He's only 5

There is still time to join in the ABC Photo Fun Challenge this week. I'll leave the linky up until Tuesday night. So post your "A" pictures. And start thinking of "B" pictures for next week.

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There are times that I have to remind myself that Blake is just 5. It is during these times that I really know that we made the right choice not to push Blake into kindergarten this year.

Blake is very smart. There are things that he knows that I shake my head and think "how do you know that?" But, when push comes to shove he is a young 5. It is very easy to think of him as being older than he is, so when he does something that is very 5 it may come across as immature.

This week Blake got in trouble at school twice. On Thursday he came home upset because he had his "star moved". When I questioned him about his behavior he told me that he threw blocks. I had him apologize to the teacher and then he came home and wrote her an apology letter.

Friday morning he told me he was going to get his star back on the board. He proudly read the note to his teacher and I walked out the door. I was very shocked when I picked him up and he got in trouble again. But, even more so when he got in trouble again for throwing blocks. This really bothered me.

But the more I think about it. He is just being 5. No I'm not saying that all 5 year olds throw blocks. Nor am I saying that it is excusable to do it, and especially to do it again. But my thinking was that he should have rationalized the consequences of his actions and though about it and therefore not done it again. But, that isn't the way 5 year olds work. They work moment to moment.

After talking to him about the two incidences they were totally separate in his mind because the action was different. The first time he was throwing the blocks from one are into the next area of the room. The second time he and another child were throwing blocks into the air. Although both involved throwing blocks they are totally different.

I have always been concerned that others would get to know Blake and expect more from him. I just never realized how often I do it myself.

Happy 5th Birthday Blake

5 years ago today I became a mother. Hard to believe it. I love to watch both my sons learn and grow, but Blake never ceases to amaze me every day in what he knows and does. Blake is an athlete, an intellect, a caring child, a book lover, a sports fan, a great brother, a kind friend. He is stubborn, looks at the world as black and white, loves to win but is still a good looser. He sees the world with the innocence of a child, but comprehends a lot more than people expect. He and I might butt heads from time to time, but I love him with all my heart. In many ways he is a Momma's boy, but trust me he is all Blake!

I love you Blake Thomas and I can't wait to see what the next year will bring. Love, Mommy

TV trouble

Over the years, I've limited what they boys watch on television. We go through long stints where they don't watch any tv at all. Then when they do watch it, it is typically limited to Disney Jr or Nick Jr. They also watch racing (Nascar and Formula One) with Richard. And the occasional football game.

Now that Blake is in school every day and getting to a more impressionable age he is noticing that he not watching some things that his peers get to watch. He has been talking about Power Rangers a lot lately. He tells me that he's going to tell his friends he watches Power Rangers, so then we get into a conversation about the truth vs lies.

But, it is hard as a mother to hear that her child would lie to fit in. I do not plan on letting him watch these shows. Instead I took a different route and talked about some of the things he really likes that his friends might not do such as watching Formula 1. We also talked about other things he and his friends have in common such as playing sports and such.

It is hard to find the balance between what you know is what you want for your child and helping them fit into their peer group. I know it will only get harder and if we can deal with being yourself and not caving in to the "expected norm" now at 5 then maybe we won't have as hard of a time at 15?

1st day of pre-K

Blake has his first day of pre-k today. In Florida, all 4 year olds can go to pre-k for 3 hours a day for free. As a teacher this law made total sense to me. There are a lot of academic expectations put on kindergartners, so if you can get a year of pre-k for all children then the adjustment to full day kindergarten should be less. For Blake, it is just a continuation of the schooling he's had the last year and a half.

He was very excited to get in and interact with the new friends in his class.


I know he will do great this year. He loves to learn and going to school just fits into his life naturally. Colby is a bit bummed out that he isn't going to school too, but he will adjust as soon as we start going to the Y every day while Blake is at school.

Hope your kiddos have/had a great first day of school.

Next chapter

Blake starts pre-K on Monday. He will be going to school every day for 3 hours a day. We had meet the teacher last night. He is so excited. When we talked about it yesterday morning, he ran in his room and put on his school uniform.

We found out that he will be in the same classroom he was in last year (it was the 3 year old room and now is a pre-k room). He has the teacher that he has been with all summer. She is working on her degree at UCF to become an elementary teacher, which is good because she should be willing to push him in the classroom. There aren't any children in his class from last year, but that's fine with me. Blake very easily interacted with the other children in the room last night and seemed very comfortable.

