June Time Capsule

A Moment in Time...

JP

What is your favorite...

COLOR:

My favorite color is all the colors like Bob the Builder. What colors are those? They're a lot of colors. He builds and builds. Let's talk about another color. What color? Blue like Thomas. You like Blue? Thomas has blue. Yep. What else is blue? Um. Gordon. Yeah. Anything else you can think of? Lightning McQueen is red. Edward! What about Sally? Oh! Yep! Now let's talk about bedtime. What about bed time? About when I hear fireworks. You hear fireworks at bedtime? Yes, I can hear them outside. Do you like them.? Yes, I can hear them outside out my window. Would you like to stay up late and watch them outside? Yes. When I drive in my car I can often hear them. Yeah, that is how you and Mommy did it last year. But this year we could just sit in our backyard and watch them. Ha! I don't think so. That would be a huge job. I know! Why don't we watch them in the van when we drive along. Do we need to take popcorn again with us? Uh, okay. Maybe. In my bed I can watch fireworks. Well, I don't think you'll be able to see them out your window very well. Ha! I think I can do that! What color of fireworks is your favorite? My favorite is red, purple, yellow, red. Cool!

(We are seriously concerned about the fireworks. Unfortunately with the 4th on a Wednesday we got a full neighborhood display this last weekend and it seems to be continuing right through the holiday.)

BOOK :

My favorite book is Thomas and Friends Making Tracks to Great Destinations. Why is that book one of your favorites? What do you like about it? Gordon slides into the snow. Oh, that sounds cool. Do you suppose he gets stuck? Yeah. Edward pulls him out of the snow drift. Wow! Good thing for Edward. What a good helper! Gordon lives with his good friend Percy. So Gordon and Percy are good friends, huh? Yeah, they pull coaches with people. Who are some of JP's good friends? Thomas. Do you have any people friends? Hee Hee! I don't have any people friends, Mom! (Crack! That is my heart breaking!) Sure you do. But I don't, Mom. (nervous giggles...Hee Hee). What did Mom say friends are? (no response) Friends are people you play with. (hee Hee...not people.) Who do you play with JP? Bob the builder. No, I mean real children that you play with? Not children! Just mans. Do you have man friends? Yeah! Who? Bob the builder. Do you have friends that are not on TV? Hee Hee. I think there is mans on TV, Mom. Are there children in your summer school or in speech that you play with? No, Mom! Do you play with Jonathon? Yeah. But I know! I got an idea. What is that? Let's look at something. I'll be right here. Are you going to get something. Yeah. I found the soccer ball. Are there children you played soccer with. Yeah! Who? The teacher teaches me how to play soccer. Was Jacob on your team. Yeah. Is Jacob your friend? Yeah. He likes trains too, doesn't he? Yeah. Is Graham on your soccer team. (fake yawn) Yeah, but I am yawning. What does that mean? That means I am getting sleepy. (It is just before bedtime) Hum, I think you have to take a bath first. Hee Hee! No, Mom. We can't take a bath!

(Sadness. Pure sadness engulfs me. Will he ever understand this friends thing? Kindergarten is going to be so rough!)

MOVIE:

My favorite movie is my soccer team. You like the movie Mommy made of your soccer season! Yes, Mommy! What is your favorite thing about that movie? Uh, me playing soccer.

FOOD:

My favorite food is cake. You know, I don't really believe you because you don't actually eat cake. Can you tell me a food that you like to eat. I think cake is food that we eat. Did you eat all of your cake at Kyli's birthday party? Yes. I did it in the back morning. I think you ate the frosting but not the cake. You gave the rest of it to Mommy to eat. Would you maybe say that your favorite food is grapes? Hee Hee. Yes, Mom! Maybe your favorite food would be peaches? Yes, Mom! Maybe your favorite food would be zingers. Yes, Mom! So tell me what you would you say your favorite food is? APPLES! (Now that is an answer I will believe)

DRINK:

My favorite drink is Strawberry limeade! Yeah, I would agree with that. Is there a black drink that you like? Yes, Coke and Pepsi. Do you like Coke/Pepsi more or Strawberry limeade best? Strawberry limeade.

