personal life size sand box out there and he loved every minute of it! He tried to bury his legs in the sand, he threw sand in the air, and he dug in the sand!

Joshua is also thankful that he got the honorary job of feeding the ducks! This by far was his all time favorite thing to do while he was there and because Grandpa Don can't say "No" to Joshua he got to feed the ducks twice a day instead of once a day like usual! (I am sure that made the ducks happy too)

Honestly, if he wasn't feeding the ducks he was digging in the dirt and this is how he played in the sand most of the time, laying down!

Daddy was grateful for a relaxing few days away from his busy work schedule! This is where you could find him most of the time!

It was a really great time! I am thankful that we got to spend time with my Dad and Jan and we got to enjoy the land and see Joshua play until his heart was content!

Random: Can you believe that we are now in the month of December!!! 2010 has flown by!!

Thanksgiving Tease

We just got back from a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday at my Dad and Jan's! So, we all know that means a couple of things:

1. I have a ton of pictures to upload and post
2. I am in laundry up to my ears AND
3. I am extremely exhausted so the actual post will have wait, but you will not have to wait too long, I promise!

So for now I leave with this little guy:

Before the turkey and stuffing

After the turkey and stuffing!

Our Thanksgiving holiday was filled with horses, ducks, dirt, hay, great food and most importantly being with family!!

Little Yoma Yoga

Joshua's school offers a variety of extra activities outside of the normal everyday curriculum. For an extra charge you can enroll you kid(s) in soccer, computer classes, music and much more. This year they have brought in yoga! Since it is new they are letting the kids try it out as a class for free. So, last Wednesday and today (Wednesday) Joshua has been going to a little yoga class. Last Wednesday Ms. Maria said that Joshua seemed to enjoy the class, but today she said that she found him sitting under a table while the other kids were participating. So, while we will not be signing Joshua up for this class and paying the extra money for him to sit under a table once a week for 8 weeks(plus it cuts into his time out on the playground); I do think he got a little something out it. We asked Joshua if he had fun in the yoga class and this was his response:

(Turn up the volume)

Giving the People What They Want!

It has been pretty low key around our house the past few weeks and weekends, so there hasn't been to much to blog about. I know that it has been like 5 days since I blogged so I decided to show you a few random pictures that I dug up just for you blog readers! We are taking full advantage of our down time, because soon enough we will be hitting the ground running again!

Couple of funny comments from Joshua:

As Dan was leaving for work, he told Joshua "bye buddy, I love you!" and Joshua replied with his two fingers making a "peace sign" and said "PEACE!!"

Joshua's famous phrase right now is " I gotta ______!" He tries to use this to his advantage sometimes, like "I gotta have my movie" or "I gotta go right now" when you are trying to talk to him and he doesn't want to listen. Yea, he tries really hard to persuade us that he's just gotta...it doesn't really work in times like that.

On Friday Joshua ran into the door as it was being opened and has a little bump on his forehead. When you ask him what happened to his head, he replies "Ms. Maria go bonk my head!"(As he slaps his head with his hand) Ms. Maria is his teacher and what he means by that is that he was running (when he was told not to) for the door and as she was opening it he ran into it. But in his eyes since Ms. Maria opened the door she is the one that gave him the "bonk on the head"

Technology Whiz

Kids today live in a very technological world and everyday technology gets more and more advanced. It really is crazy how well kids today can catch on to something like working a computer to playing a game on a cell phone. Kids can not escape the world of technology and neither can adults for that matter. Almost everyone has a cell phone and almost every household has at least 1 computer. Even children's toys are geared up with technology. There is V-tech, leapfrog, mobigo, I could go on. I do not think this is all that bad, because it is the way the world is now and it is only going to get more advanced in years to come. What I do think is sad is that a child (my child) can work an iPhone better than an adult (me). When Joshua was probably 18 months or maybe a little older he was able to somehow turn one of my coworkers computers screens sideways. He pushed some button or clicked on something to make the screen turn vertical. As adults we were unable to turn it back the way it was originally, so my coworker ended up turning her whole monitor vertical. We eventually fixed it, but it did stay that way for awhile. Joshua loves to play games on an iPhone that my coworker has and he knows exactly how to turn it on and exactly which way to drag his little finger in order for it to go to the next screen so he can get to the game he wants. You can't even trick him and tell him that it is on another page, because he knows it isn't. He loves to play games on my phone and he will request them by name and then navigate me on where to go. He even found(by mistake) a whole other level on a game on my mom's phone that she didn't even know about. He can work a mouse on the computer like a pro and I introduced him to some fun sesame street games that he absolutely loves. He looks like a natural at the computer. He knows to move the mouse around to make the cursor move, and he knows how to click, but not together and not the correct button. I just think it is incredible how much he knows about computers and phones and it just amazes me. I don't think it is appropriate for a child to spend long hours on the computer or in front of a TV or anything like that. So, Joshua is limited to how long he can be on the computer. He only gets 15 mins a day and it is only if he ask to get on. I know that the world is getting more advanced and that by the time Joshua is my age it will be a whole new world with a whole new technology, more advanced than ever before. So I guess I will just accept the fact that my kid will probably be always one step ahead of me when it comes to technology.

Time Outs and Prayers

Joshua knows about "Time Outs" far too well. He is at the age of testing the limits so the word "time out" is used a lot in our house these days. The majority of the time a warning works with Joshua, but there are those days were he spends 3 mins in time out! He does not like this one bit! He cries and kicks the whole way and even when he is in time out he continues to protest by crying. The other day was the first day that he actually tried to get out of time out before the timer went off, which led to the timer starting all over again. He quickly learned that he needed to stay in time out in order for the timer to not restart again. With all this being said, everything around him goes to "time out". When we are in the car and we are stopped at a light he tells the cars around us to go to time out. Our dog, Milo, is told to go to time out alot! When Joshua is asked why Milo needs to go to time out, he replies, "no listen! time out!" Every once in awhile I go to Starbucks to get a yummy latte and for some reason this makes Joshua upset therefore, he tells the cars in front that they need to go to timeout and sometimes I even get time out told to me. I have no idea why Starbucks sets him off so bad, but it does. Maybe it is because he isn't getting anything. I have no idea what it is. It is pretty funny to hear him go around using the word time out in his most stern voice!!

We say prayers every night before Joshua goes to sleep and lately he has been saying some funny stuff. One prayer went a little something like this: Dear God, thank you for a good nights sleep(all squished into one word) and for school and mama and daddy and milo and some chips please! (LOL) I laughed out loud during that one. I guess he was craving chips and thought God might put them under his pillow or something if he asked for them. It was too funny! Another time when he prayed he said the whole spill like the one above, (minus the chips) but at the end instead of saying "Amen" he said "choo choo!" The boy is all about trains so I guess it was just on his mind. It is so sweet to hear him say his prayers. Sometimes they are short and to the point and other times he names everyone and everything under the sun. Either way they are so sweet to listen too.