Smarty Pants

The Kiddo is a smarty pants, you knew that already though (because I brag about him often). His parent teacher conference last week went well, his teacher Mrs. H told us that she has seen some improvement since we started giving him the ADHD medication. I am glad to hear that because I haven’t seen much at home! Still I’m not seeing side affect either so I’m pleased.

Anyway Mrs. H explained that she has placed the Kiddo on reading level N (which I gather in on par with third grade). She says in reality he is above that but she is stopping him there until he can get better with his creative writing. Which I am okay with, N books are actual REAL books for him to read but they still have enough pictures to help hold his interest. As for the creative writing it’s suffering because his handwriting is so poor. We discussed that as well, I asked her to please look into possible school help with that because I do not know what else to do (I’ve been having him write daily at home and there has been no improvement). She is letting him use pencil grips to help keep his fingers positioned correctly and hopefully that will help as well.

I have a lot of appreciation for Mrs. H, she makes an effort to make sure the Kiddo knows that even while she’s nagging him and pushing him to do better she also knows he is smart and she likes him. He responds well to that type of approach, he hates being in ‘trouble’ and she has a way of keeping him happy while making him try harder. She says when she ‘reminds’ him to work in class he turns around with a grin and says “yes Mrs. H” before getting back to work, she says the way he does it makes her want to go hug him he is so cute. Gotta love an adorable smarty pants!

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted any videos and I thought I might put a few with this blog. The Kiddo needs to work on identifying coins and adding them together. First I made him a wall chart so he can reference it (for the next week or so anyway) then I have him practice daily. Of course I’m not one to let him go unchallenged so I’ve made a game of it. He picks at least four coins from a box filled with pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters.

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Then he lines them up highest to lowest, and then he adds them together. For the game I’ve had to teach him to carry, and we’ve talked about how he doesn’t have to ‘count add’ two of the same coin (one/two/three/etc) instead he can use skip counting (e.g. with nickels - five/ten/fifteen). He took that concept and ran with it the other day, and I almost fell off the chair!

In class next week the kids are going to be putting on a small Thanksgiving program. They are building shoe box floats for a parade (he is still working on his so I’ll blog and post pictures once it is finished) . After the parade the kids will sing a couple songs and read some of their creative writing to the audience. Because the Kiddo reads so well Mrs. H has chosen him to be the narrator. He has been practicing every day, the video is of him reading his “part”… note that it is only the second or third time he has read it so I’m pretty proud of him and by next Tuesday I'm pretty sure he will have it memorized...

Summer distractions

The Kiddo has been out of school for all of three days and I’m feeling it already. Sunday I spent trying to get a paper done for class, he was bored and doing his best to distract me..

It worked a little to well, I went to bed Sunday night with only a title page and intro paragraph finished.

Monday I ‘suffered’ through more distraction but managed to finish the paper by 4pm anyway.

Yesterday was warm and the Kiddo really wanted to go swimming. I like the idea and fully intend to take him, walking or standing for long periods of time make his feet hurt still. I’m not sure if that type of pain is normal or not but either way swimming will be a good way to get his legs into shape. Of course the suit he wore last summer hadn’t a prayer of fitting so we went shopping..

He fell in love with the swim shorts, Lightning McQueen(!!), how could I not get them for him? He wears a 5T in pants, but I wasn’t sure if that size would fit right in shorts so I let him try them on (which he thought was fun). I couldn’t decide if a rash guard was needed or not but I let him try one of those on as well. Once we was outfitted he told me to be perfect he needed some new lightning shoes (he had red crocks a couple years ago that my sister bought for him, along with little Lightning McQueen gibits).

This afternoon it’s supposed to be a little cool with rain showers so I’m not sure we’ll go out, but if we do I’ll take pictures.

Last day of school

Kindergarten is over, yesterday was the Kiddo's last day. The kids spent the first half of class helping Mrs. S. clean the room up, and during the second half they had their poem presentations.

I think I may have read to much into the note she sent home months ago saying that the children were supposed to memorize their favorite nursery rhyme. Apparently that did not mean hand the kid the Mother Goose book and let him pick something longer then four lines to memorize. At least half the kids recited Humpty Dumpty, a couple said the alphabet, a few twinkle twinkle little stars were scattered in there as well as Hickory Dickory Docks.