Hard to believe that in a few months he will be turning 5. In a lot of ways I already treat him like he is 5. I'm often told he acts a lot older than his age, which I think is a good thing. But, at the same time it seems like he was just learning to walk, talk and read. Now he is on the education path. I am so excited to watch him learn and grow.

I know many parents want to keep their children young, but in many ways I'm the opposite. I can't wait to see the next challenge that lays in front of them. I've watched them bloom into learners already. Blake is already pretty athletic and soon Colby will be playing sports too. Both boys love to learn, play with others and go and do. I know they will excel at a lot in their lifetime and I can't wait to be there to cheer them on. And just as much I look forward to seeing them learn from their mistakes and grow from that too.

On Monday we turn the page on a new chapter of life, and I'm excited to see what this chapter holds.

Are you ready for your child's school year to start? Who is more excited you or your child(ren)?

Milk struggles

I admit it I am NOT a milk drinker. I really never have been. I don't like it. I drank "Hershey's Milk Shakes" when I was pregnant to have the added calcium, but even then I'd drink a few sips each day. I can't explain it to you, but I just don't like it.

Both my sons were good milk drinkers. Both boys always drank more milk than they needed to and without a fuss. Blake would ask for chocolate milk from time to time. Colby has yogurt shakes (milk with yogurt mixed in). But, for the most part they drink white milk without a fuss.

Yes, you might have noticed that I wrote about Blake in the past tense. I took Blake's sippy cups away in Jan(?) and since then there has been a milk struggle in the house. He will drink water. He will drink juice. But, we struggle to get him to drink milk. He has milk with every meal, but many times it goes untouched. He has to drink his milk at dinner, but the other meals it is just offered. That means I know he gets 4oz a day.

We have offered to make him chocolate milk. We've tried different cups. We've tried straws. I don't know what else to try since I refuse to let him go back to the sippy cup. I know he can drink out of a regular cup so he needs to!

In some ways I don't want to seem like a hypocrite since I'm forcing him to do something that at his age I didn't like to do either. My issue is that he did like to drink it and now he doesn't, me I never liked it.

Anyone else have a child give up milk? What did you do?

Friday Fotos

Blake's turn

Reading

This is a sight you see quite often in my house. The last few weeks Blake has become more and more fascinated with books. When he was really little he always had a book in hand or close by. He and I would sit for 30+ minutes reading book after book. Now we do it for near an hour. He also reads to himself a lot. Often, when I notice that he is really quiet I will find him sitting somewhere with a stack of books reading to himself. He can read on a first grade reading level already. Once challenge we have with him is he has become accustomed to knowing the words and just inserts a word he knows instead of sounding out the word (which he can do).

Every night we read one chapter to him in his chapter book and then he reads a level one reader to us. We go through a new book every day and then the next week we repeat them or another older book. He is getting really good at the books he has read once and can read with few errors on the third go round.

As a teacher, and mother who is an avid reader, it makes me happy to see him love books and reading so much. I really enjoy reading with both my sons. Colby is now getting more one-on-one reading time too so he is beginning to memorize his favorite stories too. I know he too will be an early reader.

I hope you take time each day to read to your children. There is a ton of research that proves that reading to your child everyday is so important for the social, emotional and educational development of your child. (o:

1st Dentist Appointment

Yesterday Blake and Colby went to their first dentist appointment. We had a new pediatric dentist open last year, so we added the boys to our dental insuarance. I finally got up the courage to call and make the appointments. It went pretty much as I expected: Blake fought everything until he knew for certain what was going on and Colby just chilled out and went along. Blake did better at letting them in his mouth than I expected and actually kept his mouth open for almost the whole visit (except when he was screaming). Colby had a harder time keeping his mouth open and didn't seem to know what to do with his tongue. Next time I can't go in with them, so lets hope it goes smoothly in August!

I of course being the Momma-razzi that I've turned into brought my camera and took pictures

In the waiting room:


Waiting outside the exam room:


Waiting on our tables:


I'm not sure about this:


Watching Blake's turn:


Look at me!

changes

The other day I uploading pictures into Photobucket and Colby asked to watch some of the movies I have on there. I came across these two videos of Blake and couldn't believe just how far he has come. I wanted to get a new video of him before posting.

