Hey, It's Jade! and family

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Tidbits, part 3...

(...because I can't manage enough time to write actual blogs anymore!)


- A lot of my energy lately has gone into keeping a certain 4-yr-old under control.  He is fabulous with the baby, horrible with us.  Ok, he's not all bad... he has his super sweet, smart, wonderful moments... but lately his attitude has been out of control.  He is disrespectful, defiant and downright mean to Michael and me... turns around and is perfect big brother to Callen (reads him stories, sings to him, helps soothe him, etc)... so it's hard to say if it really has anything to do with the "new baby in the house" or anything like that.  I think it might just be getting adjusted to life itself... I mean, he is only four... I have to keep reminding myself that.  He normally acts so big and smart, that sometimes I forget that he's so young and acts like it.  And me being home with him all the time is definitely new to all of us.  But, also... there's a line and he often crosses it.  We are trying to be consistent in our discipline, but we're tired and it's hard.  I too often lose all patience much too quickly, because it's the same things over and over... he KNOWS better, he KNOWS what the correct response/action is but doesn't do it.  Ahh, motherhood is grand.  Have to give big thanks to both sets of grandparents who have taken the boy off my hands through the weeks, giving me a break and giving him something to do other than sit around here and get in trouble.  Unfortunately every time he returns from those play days or nites, his attitude is worse than ever... gah, can't win.

 

- With all that being said, I've signed Preston up for swim lessons that start at the end of June and am still considering signing him up for indoor soccer for pre-k age.  Indoor being the key word, 'cause this is Texas...and it's Summer.  So indoor sounds awesome to me.  I'm just worried about whether or not he's going to accept instruction and behave in those settings.  I have a feeling he will because he tends to act better for other people (like in Sunday School, etc)... so I'm sure it'll be ok.  SHOULD be fun, I'm hoping.

- I have been working with Preston on school stuff... learning to read and write.  The other day he did soooo good, he actually sat, focused and wrote out the entire alphabet, and it looked great!  This is a big deal because he gets soooo easily distracted, or frustrated with himself, that he usually doesn't last long enough.  But that day he was really into it and did great.  Also, the other day he wrote out some words by himself.  He asked Michael how to spell what he had for lunch, "Chicken Noodle Soup" and he wrote it out on a big poster board.  Then, the next day he asked Grandma Darlene what she had and wrote out the word by himself, without asking how to spell it even!  He wrote "Poptorts" but hey... pretty good for all by himself, no help!  He's also doing wonderfully on the reading.  We'll be participating in all the Summer Reading programs we can, and I'm making him to almost all the reading himself for it to count.  He's already read 6 books on his own (ranging from baby board books to some easy readers).  Again, if I can get him to focus for long enough he does great.  Sometimes it's one page a day, but he's still getting really good at sounding out things.  I'm really proud of him!


- Callen is growing and showing more personality.  He loves to talk and smile and watch Preston run around.  He's happy pretty much as long as he's being held, and especially if he's able to see all the action going on around him.  He's out of the NB clothes (too long!), and into the 0-3mths now that he's about 3 mths.  Haha.  Preston was always way behind in the clothes sizes too... I think he could still wear 12mth shorts till he was 3-yrs-old.  It's been fun pulling out Preston's old clothes and seeing 'em on Callen.  As far as sleeping at nite goes, he'll go down for about 4-5 hrs, wake up to eat, go back to sleep and get up a few hours later usually for good.


- We sold the Honda, and are now looking for a Toyota Sienna.  We're pretty sure that's what we want, not sure the year ... probably doesn't matter as long as it's a good car at the right price. 

- To brag on myself about something silly, I totally made some killer chicken enchiladas the other nite.  It's a big deal, 'cause it's taken 8 years and many, many major fails when it comes to enchiladas for me to actually get some right.  Haha!  I'm trying hard to get better at cooking.  I always used the fact that I worked and didn't have time to think of cooking as an excuse as to why we only ever had tacos/burritos, spaghetti and straight-out-of -the-box meals.  Well, I don't have that excuse anymore so I better put some effort into it from now on.  Also, doing my best to utilize coupon deals and what not to save money.  Loving Aldi for sure, that store is awesome!!!

- I have at least two actual blogs I wanna get around to writing eventually, and so I don't forget my topics: a) leaving Power FM and b) tv season finales.

No comments: