Two can play at this game!

I may not be the nature-lover that this boy's daddy is...but I can get dirty when it counts!

County Fair

It just isn't fall without a trip to the county fair.  We took along our friends who, by the way, had never been to a county fair.  Guess that's just what us midwesterners do for fun.  We were a little disappointed to pull up and see that their introduction to the world of carnies and tetanus ridden rides was a little on the small side.  But, I think we all still managed to have a good time.

C and Kaylee were less than thrilled when some random kid climbed in the back of their ride.  Ha.  They both kept turning around and eyeballing him.

Riding the ferris wheel with Dad.

There they are...the one in the middle.

Showing off his new Batman.

Megan is unimpressed...and she kind of looks like she's about to cry.

See Kaylee giving him the stink eye?  I think it's because he's picking his nose. ;)

Good times at the county fair!

Ch-ch-changes!

We've had a lot of changes around here the last few weeks.  One of which is homeschooling.  I am now formally doing preschool with C.  I think littles learn so much just through their every day activities/encounters, but an actual curriculum makes me feel better.  I don't necessarily think C needed it at this age, but I like to know I'm covering all the bases.  It's going well.  He likes it, which is always a good sign.  He often asks me, "When are we gonna do school?" 

I'm still working on the balance of allowing him to be spontaneous and imaginative, ask questions, etc. with accomplishing the goals of the curriculum.  I'm using an all-inclusive curriculum and also several workbooks that he loves working out of.  And I've been doing an activity each week from a pre-k science book I picked up. 

We certainly have enough to keep us busy, we "do school" five days a week, anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour, depending on how off-course I let him go. ;)  The curriculum is written from a Christian world view so I really like that bible stories are incorporated into each lesson.  After our very first day when hubby asked C what he learned during school his response was, "I learned 'bout God."  Can't beat that! :)

Our giant change was, of course, our move.  I think I've already said it, but we really love the new place.  It's a four-plex, but once inside it feels like our own little home.  We only have neighbors on one side so far.  The area is all new construction with a lot of unfinished units.  So, I'm looking forward to these places filling up and meeting more families with young kids!  And C is really looking forward to the playground down the street to be finished.  (Especially since it looks completely done and I took him down there the other day to play, but then the next morning it had orange fencing all around it.  Oops.  He's had a taste of the fun, so the waiting is hard!) :)

Here is C playing in the bouncer in the back.  All those units are still unfinished.

And here's the back of our place. 

 If you want to see the inside, you'll just have to come visit!

Another change we recently implemented is the "sad face chart."  (And when I say we I really mean me!)  In a moment of brilliance, after several weeks of incessant whining and recent talks with a friend about her daughter's new reward charts for good behavior...I thought, I'm gonna do a sticker chart too...Bowman style.  Every time you whine or talk back, you get a sad face sticker on your chart.

At the end of the day, we count up all your sad faces and that's how many toys go in the

"Sad bag."

  You get all the toys back when you make it through an entire day with no sad faces on your chart. 

It totally works!

Just a couple of days into our new little experiment, both hubby and I noticed a vast improvement in C's behavior.  I am all about positive reinforcement!  But, the whining was awful and we needed something that C would respond to.  Take away his "stuff" and you've got his attention.  Keep it and you've got improvement.  So far he's only earned the sad bag back once.  He probably shouldn't have.  There were several times throughout the day when I gave him warnings rather than just putting a sticker up.  But, I really wanted him to see how it worked to be rewarded for making good choices.  That night at bedtime hubby brought the bag up.  And it was really cute.  C remembered almost everything that had been put in there.  He frantically searched for his alligator, grabbed it up into a hug and exclaimed, "Oh, I love you!  I'm gonna sleep with my alligator tonight!"

And for our final change, I give you....

This child came home from his camping trip with Daddy a different person! (Partly due to the fact that hubby let him watch a Batman cartoon, which has been deemed, by me, appropriate only for camping trips)  But, mostly I think he is just coming into his own when it comes to this whole boy thing.  And he really is no longer a toddler...but a little boy.  You know, the kind that chases his mom around the yard with worms because it makes her scream.  The kind that has convinced us to slowly transform his room from dinosaurs to superheroes.  The kind that wears his Batman Halloween costume every day until we put it up because we're afraid it won't make it to Halloween.  He's that kind of boy.  He prefers Batman to Buzz Lightyear and Wolverine to Lightning McQueen.  He makes actual jokes and says things like, "I'll be right back, I've got it all under control."  He wants to "fight" with all the boys on the playground and hug all the girls. 

He is absolutely all-boy!

And I am still absolutely in love! ;)

A Big Day!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

We are approved and officially on the Korea waiting list!

Movin' on Up!

From 8-12 on Friday I sat on our couch and pretended to text people on my phone while three movers packed up our entire apartment.  The greatness of it all definitely outweighed the awkwardness of just sitting around doing nothing while other people did all the work.  Then they unloaded all our stuff and we got down to the business of unpacking.  And we're almost done!  I love, love, LOVE our new place.  Of course, after living in an apartment where sitting on the patio was risky, anything probably would've been nice.  I'm writing this post from a hotel parking lot with WiFi.  Our place is in an area of brand new construction, so comcast hasn't even run lines out there yet.  So, posting will be few and far between until we get internet hooked up. 

Whew

This week is a whirlwind.  C had his first day of preschool on Monday, at home, with me.  It was sweet.  It was followed by a couch shopping during the labor day sales marathon.  The fake leather on ours has been peeling off the back for awhile now.  It rips my hair out whenever I rest my head there.  Not cool.  Tuesday the child ran wild at romp n stomp.  Today C and I had our last mommy and me swim class, as he starts level 1 next week.  This evening he got to hang out with friends while hubby and I had our first homestudy meeting with our social worker.  (Which went well, we think.  She agreed to see us again, so that's a good sign, right?) ;)  Tomorrow storytime resumes followed by step class and soccer in the evening.  And Friday, we MOVE!  Yep, we finally have post housing.  Super excited to get out of the apartments and into our new three bedroom town home.  And super-duper excited that this is a PCS move.  Aka-we don't have to pack/load/unload ANYTHING!  The army pays a moving company to do it for us!  Yay!!! 

Fun at the Inner Harbor!

An alligator party!

Showing off his new shirt from my friends over at Monkey Stitch.  It's an alligator, or crocodile, or caymen.  He changed his mind many times before the party, and actually during the party as well.  Thankfully, they all look pretty much the same so it was easy to agree. :)

Getting a push from his friend, Kaylee.

The kids went on an alligator hunt for these little squirt toys. 

Spinning with AJ.

The littles and their mommas.

Singing happy birthday!

C's first bike!

C went with Nana and Papa to pick out a bicycle for his birthday while they were here.  He was right inbetween sizes, so this one is still a tad big for him.  He needed Dad's help to keep from getting too frustrated when we took it out for a spin.  But, we think next summer he'll be ready to take off!

Playwise Kids

This was the one outing we went on while my parents were here. (The rest of the time C and Papa were engrossed in their own little make believe world) :)  I wanted to try out this place called playwise kids.  It's a huge warehouse type building with little 3/4 walls seperating all these different rooms.  C loved it.  And once the camp groups left for lunch, we pretty much had the run of the place.

The beach room was a big hit!

The space room!

Taking care of their patient in the ambulance. 

Pretty sure Papa is having more fun at this point!

Playwise kids=success.  We'll definitely go back.