TOY:

My favorite toy is Thomas and his friends. Thomas and Annie and Clarabel take children to the seaside.


LETTER:

My favorite letter is A. Why A? Because it says "Ah" as in apple. What else does "A" spell? It spells favorite. Really? Look at the word on the computer screen. Right there. See it. What letter does favorite start with? F. Does A spell airplane? Yes! Does A spell Penguin? Hee No Mom! What is that first letter in penguin? P!


NUMBER:

My favorite number is 1. Why 1? Because we could count. Let's talk about more numbers. What number do you want to talk about? (counts to 10) Can you count backwards? (counts backwards) Good job counting!

SONG:

My favorite song is about Thomas and Friends Making Tracks to Great Destinations. I also like sing along songs about the stations.

My additions:

JP has really had another great month. I look at him and see him growing up so fast! He has adjusted to our new schedule of chaos very well. He has transitioned to summer school without a fuss. I don't think he is performing at the level he was with his last teacher but that will take time. Of course, this teacher is only for summer school. Then we get to learn a new teacher when school starts. He has to get comfortable with a new school, new teachers and new kids! It is going to take awhile! But I have been amazed at how he has just gone with the flow.

The past few weeks have been a lot better about video watching. He is currently in full Thomas mode. He has been watching one library Thomas video but he spends most of his time putting tracks together and scripting Thomas stories. Of course, he has probably 100 trains but the ones he keeps asking for are the ones that were recalled. I pulled them out once but he found them before I got them mailed off. But they are hitting the mailbox this week! He did shock me this week by asking for an Annie and Clarabel. I told him that they had to be here somewhere. He repeated himself and told me we don't have them and he needs them from the store. He even pulled out one of the thomas flyers that comes with the trains when you buy them. He keeps these and reads them. He showed me Annie and Clarabel on the flyer. I thought for sure that we would already have these trains because as they are vital Thomas characters but DWAM told me that we do not actually own them. I'm not sure how that oversight occurred but it was cool that JP was right and did such a good job getting his point across to his dense Mommy!

I guess most of our transport time to therapies is spent watching videos. Mostly we watch a couple Baby Pro videos about sports and swimming. JP is actually showing an interest in hitting the baseball and he finally gets that you run to the base. We've been seeing more initiative with baseball, soccer and basketball. He also loves the swimming video but we still can't get our head under the water.

He is still a big Bob the Builder fan but not so much about the videos. He listens to his CD at bedtime while he reads along in the book. He also becomes Pilcher, the cat, whenever he gets bored. He will slink up next to you and cuddle (like a cat) and meow the sweetest little meow. It is cute but gets old fast! On the good side is if you ask Pilcher a yes or no question JP will actually nod his head yes or no while he meows. This is huge because he never guestures with head nods. We've been targeting this for a long time!

The only dark side is merely worth mentioning. JP is getting more verbal about scolding other children. He does this a lot with T but I have witnessed it with other kids a few times lately. We will continue to work on appropriate ways to talk to other children. I have also seen him push T a few times and even swing his arm around like he was going to clock him. I don't know if this has been learned in our few short weeks at school but it isn't acceptable. And it will likely get his butt kicked at school! So we are starting to work more on "anger management".

Another quirk from out of no where is his use of the word, "Mom". It seems to be scripted how he uses it but it always takes my breath away. It feels weird to have my baby calling me Mom rather than Mommy. I suppose this is inevitable as he grows up. I actually asked DWAM a few weeks ago at what age he thought we should shape JP's language to Mom and Dad rather than Mommy and Daddy. I thought we would have to target it. So I guess this is cool. Still bittersweet!

