Later that afternoon i somehow got to avoid the celebratory McDonald's lunch Tyler normally picks, as he was invited to his friend Luke's house for a playdate. Phew.
Having been researching cloth overnight diapers/pull-ups, it finally occured to me to pull out his old cloth diapers he used as a baby. Yep, still fit. He's really thinned out, huh? Seeing him in just his "diaper" though in this picture really highlights the atypical posture he has in standing with his knees together. His feet dont' seem to be rolling in as much anymore...hopefully those orthotics are doing their thing!
That evening, feeling the need to expose the boys to adequate sports on Superbowl Sunday, they boys and I watched the Puppy Bowl. LOL. We did actually watch it, but then we at least turned on the Super Bowl too. Tyler was more impressed with Kelly Clarkson singing than the actual football game, but at least I can say I've done my duty.
And just because I'll never tire of seeing how peaceful my children look when they sleep...
On Monday I don't know what I did, so I'll add a snipit of information from my Facebook post that day: Keep telling Jason "I love you peanut" just so I can hear him say "I uv ou meenut" back to me! Sometimes he's just too cute!
That evening Tyler enthusiastically head off to karate. Apparently it's way more exciting when you're a green belt, and now they're doing an intermediate/advanced class so it's a bit of a change.
Tuesday I had to pull Tyler from school for a counseling appointment. I'm thankful though cause I feel like this new lady is really good and we'll hopefully make some progress. That afternoon, after school Tyler had a "reading rumpus" at the library.
I had received a text from Chick-fil-a, informing me of some "special guests" at kids night. Of no surprise to anyone, my parents and I decided to bring the boys. Doesn't take much to twist my arm about heading to Chick-fil-A. There were 2 clowns from Ringling Brothers there and they put on a great little show for the kids and interacted with them. They got signed beach balls and little clown noses and coloring sheets. The boys had a great time.
So I had been trying to justify purchasing a kindle fire, mainly for the kids to use. They both love playing with my iphone, and for one I fear them breaking it (and I'm admittedly addicted to my iphone and would not function well without it) and secondly it has such a small screen and isn't a great match for Jason's chubby little fingers. Well Sunday I had found out about a promotion at Walmart where you got a free $50 giftcard with the purchase. Since Walmart giftcards are pretty much like cash to me, it basically made the price of the Kindle Fire $150. After talking with some friends and doing the research, I decided to pull the trigger and went to purchase it Monday morning. And then I let it sit in the bag for 2 days until I could decide to open it or not. LOL. So Wednesday I finally did it. And boy was I glad I did. I've never liked the idea of kids over-utilizing technology. I'd rather see my kids learning through any other media, but after seeing Jason on the kindle, i realized that it can be a great tool for some children. And, as I should have known, Jason isn't going to learn in the same way Tyler did. I saw him, for the first time ever, having an interest in and ability to trace letters and numbers. It was awesome!
Clearly feeling guilty about the almost 2 hours Jason spent on the kindle, I decided I'd break out my more typical (and Tyler friendly) learning methods that Jason had normally shunned. Admittedly I hadn't tried in a while, but Jason actually put his full hand in shaving cream! He enjoyed trying to trace shapes and letters. Well, truth be told, he mostly preferred obsessing over erasing the writing and making the shaving cream smooth and perfect, but that's something, right? Slow but steady progress.
Next it was on to the Eric Carle alphabet board game. Jason doesn't play it properly necessarily, but it's great for him for letter recognition and matching. Takes FOREVER though playing this with him.
Tyler got to work on his "100 day" project for school. He chose to make 2 american flags with 50 stars each.
That evening I got started on some continuing education I need to keep my national OT certiciation current. Phew, thank goodness I'm not looking to go back to college cause I'm not sure I could do it!
On Thursday morning I brought a very reluctant Jason back to the dentist for his 2 fillings. He was really good though. My poor baby.
That evening, after Ty's illustrator's club, my parents treated me, the boys, and my brother to Golden Coral. The boys found the "Chocolate Wonderfall" to be spectacular.
Realizing that Jason's Valentine's were due to school (since we wouldn't be in the monday before Valentine's day due to an appointment) we spent Friday morning "signing" Jason's valentines. Jason took this very seriously and I had to sneak in a translation of his signature without him looking (cause he was darned sure that he had signed them beautifully and legibly). Too cute though.
That evening we had a fairly regular Friday evening of pizza (free thanks to Papa Johns' free giveaway after superbowl), karate, and Bob visiting.
I don't recall what we did Saturday (and shockingly my calendar has that day BLANK)! I do know that it was supposed to finally dump a little snow in South Jersey. We readied all the sledding and snowgear and waited...for nothing. Total bust!
Jason finally learned how to get dressed "all by my elf (myself)". He rocks.
Tyler was throwing a fit about cleaning up his lego creation, until I had the brilliant idea to take a photo of it. Looking at the photo I see Tyler was in the "W sit" position. The horror. Sorry for my non-OT friends who probably simply won't care...nor understand what I'm talking about.
Just in case anyone is really bored, feel free to watch the following video of Jason talking. As you can see, he's come a LONG way, which I'm very thankful for. And he still has a long way to go. We play a lot of guess-what-Jason-is-saying in this household. I have a knack for picking out key words and repeating them in such a way so that he feels as if I understand him and we're having a reciprical conversation. Sometimes I push ahead and really try to understand it all, and well lets just say that sometimes, after doing this 6,237 times in a day, I'm just happy to have figured out one word and appease him.