The first video he had just mastered many of the signs he learned in order to help him communicate. He was working on a few beginning sounds too. The second was taken last February when he was speaking a lot better, but was still struggling with a lot of articulation issues. The last video was taken yesterday. I handed him a book he had never read before, although he is very familiar with the characters.

6-16-2009



2-10-2010


1-5-2011

Birthday Party Fun

We finally had Blake's 4th birthday party. I was so happy that both boys were healthy enough to have the party. The house was decked out in Monster Jam, the cake was decorated, the food prepared, and the guests arrived. Blake had a lot of fun playing and even opened up all his own gifts this year. He did a great job blowing out his candles, even if he didn't have any of the cake.

Testing out the Monster Jam track


Opening gifts


Cake Time!

Happy 4th Birthday Blake

Another milestone in our lives

Well, I just got home from Blake's IEP meeting for speech at the local elementary school. The meeting was his annual review, but it was also to put him on consultation. What does this mean? It means that Blake will no longer be receiving speech services. It means that my little boys who was barely speaking last year, now is speaking so well that he doesn't need services anymore. It means he is on/above age level in his articulation skills. At this point he only has two goals to work on: clearly speaking multi-syllabic words in sentences and clearly speaking in longer and longer sentences. A lot of this has more to do with him thinking faster than he can talk than actual articulation issues.

His speech teacher will be in contact with me monthly to check in on his progress, but for the most part we do not see a need for him to receive speech services anymore. Can you believe it? Last year at this time, I was worries that he would be speaking clearly when he entered kindergarten, and he is being released a few weeks before he turns 4.

I'm so proud of his progress!

Filling in the calendar

It seems like just when I think I've got things figured out... nope! I was putting some things onto my calendar today and realized that in my thinking I was skipping a week in October. I kept thinking we had a football game this weekend. I was thinking that we had 2 more weeks of soccer, but nope. We have three more weekends of soccer. We don't have football this weekend, it's next weekend.

Oh well... guess I should enjoy a found weekend?

Where do you keep all your schedules? I have my main calendar on my google account. I like having it on my computer because I can pull it up from any computer. I really need to link it to my phone, but I'm not sure my phone has that ability.

Blake also has a calendar that he keeps on the dishwasher. I started this for him because every night he asks me "where do I go tomorrow?" He goes to pre-school 2 days a week, he goes to soccer practice on Thursday nights, he goes to speech on Fridays, we go to story time on Fridays, he has soccer games on Saturdays. It also helps him count down to the holidays. He is really proud of having his own calendar. At least next month he will not have as many scheduled things since soccer will be over, but there is a lot going on in November.

As of right now the first free weekend we have is the Dec 11th-12th and there is a big possibility that Richard will be traveling that week/ weekend for work. Oh well... busy is good!

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This week's goals:
-- drink 60-80oz water a day
-- work on the boy's Halloween costumes (Blake's is DONE!)
-- get to the gym
-- plan meal and desert for tailgating this weekend (oops not needed this weekend)
-- step back and enjoy the weather
-- remember to enjoy the little things with the boys
-- relax and smile

RSVP

I made Blake's birthday invitations today. I still can't believe he will soon be 4. Well in a lot of ways I can since he's acted like he was 4 for a while now, but it's hard to believe it was 4 years ago that I was pregnant with him. He has grown up soooo much in this last year. I have watched him grow into his personality. He loves life, trust me he can be a handful at times, but he is so inquisitive, caring, smart, talkative, playful, loving and structured. He has a strong sense of right and wrong. He has a mind that makes me go... wow! He is very caring and compassionate.

Wow, that wasn't the direction I meant this post to go, but ok... no problem, back on track.

Ok so I was making Blake invitations today and sat there and debated... to RSVP or not. I get so frustrated with the whole thing. Can someone please tell me when this became an option? I thought it was common courtesy to actually RSVP when it was on an invitation. This frustration isn't just based on the boys birthday parties, I dealt with it at my wedding, bridal and baby showers and other parties we have had. Come on isn't it just common courtesy to know that the person holding the party needs to know how many people are coming? I like to plan my menu, favors and such based on the number of people attending, but when people do not RSVP do you assume they are coming or that they are not coming?