If I would have known the type of poem the other kids were memorizing I would have warned Mrs. S. ahead of time that his was a little bit longer. His giggles at the end make my day, he thinks it's funny as anything that the black bird took the maids nose. After class was over I mentioned to Mrs. S. that he picked it himself and memorized it within a couple hours. She just smiled, shook her head and said "that's the Kiddo for you"...
We have his report card (A's of course) and his teacher assignment for the Fall. We even have our 15 minute "meet the teacher" appointment time. I'm wondering if they plan to have a separate appointment for explaining the medical issues. I certainly hope so, especially since this pre-scheduled time is one the Man wont be able to be at. He wants to meet the Kiddo's teacher so he can get a feel for her (we want to feel like she will put the attention into him that he needs). I'm not going to worry about it until fall though, first we have to get through the summer :)

On the off chance you want to see it too I have the before class at home practice version of his poem recital (which you can hear a little better). I love his little hand motions that he puts with it.

Kindergarten Program

The good thing about being ‘stuck’ in a wheelchair is that you get to sit right in front for your kindergarten program. There’s no way you’ll be lost in the group and everybody sees you…

I was in the back row because I arrived a little bit later then most of the other parents (the handicap parking spots were all filled so I had to park far enough away that I would be able to get him into the car when it was time to leave) but I could still hear the kiddo singing

I thought he did a great job and really got into it.

Three weeks cast off, One walking

"My brain is a little man... there's a little man in my head who is my brain. He likes to help me walk, and he has tubes that go to my ears. When you whisper in my ears it knocks him over on his butt!!"

Sing a song of sixpence

I think he likes the poem, in fact this video was taken on Saturday, by Monday he had the thing memorized enough to stumble through it no book.

Easter 2011

I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I abandoned the Kiddo’s normal fruit and nuts basket this year. We did still have a few things of dried fruit, and crackers, but most of the basket was candy. The Bunny also brought him a couple books. Personally I think the bunny is a genius, the Kiddo has first thing in the morning medication which means he has to wait an hour before breakfast, and there’s no Easter treats until after that… it’s a long wait. A new book is the perfect way to help him pass the time.

The Mans niece had her birthday party on the Saturday before so as part of the event we colored eggs. The kids used a white crayon and he really had a good time drawing designs. My favorite (everybody's favorite) was a blue egg with an airplane doing loops. The story is that he can’t really hold the egg and see what he’s drawing, so he draws by touch (looking at a wall). His Aunt Jo did realize that’s what he was doing, she asked him what the picture was going to be and he cheerfully said an airplane, she thought oooookay. We died the egg, pulled it out, and yep there was a plane on it! She was shocked, I was a little impressed myself (and I’m USED to his antics by now).

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On Easter morning the Kiddo slept in. I was up when the man left for work at 7:45, I took the dog out for a long walk and then put her back in her crate (no egg eating allowed!). I then sat around waiting and waiting for the Kiddo to wake up. Finally at 9:30 I couldn’t wait anymore (his medication time was slipping past) so I went in to wake him up. He was so funny, he tried to hide under his covers and go back to sleep. I said that if he really wanted to go back to sleep that was okay but he needed his pill first, the time it took to take the pill was enough for his brain to start working because as soon as he’d swallowed it he said “did the bunny come??!!” and started crawling out of bed.

He had forgotten all about the egg hunt. He found his basket and that was all he cared about. But once he got started he was more enthusiastic about it.

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He found all the eggs, mostly crawling but he did have to walk a bit, that crafty bunny hid a few of them to high to reach without standing. By the time he found was done with that he only had about half an hour to kill before he could eat. This is about when he discovered the Bunny had brought him books. He read me one and then sat down to look through the other.

He spent a long time looking through his starwars book, it’s got every lego starwars set they ever made and he loves window shopping through it.

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And when he finally got to eat his candy the first thing he picked was the chocolate bunny… he’s been asking for one of those ever since Target put up it’s Easter decorations (of which there are two giant cardboard ‘chocolate bunnies’).

