Milestones - 2/9 - Ewokmama

The Keys to the Kingdom

April 18, 2011 By Ewokmama

Jack can read.

This is CRAZY to me. He’s not even 5 yet! Actually he’s been able to read words for a few months as far as I can tell – it’s hard to say because he is a closet reader. He is the type of kid who doesn’t like to show that he can do something until he can do it perfectly. That’s how it went with potty training, too – he stopped peeing in his diaper at night by age 2 but didn’t decide to use the toilet until somewhere near age 4 (I honestly can’t recall) and then it was all in! He had very few accidents once he decided he was a big boy.

So I’ve suspected for some time that he could read but it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that he was at his dad’s and officially read a book that he hadn’t read before. He has been reading the backs of buses and is picking out episodes of Ben 10 (his ultimate favorite show) to watch from the Tivo by title.

He can also write his name, dad, mom, and this weekend I went into his room to find “THOAR!” on his magnedoodle. (The kid loves exclamation points). He signed his name on all of his Valentine’s treats back in February. He draws letters randomly on all of his artwork. He’s kind of obsessed.

I let Jack know that he has a super power now that he can read – he can figure out secrets that are written down and everything. I can’t wait until HE is reading books to ME at bedtime!

Filed Under: Growing Up, Milestones Tagged With: books, growing up, learning to read, learning to write, letters, numbers, school readiness, words 2 Comments

A little step

November 15, 2010 By Ewokmama

I did it. I filled out the application for Jack to attend elementary school in Fall 2011. I’ll swing by the SFUSD this week to turn it in and verify my identity and address. After that we’ll get to sit back and wait to see whether Jack gets into any of the 10 requested schools. We won’t know until March or so. Jack will get a bit of sway when it comes to our #2 school because of where we live but since he has no siblings, is white, and speaks only English he is much further down on the list of students with priority. With that said, we live in an area where half of our neighbors probably send their kids to private school and there is a huge portion that are not white, so Jack might just be the minority. I really don’t know but we will find out.

In the mean time I am fighting to get Jack to daycare in the mornings. He is increasingly resistant to going. Today in particular he was not interested in going to daycare or going to his dad’s house afterward. He said, “I just feel like staying home with you forever.” I told him I know how he feels, that I don’t like going to work and would love to stay home, too. In fact, I had nightmares about going to work last night! Of course now he is going around saying he is having nightmares about going to daycare…oops.

Filed Under: Daycare, Growing Up, Milestones, School Tagged With: applying for public school, elementary school, kindergarten, lottery system, public school system, sfusd, starting school Leave a Comment

Random notes on Jack

September 27, 2010 By Ewokmama

He wants to be a bat for Halloween. NOT Batman (which is unfortunate because he has quite a few costume options there).
He is determined to grow his hair long “like a Viking warrior.” I have a feeling this idea came from his dad. I haven’t been able to convince him to cut his hair yet and, to be honest, it is pretty cute. Still, I’ve taken to calling him Beiber Boy, especially when he swings his head to get the hair out of his eyes.
Jack is suddenly very modest. I’m not allowed to see his “parts” and usually have to leave the room while he is getting dressed (even if he is getting dressed in the living room). This made for a conundrum during bath time last night because he wanted company while bathing. I was instructed to look at the ceiling at all times, even while launching him into the bath like a rocket.
Naps appear to be a thing of the past. Jack doesn’t seem to need them anymore and bedtime goes more smoothly without them anyway.
Jack will do almost anything for chocolate.
Scooby-Doo is now a big deal. I wish he would have consulted me first.
We can usually interrupt Jack’s television or movie watching if we promise to record it. He has that Tivo down these days and even paused a show all by himself to use the bathroom.
By the way, he is super fully potty trained. He can still hold it for hours, though. It’s pretty awesome that he uses the toilet, wipes his butt, and washes his hands all without help.
He is a child of a million questions, usually something that goes like, “What does doll mean?” I feel like a walking dictionary.
Half the time he says something so grown up sounding that we feel like we couldn’t have heard him right. I couldn’t figure out what the hell he was saying about “My gray shun” and that was because he was talking about migration. It’s not totally my fault, though – when he’s not using big words, he is making up words like “swack” and “cackrages.”
Thankfully, Jack will still snuggle with me. Other than that, I can hardly see a trace of baby Jack in him. He is growing up! *sniff*