So, when I made Blake invitation this time, I decided to just leave off the RSVP. I decided that I would just assume that everyone is coming and go from there. I can't keep checking my e-mail/voice mail and bugging Richard every day to see if anyone has responded. I'd rather leave it for that day and find out they aren't attending. Or maybe people will at least tell us if they are not coming even though we didn't ask for an RSVP?

I don't know. I can tell you that when I see RSVP on an invitation I do provide the common decency to reply and let them know if we are or are not attending the event.

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Today's goals:
-- bring Blake to and from school... remember to drop off tuition check [check]
-- go to the Y with Colby... remember knee brace since I hurt it again today [check. and my knee is better today]
-- bring Yoplait pink labels to Y [check turned in 24 of them]
-- clean kitchen [ummm totally forgot about this... oops!, well there is still time]
-- art project with Colby [we did some water color painting on the porch, and he made a pretty cool picture]

Tomorrow's goals:
-- visit my mom
-- mop kitchen floor


Week's big goals:
-- create Blake's birthday invitation [done]
-- work on at least 1 of the Halloween costumes
-- drink 80 oz of water a day
-- get outside to play each day
-- at least 1 fall art project with the boys [made our monsters]

soccer fun!

Today was Blake's first soccer game. It was lots of fun, and a bit of a laugh. It wasn't as much "magnet ball" as I expected which was pretty good. Blake played a lot of the game. Now, if we could just get him to focus on the ball and go towards the right net... we'll be set (o:

Proud of my guy!

Today was Blake's first soccer practice. Let me tell you it was choas trying to figure out who was on what team and what team was on what field. Yep that was not fun!

Once we found our coach and got started that's when the fun began. Blake did a great job listening to directions and actually did really well playing too. Of course I forgot my camera at home, but I will bring it next week!

But, that is not what made me proud of him. Oh I'm glad he listened and paid attention... who isn't proud of those moments? I'm proud that he took turns and waited while others were taking theirs. What really made me proud? What made my heart sing?

One of the little boys on the team didn't seem to be having much fun, and wasn't big into participating. The coach had everyone cheering him on to get him to join in the fun. One time when this little boy was at the other end of the field from the coach, and everyone was waiting for him to join them, Blake ran down the field said "Come on (name), I'll run with you". Then as they were running down the field, Blake was saying "good job (name) you can do it!" When they got back he looked at the child and said "great job". I heard him cheering on every child when it was their turn and told some "it's ok try again".

I was so proud of him! So not only is he going to begin learning the early skills of soccer, but he is already learning good sportsmanship!

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Today's goals:
-- go get my hair cut [check]
-- go to the doctors [check]
-- pick up Colby [check]
-- pick up Blake [check]
-- make macaroni with cheeseburgers (one dish even though it does sound like 2 things) [nope.... I decided it was too tight of a time for me to make this and I wanted to make sure Blake had a dinner he would like so Blake had leftover pizza and Colby had left over mac & cheese... Kraft not homemade]
-- take Blake to his first soccer practice... yes with the wrong kind of cleats. [check]
-- convince 2 boys that they can settle down for bed a bit late after coming home from practice [ummm half check, Blake fought it to begin with and now Colby is awake ... yes it's really late for him to be up at 8:45... ]

Tomorrow's goals:

-- go to story time

-- boy's laundry

-- make chicken for dinner... I'm trying a new recipe that I concocted in my brain

-- ummm there's more but I can't think right now

Oh the horror....

Tonight Colby went and is staying the night with my parents. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow and Blake goes to school on Tuesdays. Before my mother would come and stay and watch the boys, but right now she is watching my 4 month old nephew full time too. She decided it would be best if they came and got Colby tonight and let him have an overnight instead of driving over here with Brady and then back again after my appointment. This is fine... I can have a quiet morning and then I'll go get Colby and we will pick up Blake from school.

Blake was not happy to have to stay home. I think he is more upset about Colby not being home than the actual fact that he wasn't going with Grammy and Grampy. When they were leaving he was genuinely crying and upset. Yep, I understand it. Grammy and Grampy have said that Blake will also get a turn for a sleep over soon.

The funny thing for me is he continued to try to drag it on beyond the point you could tell that it was bothering him. I almost started laughing at him as he turns on this FAKE whine and just carried on like the world was coming to an end. Yes, it was bedtime, yes he was tired, and yes he was stalling big time. It was just too funny. Oh the horror... my parents are making me go to sleep in my own bed. They are taking me to the school I love in the morning. My day will be the same as always... oh the torture a 3 year old goes through in life.

Oh well... he actually did a better job at going to bed tonight so that was a positive and he will be more than fine in the morning when he is running out the door to go to school.

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Today's goals:
-- go to the Y with the boys [check]
-- take Blake to speech [check... his schedule got changed so this will not be a Wednesday goal anymore]
-- go to the store to get a size 3 soccer ball and cleats for Blake [this was a LOT harder than I expected. I did finally find him cleats only to get home and realize I didn't even look at the bottom of them and they are baseball cleats and not soccer cleat. you know what... I DON'T CARE. Not this year anyway.]
-- pack Colby's stuff for an overnight at my parents house [check]
-- make ham and rice for dinner (yep not very exciting, but a favorite of the boys) [ummmmm nope... I totally didn't realize until I was getting ready to put the ham on the boys plates that I ummm... ummmm didn't buy ham this week.... oops!]

Tomorrow's goals:

-- go get my hair cut

-- go to the doctors

-- pick up Colby

-- pick up Blake

-- make macaroni with cheeseburgers (one dish even though it does sound like 2 things)

-- take Blake to his first soccer practice... yes with the wrong kind of cleats.

-- convince 2 boys that they can settle down for bed a bit late after coming home from practice

Bittersweet Moment

Today was Blake's last session with his speech teacher that he has been using since he was 2 years 4 months old. When he began working with Jen, he hardly communicating at all. She taught him to sign and from there helped him overcome his speech issues. She was the one who encouraged us to have his tongue tie clipped which was the best thing we ever did for him verbally. She helped us help him to learn to articulate his thoughts. In the time she worked with him he learned to speak, he learned to speak clearly, and now we can't get him to stop talking. He can recite stories, he speaks in paragraphs and says multi-syllabic words.

It blows my mind how much he has improved in the last year, but to look back at where he started with her... wow!

We decided that we no longer needed to pay out of pocket for him to recieve these one-on-one services, as he goes twice a week to the public school for speech too. We have decided that he has progressed so well under her guidance that he is ready to move on. This is such a bittersweet decision... she has played a huge roll in this development and it is because she did such a good job that we no longer need her services.

Blake and I (and Colby too actually) will miss seeing Ms. Jen each week, but we know that there are other children out there who will certainly benefit from her guidance and wisdom, her love and her caring, her knowledge and the skills she will provide to help them.

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Today's goals:
-- go to the Y with the boys in the morning [check]
-- take Blake to speech at TLE (out local elementary school) [check... next time I must remember to have Blake go to the bathroom at home before we go... OOPS!]
-- menu plan (I have to move grocery day and I'm going to test out Tuesdays this week) [check, I actually did the plan on Monday night, but made the grocery list today]
-- strip the beds, wash the sheets, re-make the beds [check]

Tomorrow's goals:

-- go to the Y... not sure which class I'll go to yet

-- laundry... anyone else feel like this is an every day goal?

-- go to the grocery store

-- post my Tasty Tuesday recipe

-- make tacos for dinner

Make sure you check out the poll on my sidebar!

Back to school time

Ok well school started here last week actually, but Blake starts back to speech at the public school tomorrow. Life gets busy for us now. We now have speech at 12:30 on Mondays and Wednesdays. He goes to preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Not only that, but we should be hearing today or very soon from Blake's soccer coach too. So add to the busy days soccer practice at night and games on Saturdays. The there is the UCF football games too. Yep... fall is our crazy busy time of the year. I love my Google calendar without it I wouldn't know where I was going or supposed to be, when I can and can't schedule things.

Busy is good. I have found that with my guys the more they have going on the better they do, and that is a good thing! The challenge is getting in all those little things that you don't want to do... you know: laundry, cleaning the bathrooms, mopping the floor, all that crazy busy mommy stuff. Guess that's where my goals come into play. When I think about what I need/want to do the night before I can figure out in my head when to do things and what I can put off for the next day.

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Speaking of goals... here they are!

Tomorrow's goals:

-- go to the Y with the boys in the morning

-- take Blake to speech at TLE (out local elementary school)

-- menu plan (I have to move grocery day and I'm going to test out Tuesdays this week)

-- strip the beds, wash the sheets, re-make the beds

(check out my sidebar for a poll about my goals)