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**I spent three days trying to get a couple more videos to upload for this blog. I have one of him searching for eggs and another with him reading one of his books. Blogger apparently doesn't like either and I'm officially giving up because I feel like a slacker not having posted anything for so long. I hope everybody had a great relaxing Easter and that you manage to have a little more restraint then I did with your holiday related goodies. (mmmm)

clouds and stars

What is

He does have a little more trouble when I give him the small number first (ie 3+7). And if I gave him two large numbers like 7+7 the odds are 50/50 that he'll get it right, he's usually close but he loses track because he counts in his head. I think it might be time to pull out the flashcards! :D

Singing and Reading...

The Kiddo pretends he learns stuff in school but I think all he really does is play and sing...

The stuff he learns at home* is so much more important... Well okay, I suppose that's not really accurate *chuckle* He was reading before the school year started but he has gotten a LOT better at it with what Mrs. S has taught him. The spelling thing, yeah he was doing that on his own too.. if he can sound out a word he can spell it... but he's in bad trouble when they get to words that aren't spelled the way they sound and Mrs. S has helped a lot with that too.

The first four words are from two weeks ago, they tested on them last Monday and he got 100%. The second four words were last week, they tested on them this week and I assume he got 100% (we haven't seen the 'graded' paper yet). The last four are this weeks words that he will test on next Monday. He really rocks spelling.

Almost every day as we head off to school we play a spelling game. I ask him a word, then he asks me one. The words are NOT limited to his spelling test words. He loves the game, and he's really good at it. In the video I should have had him spell smart, he nailed that yesterday (it was my bonus round challenge word for him).

A Non Event

Today is the Kiddo’s first day back to school, he had a week and a half break for the holidays and he’s been enjoying every day of it. Every day after breakfast he would remind me that we didn’t go back to school that day, and then he would ask to go play. I know he missed school though, regardless of what he admits too, because at home he has no other kids to play with and every day he got a little bit more needy and demanding.

Last night as I tucked him into bed I reminded him that today was Monday and that meant school again. He sighed (a little theatrically) so I told him that I’m sure Mrs. S is excited to have her kids back in class (uh huh, I bet she really isn’t a fan of the first few days after a break) and that all his friends are probably looking forward to seeing him again. His little face brightened up quickly after that, “my friends? That’s right, my friend Randy can play with me”…

and I thought, without saying it out loud that Jenae might be a bit interested in playing with him again too… Christmas week she sent him home with his very first love letter (both sides are done). Of course I could be wrong, it might not be a love letter at all, the Kiddo didn’t have much to say about it… when I asked he just shrugged and said “some girl gave it to me”.

Today is also the start of the new year (well plus two days heh). My resolution is to have this year run more smoothly then last (last year went better then the year before so I feel that should not be such a hard goal). My other resolution is to actually do the couch to 5k program. I think Cupcake might benefit from a steady running program and since I currently gasp like a fish out of water after 2 minutes of running I am hoping if I start now and do the entire program then by the time the weather warms up she AND I will be ready to take a daily jog.

Christmas AAR*

After giving him his shot the kiddo and I snuggled up on the couch Christmas evening taking one last look at all his presents under the tree.

I asked him, “Kiddo what is your favorite present?” He said “um I don’t have one, I like them all” I thought maybe it was just so late he couldn’t remember so I said “well you really liked the tramp, and the dragon, or maybe the noisy drawing table thing..”. He said “I DO like the tramp, it’s so cool… but I also like all of them, I don’t have a favorite because I love them all!!”

I wonder what he’d say if I asked him today (two days later). Anyway, now that it IS two days later I better get off my butt and post a blog with a few videos and pictures…

Santa filled the Kiddos stocking full of goodies, an apple, clementine, animal crackers, candy cane, box of fruit....

He also gave him the Astro Boy movie he asked Santa for along with an Astro Boy action figure. (under the tree was another gift from Santa with the Astro Boy playstation game and another action figure).

He really loves the mini trampoline. I haven’t talked to my folks yet so I don’t know if they like that they bought it for him but I do!! Every time he starts to get antsy I send him to jump, there’s a game on there that is like freeze jump (jump till the voice tell you to freeze, then wait till it tells you to go again) and that’s his favorite. There’s another that counts how many times you jump, I challenge him every time to get at least a hundred, he usually gets about 60 before pausing.

