Monday was Meet the Teacher. He felt right at home running down the halls, even though he didn't know which classroom he was going to. He's got two teachers that know very little about him, which I think is a good thing. They won't let him sweet talk or wink his way out of trouble. He's one of 13 - 10 boys and 3 girls - oh, my! Miss Tammy and Miss Mallory have their hands full!
Without much waiting, today Tuesday was the first day of class. Yippee! For me anyway. John was a bit stubborn this morning and said he didn't want to go. This was totally a response to not getting his way. I managed to break the spell by making him take some "Back to School" photos - don't you love my snazzy backdrop? It took me about 30 seconds before he broke out his best smile for me.
Then he decided a silly face was in order!
And another! After this I decided we'd better get moving on toward school. Don't want to be too late the first day!
He saved his best smile at school for the picture with his favorite redheaded girl, but I managed to grab a good one before we went in for the day.
He had a good day. He'd gotten to be the line leader and could even tell me who had all the other jobs. After school we ate lunch at home and played together. He was mostly pleasant to me all day. Well, except for him waking me at 626a this morning to tell me it was too dark outside. Yes, I told him, because it's too early to be up and waking Momma! He saved some attitude for Daddy however. But they worked it out after some drama. It seems JNP has gotten the short end of the stick lately. Here's to better days ahead!
Something's missing, don't you think? Mr. Bear, blankie, his pillow.
A relocation has occurred. This is the daybed in John's room. For about a week or so now, he's been sleeping in this bed. When asked if he wants to move back to his bed, the answer is a firm no. It started when he couldn't sleep one night. Anything to get him to settle down and sleep is OK with me. The floor has been used before. But this seems more permanent. Now I'm thinking about if it's time to convert his bed to a full size or just to continue to leave him in this twin.
You'll notice the rumple in the comforter. That's actually a bumper pillow from his baby bed stuffed up under the comforter. it serves the purpose of keeping him from falling out of the bed. And the big dark brown bear has only recently become an important part of his sleep routine. He often sleeps with his arm tossed over it's neck. The drawback to the big bear aside from the space he takes up is that he makes John sweat worse than he already does when he sleeps.
We are struggling with naps and going to bed at a decent hour. Half the days he doesn't want to and won't take a nap during quiet time, which lately has started about 3pm. The only constant when he doesn't nap is the question, "Is my quiet time over yet?" On those days he's mostly bearable through dinner and into bath time. Bath can get a bit dramatic if he's too tired. By the time he hits the bed, he's ready sleep won't be too far from coming. The other half of the days, he naps and the evening is pleasant until we leave him in his bed. And he won't sleep, sometimes for an hour or more. He's getting up to potty or ask what we are doing tomorrow. Lately, I've taken to telling him if he comes out again, I'd spank him. Unfortunately, he forgets that after some time and I have to spank him. That's usually the end of things, for that night anyway. We need to change something, but I'm just not sure what. Maybe move QT earlier?
The other thing we are struggling with is JHP's attitude. As this week leading up to school starting has progressed, John's gotten more and more difficult. Lots of means words, yelling, trying to be in charge, being disrespectful and generally an adversarial attitude. I've done lots of counseling about being nice to people so they'll be nice to you. Sometimes that works and other times not so much. Daddy and John have had their share of run-ins. It's not been fun, although it's not been as bad as some of the other phases we've been through. I'm hoping that with the start of school and a new routine things will line themselves out. Hopefully being around other kids and not around Momma all day will help make us all appreciate each other a bit more. And I really hope that the attitude disappears and doesn't sneak out at school. Otherwise I'll guess I'll be in for a ear full at the end of each day.
On Wednesday, my son insisted on wearing pants - even though it was going to be over 100 degrees. I drew the line at him wearing the sweat pants. I found the lightest pair and gave him permission to wear those. It just wasn't something I wanted to fight about. After a trip out of the house and some lunch, we played with John's cars. A very impressive line he made.
But when I asked for a pose with his cars, you can see just how excited he was to help me out.
After I told him a funny, he gave me a smile and I considered my work done.
On Tuesday, JHP and I made our first ever trip to Chuck E. Cheese's. We got this cool photo (among other things) to commemorate our time there. I think the last time I was in a CEC I was in college. I think the best thing about it was the fact that the games all cost just one token. I can't think of any other place with such a deal. Anyway, we made our way around and played all the games that we could, collecting tickets along the way. Three hundred tickets later, we traded them in for a big fat pen! Then we went off to find some lunch elsewhere.
The newest game around the house is called Lumberjack! It's best played on the king-size bed. You chop, chop, chop and then yell "Timber!" Can you tell JHP really enjoys the falling down part? I have a couple of photos where John is mugging for the camera on the way down. Too funny!