Filed Under: Babyman, Growing Up, Milestones Tagged With: 4 years old, child development, growing up, kids, little people, preschooler 2 Comments

Jack is Four

July 14, 2010 By Ewokmama

Jack has had three birthday parties this year. That kid is so spoiled! Friday he had cupcakes with his daycare buddies, Sunday we had a small party for him at my house, and yesterday his dad threw a shindig for him. Jack asked me over the weekend several times, “Why is it still my birthday?” I explained that we were celebrating on different days, but that his actual birthday is July 13. He refused to say he was four until then, so I think he somewhat understood…

Our decor was a mixture of Transformers, Iron Man, Spiderman, and Toy Story – all picked by Jack, of course. He loved every bit of the party, especially the part where his cousin Isha and his best friend Sydney “came to my house!”

Photos are courtesy of David and Sarahndipitea who snapped these with my crappy point-and-shoot.

Filed Under: Growing Up, Milestones Tagged With: birthday, cake, Family, friends, party, Toy Story 1 Comment

Fantastical Four!

July 9, 2010 By Ewokmama

Jack is…I don’t know how to explain it. He is like JACK. Or *****JACK*****!! He is more Jack than I thought Jack could be. One moment he is melting me by saying something amazingly adorable like “I certainly am feeling better” while tilting his head to the side; the next he is full out bawling because I told him he couldn’t climb on me like a mountain. “Mom, it hurts my feelings when you’re mad at me!” He is Jack*10, an emotional whirlwind of a kid turning 4 years old in four days. He radiates.

His memory is astounding. Last night David was recounting a conversation the two had in the car on the way home and Jack corrected him, “I didn’t say dinosaur, I said dragon!” Prior to going to Texas with his dad, I told him we would go see Toy Story 3 when he got back. Over a week later, I showed up at his dad’s and the first thing he asked was, “Are we going to see Toy Story?!?!?!” (Gone are the days where I can promise him anything and be lucky enough that he forgets about it completely…) He talks about his Aunt Holly and cousin Sabrina all the time and he hasn’t even seen them in 6 months!

I don’t know how this kid has the energy he does. He didn’t fall asleep until after 11pm last night and was bright and bouncy this morning. David insisted that he stay in bed when he awoke at 5:45am; thank goodness he fell back to sleep for a bit and bought us a few more Z’s. Still, the adults are dragging and Jack was racing me to the car on the way to daycare.

Jack wants to know everything. He is in the WHY stage. He doesn’t ask the same why question over and over, thankfully. I think we must be pretty good at flooding him with information in answer to his questions. I’ve had a difficult time explaining how the days of the week work, though. He thinks every day that the sun comes up is Sunday. I’ve attempted to explain that today is Friday because it comes after Thursday and that there is an order to the days in a week but…”NO mom, it’s SUNDAY! See the sun?!” Erm, okay. I think it’s time to put a calendar up in his room.

Until recently, Jack refused to sing or dance (and he threw a fit if I tried!). These days he is humming to himself constantly, telling himself stories while sitting on the potty, and asking to listen to Lady Gaga (yeah…I don’t know – he is also convinced that Rihanna is pretty and dances well even though he has only heard her on the radio. He is a big fan.). We dance around the house together without a care in the world. He is constantly acting out “movies” that are basically him acting like a Transformer or Buzz Lightyear. “Hey, mom, wanna watch THIS movie about gigantic aliens?? *pew* *pew* *pew*” This picture was taken in daycare where he staged a dinosaur attack:

It always astonishes me to see how much love surrounds Jack (even the people who don’t like kids love him!). He is a favorite everywhere he goes – to the point where I wonder if some people only acquaint themselves with me because of him (I’m serious – he has more adults coming to his birthday party than kids). He is the leader at daycare and all the other kids want what Jack has (even if it’s just a knit hat that he calls a Viking helmet). They will even try whatever veggie Jack devours – from bell pepper to asparagus. (He is convinced that these foods will help him fly, by the way.)