Bed time books:

Baby T

FOOD: cottage cheese, fruit snacks, cheese, chicken fingers, ramen noodles, macaroni and cheese, Hamburger Helper Cheesy Beef Taco, pickles, popcorn, potato chips. He is getting more picky. In fact the last week he hasn't eaten much. He is getting all four molars and I think they are slowing him down.

DRINK: Juice.

MOVIES: #1 Any Wiggles, #2 Any Baby Einstein video.

TOYS:

-He is better with the climbing. He still can and does but he isn't constantly seeking something to climb on.
-The real phone...not interested in the fake kiddie phones. (Even says hello...DaDa blah blah blah)
-Loves the shape sorter.
-Fascinated by paper and any sort of writing utensil
-Likes to climb up the rope ladder but has decided he doesn't really care for the slide. I think it gets to hot during the day and he doesn't want to sit on it.
-Is a natural with the baseball tee in the backyard. Any ball works--football, basketball, baseball...shoe.
-Loves to drop the basketball through the hoop.
-Loves to jump on the trampoline with JP. Won't do it without JP.
-Loves swimming in our backyard pool.
-Love anything to do with the bathtub!
-Is fascinated by the toilet. Will put his potty seat on the toilet and climb on top. Has been known to take toilet paper and simulate a wipe. Just this week he didn't bother to rip of the toilet paper but rather wiped with the entire roll and then threw it in the toilet.

T will push the buttons and dance to the music. He is not really using it to hear the animal sounds yet.


T loves to scribble and draw. Any pencil or paper found is fair game. He loves to use the Doodle Pro but tends to use the shapes to make designs.

BOOKS:
T loves books! Particularly stuck on a book about baby Grover going potty.


WORDS/ACTIONS:
(against my better judgment I will include these...I'll try not to over analyze)

Have heard:
Daddy, BaBa (bottle), ball, I did it!, Bye Bye(with a finger wiggle), baby, straw, bath, puppy/dog, all done, Mama, head, backpack, cup, peek a boo, noisy/sloppy kisses, blows noisy kisses, touches head during "monkey jumping on the bed", wags finger no during the "no jumping on the bed" part, bike, banana, 1..2.."3", ready, set "go", JP, T, fish, cheese, star, moon, train.

Commonly used:
Car, cow, moo, straw, ball, duck, Daddy, potty, bye bye, bath, book, outside, NoNoNoNo! More, more chips (two words!!!) .

Can point to eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hair, head
If you say bath he will practically run upstairs and climb in.
If you say juice or drink he will head to the refrigerator.
If you say snack he will had to the pantry.
If you say go (or if he wants to go) he will get shoes and try to put them on.
Will give you his feet if you have his socks and shoes to put on. (unless he is in the mood to run away). May even try to put socks and shoes on himself.
Will bring food from the pantry to Mom. Usually goldfish or fruit snacks.
Will run from you (with the naughty item) when you tell him no.
When you upset him he will start babbling at you with lots of inflection. I don't think he is using nice words and I dread the day I figure out what he is saying.

Shamefully I will include these...I hope they are nothing but collective moments of paranoia but I need to document them for reference.

Fear of the parachute at YMCA class (now will sit on it. Has been under it-under protest)
Fear of the tunnels and forts at the YMCA class. I put him inside them and he just stood there screaming. (now will climb through the little tunnel at home. Did finally do one tunnel at Y)
Fear of the plastic bubble wrap all the other kids were jumping on at the YMCA class
Huge tears during JP's OT when he tried the "flying apparatus". It is very noisy.
Fear of the trampoline in our backyard. (NOW HE LOVES THE TRAMPOLINE!!!)
Won't look in the sky when I point at an airplane. They are very noisy yet he is oblivious. (still oblivious...it is the weirdest thing! These planes are LOUD and yet he still won't look up into the sky.) - Finally got his attention with one. Now he will look up and point but doesn't say anything.
Seems really bashful around other people. (Yet will interact and play along side other kids) Sometimes if an adult talks to him he will shun them and burrow his head into Mommy.