Daddy moved to the bed too and enjoyed a cushioned landing. John enjoyed a successful clearing of the timber!
Daddy moved on to something else. That left me with the camera and a willing subject. Well, kind of a willing subject. He insisted on twisting his limbs around in a effort to look cute. Cute - yes, but not because of the position of his arms and legs.
A nice cheesy grin! But I like it anyway. He could spend hours jumping on our bed, as long as someone was there to watch him be silly.
Last Saturday we went with SNBNA to the Houston Health Museum to see a Star Wars Exhibit. It wasn't a huge exhibit and that was a good thing. It did have enough recognizable things that JHP got excited about seeing the mock-ups and costumes. He wasn't so sure about the life-size costume of Chewbacca, but I managed to convince him to get a photo with it and Daddy. He was even less sure about the Darth Vader costume. After some explaining that the costume was just that and that Darth Vader wasn't real, he allowed Daddy to hold him for a photo. The message sunk in because just today I heard him repeating to no one in particular that same message: Darth Vader isn't real.
The exhibit consisted of costumes, mock-ups, videos, and several interactive things to do relating to the science of Star Wars. One part talked about artificial body parts, which Daddy is obviously talking about here in this photo.
I think John was most excited to see R2-D2 and C-3PO! Look, Momma!
The coolest part of the exhibit was the hands on experiment exploring the science behind the land speeder. You got to build your speeder and then make it levitate across the track. Daddy worked it out and his traveled the length of the track. It was pretty impressive!
After we were done we enjoyed some great pizza at a Houston institution Star Pizza. It's not too impressive to look at, but they make awesome pizza! On previous trips we've always had the deep dish which is really good. But this time around we tried the regular crust and it was most yummy! Feeling rather content and generous after lunch, we walked across the street to a Texas institution, Amy's Ice Cream. What a wonderful finish to our fun day out on the town!
Our church collects testimonials and publishes them as "The Life Changing Power of Christ" in our bulletin and newsletter. I know I've written about our experience at VBS this year, but I didn't want to miss recording what I wrote for our church, sharing our experience and the lasting effects.
I didn’t grow up in the church and so I often find myself struggling with how to talk to my three year old about God.John’s a smart kid and will soak up most anything you tell him.But outside of reading to him from his Bible, I’m just not sure what to say sometimes because I’m still learning myself.So I was excited for him to experience Go FISH Camp (VBS) this year.He was familiar with the songs as they are in constant play in our car.But he didn’t seem like he connected with them.Until he went to Camp, that is.
Something changed in his little three year old brain.Just a week or so before Camp, he finally hit the age where he would sing along with songs.And not just sing along, but really understand them.With remarkable accuracy, John started singing the Go FISH songs and other songs he learned at Camp.One night at dinner, he stunned us with a very complete little song about how a fuzzy little caterpillar turned into a butterfly only by God’s own hand.And then came with 10 Little Ducks song, both of which Dawn Nagala had taught him in the Pre-K area.Turns out he’d only just learned those songs that day!
Each night at dinner during VBS week we’d a talk about the day’s lesson and theme.It proved to be a wonderful opening for teaching my son more about the topics of the day.We often looked up the story of the day in the Bible and read it before bed.We’ve talked a lot about the 10 Commandments since VBS.He understands the connection between the Go FISH song and the little treasure box he made for Camp.He’s often asking me to replay “The 10 Commandments” song so he can listen to the words.It won’t surprise me when he starts telling me what the commandments are from memory.And he’s obsessed with his position in the “Army of the LORD”!These are all things that I alone couldn’t have given him.
I’m feeling really blessed that God opened my son’s heart and mind to what he learned at Vacation Bible School this year!I see that He’s also providing me the avenue to learn to talk with my son about God and the Bible.And I’m most thankful that God put just the right people in place to make that connection with my son in such a fun, loving environment that was Go FISH Camp.
The Friday after Creative Arts Camp was over, we stayed in our PJs all day. It had been a long week on top of just getting home from vacation. So a PJ day was in order. What better way to spend the day than making cookies from the mix John had made at CAC. He did most of the work, except for the heavy mixing, and waited patiently while the first batch cooked. He couldn't wait until he could taste the first one! I think we have a serious baker on our hands, if the looks I captured mean anything.
Given the crazy heat we've had this summer, we don't get outside much. But on the last day of CAC (June 28), after supper, we went out in the back yard to water the plants. And John discovered this caterpillar.