I can’t help but think back to when he was a baby. There were certainly elements of his personality there from the beginning but never could I have imagined that he would grow into the child he is now. I’m astounded by this kid and totally blessed to have him as my son. I adore him and my life is so much richer and more meaningful with him in it.

Tuesday is Happy Birth Day to us both.

Filed Under: Growing Up, Milestones Tagged With: 4 years old, adoration, awesome kid, birthday, Day care, Family, life, little star, love, mother and son, motherhood, parenthood, parenting 2 Comments

Caught in a Lie

April 19, 2010 By Ewokmama

Last night I was sitting in the bathroom with Jack and reading Time to Pee to him. I’ve read this book a million times now and Jack still loves it. There are various books that Jack has in which I tend to change the words around and this is one of those. When I get to the page that says “Boys can stand, girls should sit,” I have always read it as “Boys can stand or they can sit.” It was hard enough to get him to use the potty – I wasn’t about to tell him he needed to stand and pee all over everything!

Thanks to Super Why, Jack is now asking me to point to some of the words in the book and tell me what they say. I did that with some of them, but when I got to that page…well, I pointed anyway and read it the way I always do. Jack corrected me, saying, “It says girls should sit!” as he pointed to each word on the page. My mouth dropped open and I began to ask him questions. Do they have this book at your dad’s? No. What about at (daycare provider) G’s? No. Uh…how did you know what it says? I don’t know.

I’ve confirmed that this book does NOT reside at his dad’s house. Furthermore, I was just talking to the daycare provider last week about various potty books that Jack likes and she mentioned she didn’t have any of Mo Willems‘ books. So…I’m flummoxed. He did draw the word FOOD on his magnadoodle last week(!) but reading? There has to be some other explanation!

Filed Under: Babyman, Growing Up, Milestones, potty training Tagged With: 3.5 years old, books, mo willems, potty training, reading 2 Comments

Pretty Much There?

April 12, 2010 By Ewokmama

I can’t remember the last time I changed a dirty diaper. That’s significant and AWESOME. I think that means we’re doing very well with the potty learning over in Casa d’Ewok. Jack is consistently using the potty and can switch between the small one and the large one with ease (at least, with peeing). We haven’t had any accidents in a couple weeks at home. *knocks on wood*

I almost considered him potty trained as of this weekend but am not quite sure when we can consider that milestone “met.” Is it when he stops dirtying his pull up even when away from my house (seems he is saving his dad’s house for last)? When he starts wearing underwear? When I don’t need to remind him to go a million times a day? He hasn’t wet himself at night in…gosh, I don’t even know – probably over a month. He totally has the abilities mastered – it’s all a matter of his mood and will and level of distraction.

I’m in awe, especially after all the difficulties we had for so long. Whew.

Filed Under: Growing Up, Milestones, potty training Tagged With: child development, growing up, potty learning, potty training, preschooler, three years old 2 Comments

Developments

April 6, 2010 By Ewokmama

Yesterday was a GREAT day. Jack’s daycare is closed this week for Spring Break, so I took Monday and Tuesday off of work to hang out with him. Maybe it’s because I’m relaxed from my weekend in Napa, or maybe I’m just getting better at being at home with the kiddo, but I really enjoyed the day. I even thought – MAYBE – I could actually swing a SAHM situation after all if it came down to it. (Watch – today will totally squash that idea.)

Midday I needed to run to the store for toilet paper, so I packed Jack into the car with promises of a Transformer if the store carried one. I figured it was about time as his potty money tub was getting pretty heavy and it’s been a month since we got the last toy. Also! Jack pooped in the potty last week and even though he didn’t even know he was doing it, we celebrated with a potty dance and extra money.