You can tell by the video of him unwrapping Auntie D’s gift how much he loves it. I hope she makes her husband watch the video (since she said it was HIS idea to give it to him) because the Kiddo adores the thing.

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He lugged it around all day on Christmas, to the point of taking it to the inlaws and flying it outside while he played tag with his cousins. I kind of wish I’d taken the video camera for that, it was really funny.

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Note the shirt he’s wearing. Uncle T sent that to us from Korea (along with a few other fun things, toys etc). The Kiddo really likes it, granted it’s about two sizes to big for him but to him that’s part of what makes it cool!! It’ll be awhile before he outgrows it.

Uncle P sent him a Crayola sound studio. You put a paper on the top and color it, and you can set certain sounds to play when you press different parts of the screen.

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I don’t think he knew what it all did when he first opened it, he thought it was really cool that it was for art projects (he really loves doing art stuff) and he had a tiny idea that it made sounds but he didn’t’ realize he could make the sounds go WITH the picture.

Anyway it was fun, and hectic, and the Kiddo made out like a bandit. A little birdie told me that there's a gift on it's way from Auntie Ph so the Kiddo gets a little extension on the gifting excitement. There was even something under the tree for the whole family...

I cannot WAIT to use it... I remember when I was younger, on birthday, helping to turn the crank on my moms ice cream maker... I remember sitting on the porch step licking ice cream off the paddle too. I can now share that with the Kiddo, and I'm really happy about it.

I hope you all had a great Christmas, and that the Christmas wind down is going well... only a few more days and we'll be past New Years and done with the major holiday stuff. Next up, Kiddos Birthday!!

Holiday Music

Here's a couple videos containing two of my favorite pieces of music both done a little differently then I've seen/heard them done before. I thought some of you might get a kick out of them too.

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training progress updates

Cupcake is doing really well with her training. I took a video a couple days ago so I could show her progress, but I can't seem to get it to publish to blogger (typical, but I'll keep trying). The problem is that while she does extremely well inside (doing the command every single time) she doesn't listen outside. As long as I have her on lead I can get her to come every time, out there, and sit about 80% (working on it)... but if I try a down command outdoors she flat out refuses. I'm really not sure what that's all about (possibly she's to intent on distractions?). I suppose she just needs more time and I need more patience while she works on realizing that a command is to be followed no matter where we are, not just where she chooses.

On the plus side though her leash walking is pretty much up to 100% perfect. She will now walk on the sidewalk next to a busy street without worrying about the passing cars. She will also walk past people without having to say hi. A large group of kids is a challenge for her (she really really wants to play) but we'll keep practicing.

And in the house, with all this training and work... nipping is virtually non existent, jumping is almost gone, peace is finally here...

Weekends are good for

Raking Leaves….

And teaching your dog to walk on leash…

A Fall Medley...

writing

Lately the Kiddo has been all about books. I wouldn't go so far as to say he loves all of reading time, but he really enjoys the first 10 minutes or so, (after that his eyes get tired and it's less fun for him). Anyway lately he's been on a "write books" kick and it's been a lot of fun watching him make up stories and then draw pictures to illustrate them.

The other day he took a rhyme he learned a few weeks ago in class and made it into book:

*yes I know peek is spelled wrong... blame it on the Man, he's the one that helped him with the spelling on that page.

learning

A few videos to show how school is going this week

(the days of the week song)

(crank of the volume, he sings this one extremely quietly)

(Kiddo's teacher sent this home yesterday)

20 minutes a day

It's time for a test on how bored you are. I mentioned in an earlier post that the Kiddo reads every day for 20 minutes. He's getting so that he can finish an entire book within that time. So I video taped it today for you, in three parts... that way if you want to watch just one section you can, but if you want to watch them all, and you have the time to spare, you can watch em all.

[[okay so I can't get part one to load, I'm working on it but I'm going to go ahead and publish this post with the other videos while I continue to try, sorry bout that]]
The Kiddo Reading (part 1)



The Kiddo reading (part 2)

The Kiddo reading (part 3)

Rain on the Rooftops

He heard this poem back at the end of October while doing his assessment testing. All I can say is "take that Mrs smarty pants teacher who thinks he doesn't listen or pay attention" humph

(sorry it's sideways, I took the video with my phone and didn't realize it wasn't the right direction)