And I discovered this. I've had kalanchoes all my life, mostly because they are the hardiest plants and you've got to really try to kill them and I've never seen where a caterpillar chewed through these leaves. The reason: kalanchoes are poisonous! So when we first discovered our caterpillar he was alive, he soon kinda keeled over and just laid there. We thought maybe we'd scared him to death, but I think this very hungry caterpillar made a bad food choice! The next morning I spied a grackle on the back patio picking said caterpillar up for a breakfast snack. I hope he didn't get a tummy ache, too.
John enjoyed getting out of the house. He even manged to give me a look or two. I honestly don't remember how he got that little spot on his forehead. Might it have been a rug burn from horsing around with Daddy? Or maybe not.
This week it did rain periodically, although not for very long at each instance. John found a little puddle to put his hand in.
And thought it necessary to make hand prints with the water on the patio. He likes to do this in the bathtub with the suds from his shampooed hair.
We got home on Saturday and Monday started Creative Arts Camp at our church. We hadn't done it last year because we were in Wimberley and I was most excited for this year's event since John would be old enough and since he'd gotten so much out of VBS. My job was to take photos, sort photos and make slide shows for each day. I loved being able to see everything that went on at the camp, but it was a long four days. One thing we did was take an individual photo of each of the Pre-K kids. Since I took the photo, I was just fine with this not-quite-perfect photo of my son!
One of the other photographers captured this one in John's classroom. He was most excited to have the same teachers from VBS and most of the same kids, too.
Can you tell he didn't like the answer he got? While all the other kids were playing around with each other or something else, John wanted to play with the baby stroller.
The staff went to great efforts to give the kids a huge variety of experiences, just like the big kids got. Among other activities, they planted plants, made a bird bath, got to see some wild birds, took a mini-class in martial arts and another in dance. One day they even decorated chef's aprons and made a cookie mix to bring home. We enjoyed those cookies a few days later. Don't worry - I'll tell you all about it soon!
On Friday morning we all (minus Jane and June) decided to go kayak. I had bought this handy dry bag from my point and shoot camera and decided this was the day to bring it along. While it's not perfect, the quality is slightly better than a disposable waterproof camera, if you can ignore the black rings on some of the photos. This was a result of part of the lens being obstructed and was only an issue when using the widest angle of my P&S. John started out the trip in a kayak with me. He looks so happy here, doesn't he? I'm not sure he realized I was taking a photo.
It wasn't long before we were moving up river. Then John wanted to touch the water. Sure - no problem, I said. I was NOT thinking. He leaned one way and I did NOT lean the other. Over went the kayak! John handled it well. He had a life jacket on and I kept reassuring him it was alright, although I might have been reassuring myself. My brother and John were there right away to help us out of the water. There's no way I could have righted the kayak and gotten back in if it wasn't for them. So John got to enjoy the rest of the ride with Jimmy.
As I mentioned before, I really like paddling this section of the Blanco river. So peaceful.
Even with a bunch of folks along for company...
The hallmark of this trip upriver was the fact that my mother joined us. She's not much on bodies of water larger than a bathtub. This is something I did not know until we started going to Wimberley. We never had a pool growing up and never had access to one in the neighborhood either. So I never knew that my mother doesn't really swim.
So as you can see, she was pretty excited to have completed her trip successfully.
Later in the day, we went to the pool. I didn't swim. I just went along to take some photos and some video. The week was pretty much without major incident. But Friday was broke that since I'd already tipped the kayak. But the best was yet to come. I was taking photos and decided I'd take some videos of John and June jumping off the edge of the pool. John said, " I'm going to do a turn and jump." Sure, sounds great, I said. What he said didn't register in my brain. June went first followed by John. And I got it all on video. I won't show it here. I can't even watch it myself. So just imagine was a turn and jump means to a 3 year old. That's just what he did. He jumped, turning and managed to scrape the whole right side of his abdomen down the concrete edge of the pool. Thankfully he didn't hit his head! But of course, he screamed. We were only a few cabins away from ours and Jimmy and Jane came running, knowing immediately that it was JHP. Daddy and I both earned the bad parent award that day. Daddy's shining moment: "And THAT is why I tell you to jump away from the edge of the pool!" in response to all the crying.
Of course, while we were all ready to call it a night at the pool, John was not. So he and Daddy continued to play - safely in the middle of the pool. If you look carefully at this photo, you'll see the bruising already forming along John's ribs. We started calling those John's tiger stripes. They lasted almost a week.
I've always known that JHP was competitive. But it became very obvious in the pool when you challenged John to a race. He can turn on the speed!
As were were preparing for supper that night, a baby bird payed us a visit. He found his way to our sliding glass door. He couldn't fly very far. And boy, was his momma concerned! Jimmy managed to get him into a tree, but the bird just seemed really confused and kept trying to make his way back into our area, where his momma was not. Unfortunately, when the kids went back to the pool that evening, it looked as if this little bird had met his demise on the road.
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