Walgreens had a number of Transformer toys, both Autobots (the good guys) and Decepticons (the bad guys). I asked Jack whether he wanted a good guy or a bad one. After declining to buy one of each for him, he chose a Decepticon that turns into a forklift. I should have pressed him to get the one that turns into a toaster – the forklift’s arms keep coming off.

It may or may not be a coincidence, but later in the evening Jack used the potty to poop on TWO separate trips to the bathroom. I’m not ready to call this a breakthrough or anything (lest the parenting karma gods strike me down), but I am willing to say that it’s a very nice development. Other things that may or may not have anything to do with this development: showing Jack the Transformer underwear he could wear once he was regularly using the potty and acquisition of the book “It Hurts When I Poop” (which I didn’t buy due to any issues with hurting, but I knew he’d dig the explanation of what is going on in there).

Filed Under: Growing Up, Milestones, Parenting 101, potty training Tagged With: bribes, incentives, kids, parenting, potty learning, potty training, spring break, toilet training 1 Comment

Potty Training Milestone

March 10, 2010 By Ewokmama

Jack has been doing a great job of using the potty. Most days he makes it through needing only one change (for #2). It’s become more of a routine, but I am still reminding him to go to pee quite a bit. Mostly, though, he completely forgets about getting any money for it.

After spending three hours or so at the car dealership (thank goodness they had a playroom!) Sunday, I thought it was time to reward Jack for all of his good behavior (um, aside from the slightly inappropriate “this looks like a penis” comment he made when inspecting some little rubber piece on the car door). While our new car was being washed and detailed, we decided to get lunch and head over to Target for a shopping trip. Jack was jumping and squealing with excitement. This is the first time I’ve taken him into a store to pick out a toy. I’m not sure what has taken me so long (other than my abhorrence for shopping with kids)!

After dithering over a few green Transformers (he picked out a Level 2 and I had to locate a level 1), he decided he had

picked out a bad guy and changed his mind completely. Instead of getting a Transformer, he ended up picking out a Batman motorcycle toy that transforms.

He LOVES his new toy. He has been carrying it around with him and switching it back and forth between the batcycle and the weapon suit over and over. (Don’t try to tell him it’s not a transformer!)

I was afraid that he would regress on using the potty again once I got him the toy. Luckily, I was ready when he refused to use the potty – I told him he could save up to get Batman’s sidekick and accessories. I’m kinda good at this potty bribery training thing.

Filed Under: Growing Up, Milestones, Shopping Tagged With: bribery, good behavior, potty learning, potty training, rewards, toys, transformers Leave a Comment

Kids These Days

August 31, 2009 By Ewokmama

I miss Jack. He was supposed to come home on Sunday but on Saturday I came down with some illness. I asked Joe to keep him so that if I was coming down with the flu (which is what a few friends have had this past week), Jack wouldn’t get it. Jack being sick, especially while I’m sick, would suuuuck.

I made it to the Outside Lands concert on Saturday (got free tickets) but we went late and left early. I skipped it yesterday and ended up sleeping most of the day. I managed to wash diapers and make banana bread, but that wore me out. I got to talk to Jack in the evening and that brightened my mood considerably. He is getting so good at talking on the phone! He tried to tell me about his stuffed doggie Howie and then he said, “But you can’t see him!” We said we miss and love each other and then hung up.

Funny thing is that Jack totally knows how to hang up a cell phone now; he learned how to do it because he talks to his dad almost every night he’s not with him. Rather that sit and supervise his conversation, I taught him how to hang up when he’s done so that I could use the time to get things done around the house. Hmmm, this gives me an idea! Perhaps I should set up the voice activated dialing for Jack so that he can call whomever he wants. Wouldn’t that be awesome?

Filed Under: Illness, Milestones Tagged With: kids these days, preschooler, smarty pants, technology 1 Comment