Over the past month, I have dreaded getting out of bed daily. The main reason for this is having to deal with Noah all day. Now, I know this sounds horrible, but his behavior has been horrible lately. All he does all day long is throw things over the banister and at people, as well as try to hit. He gets disciplined (such as time-outs and spankings), but he didn't care. My floor downstairs was covered in junk from all over the house, because it wasn't just Noah's stuff that he was throwing--it was whatever he could get his hands on. A lot of people would suggest taking the stuff away that he throws, but when it's Katie's stuff or Aidan's stuff, I can't do that. And I repeat, Noah would get punished, but it didn't phase him a bit.
On Sunday, Chris decided to completely clean the house. He knows I haven't been feeling great all month, so he figured he would help out. In the process, he took the trains off of Noah's train table and replaced them with his Disney Cars instead. He cleaned up all of the junk that was littering the floor downstairs and put everything away. When we went to Noah's room, he was happily playing with his cars. In fact, he let us play with him. On Monday, his behavior was different immediately. He kept pulling me into his room to play with him, and he threw only a couple of things. He was content almost all day.
Today was the big surprise. Once again, Noah was content when he got up this morning. He ate his breakfast and asked for seconds, which surprised me. We got dressed and played some, then went to the post office and dry cleaners. Today was speech therapy, so when Trip showed up, Noah decided to get right to work. Trip pulled out the Mr. Potato Head to go over body parts, and Noah quickly repeated each one. Then, Trip took out the picture cards and told Noah he was going to give him some new words today, the hardest words he has. Included in the words were nun, noon, pop, toot, tune, nine, etc. Noah easily repeated all of the words, with the exception of four. After that, Trip showed Noah some verbs and had him identify each action. Noah got all but one of them. We were beyond impressed. It just proves, once again, what we've thought--Noah knows his words, but for some reason, doesn't feel the need to use them.
We made it through the day without one item getting thrown or going to time out. He ate his breakfast and lunch well, and even said "More, please" when he gave me his sippy cup, asking for more milk. He has turned into an incredibly sweet, fun boy who is actually communicating with us. It really makes me wonder if he was feeling "neglected" before and was simply acting out as his way of communicating his needs. I hope we're in for much more of this behavior!
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Kid's Night
Last night, Aidan quietly asked me (as I was tucking him into bed) if we could go to Chick-Fil-A tonight and see the cow. I told him I would talk to Daddy about it and we would see. I spoke to Chris about it, and then I remembered that Tuesdays are kid's night at CFA on 124 in Snellville. Katie has ballet on Tuesday evenings in Grayson, so that worked out well.
Katie's ballet practice went well, and while she was there, we washed the van and got Chris a haircut. We picked Katie up and went to CFA. Aidan was beaming as we walked inside! It was really crowded, so we had Katie and Aidan sit in a booth while we ordered. One of the girls from Katie's Girl Scout troop was there as well, so Katie talked to her friend while we waited. On kid's night, you get one free 4 piece kid's meal with an adult meal purchase, so Aidan and Noah got the free meals and we paid for Katie's. Unfortunately, we didn't see the cow at first, but Aidan was ok. We had told the kids that they had to eat within a half hour because Chris had another surprise for them. They had hoped to exchange their prizes for ice cream, but we didn't have time. As we finished up dinner, the cow appeared! Aidan ran up to him and gave him a high five! This is a huge deal because Aidan has always been terrified of costumed characters, but he loves the CFA cow!
After CFA, Chris drove to the dollar theater. We have taken the kids to the regular theater, but Noah just cannot sit still enough during a movie yet. He likes to talk halfway through, and we feel guilty with other people in the theater. Anyway, Chris was wanting to see "Despicable Me", and Noah was free to the movie, so it was a great deal! The kids loved it! It was actually a really cute movie with a good message in it. Naturally, Noah decided to talk midway through the movie, but he did eventually calm down.
Overall, it was a good night with the family. We don't often go out for a night out, especially on a weekday, but the kids had fun, as did the parents!
Katie's ballet practice went well, and while she was there, we washed the van and got Chris a haircut. We picked Katie up and went to CFA. Aidan was beaming as we walked inside! It was really crowded, so we had Katie and Aidan sit in a booth while we ordered. One of the girls from Katie's Girl Scout troop was there as well, so Katie talked to her friend while we waited. On kid's night, you get one free 4 piece kid's meal with an adult meal purchase, so Aidan and Noah got the free meals and we paid for Katie's. Unfortunately, we didn't see the cow at first, but Aidan was ok. We had told the kids that they had to eat within a half hour because Chris had another surprise for them. They had hoped to exchange their prizes for ice cream, but we didn't have time. As we finished up dinner, the cow appeared! Aidan ran up to him and gave him a high five! This is a huge deal because Aidan has always been terrified of costumed characters, but he loves the CFA cow!
After CFA, Chris drove to the dollar theater. We have taken the kids to the regular theater, but Noah just cannot sit still enough during a movie yet. He likes to talk halfway through, and we feel guilty with other people in the theater. Anyway, Chris was wanting to see "Despicable Me", and Noah was free to the movie, so it was a great deal! The kids loved it! It was actually a really cute movie with a good message in it. Naturally, Noah decided to talk midway through the movie, but he did eventually calm down.
Overall, it was a good night with the family. We don't often go out for a night out, especially on a weekday, but the kids had fun, as did the parents!
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Stressed
Things have been stressful around our house lately. As I wrote last week, I have been sick, and I am still not feeling great. I don't have much of an appetite, yet I am forcing myself to eat what I can. Noah's been going through a rough stage lately. He's decided that it's hilarious to throw objects down the stairs, therefore creating a huge mess in our downstairs hallway and on our landing. I have told him that he's being a bad boy when he does that, but the only thing that seems to get through to him is placing him in time-out.
Katie and Aidan have had pretty good weeks. Aidan is going to the pumpkin patch with his class on Tuesday, and Katie had fine arts night this past Thursday, where she sang with her class and we got to see her artwork. She's also been hard at working practicing for "The Nutcracker"!
We have been searching for Chris a new job. We need one that pays better and offers benefits. His current job was fantastic after his being unemployed for 8 months, but he's been there for 2 years now and still hasn't had a raise, and we could use more money. Who couldn't?! He's been picking up some work helping his boss get his house ready to sell, so that's been some nice money. I just feel like I never see him anymore, and I'm stressed with that as well.
On the plus side, Noah's been wanting to read books a lot lately. He frequently comes and sits in my lap, wanting me to read him a story. It seems to be helping his vocabulary quite a bit!
Katie and Aidan have had pretty good weeks. Aidan is going to the pumpkin patch with his class on Tuesday, and Katie had fine arts night this past Thursday, where she sang with her class and we got to see her artwork. She's also been hard at working practicing for "The Nutcracker"!
We have been searching for Chris a new job. We need one that pays better and offers benefits. His current job was fantastic after his being unemployed for 8 months, but he's been there for 2 years now and still hasn't had a raise, and we could use more money. Who couldn't?! He's been picking up some work helping his boss get his house ready to sell, so that's been some nice money. I just feel like I never see him anymore, and I'm stressed with that as well.
On the plus side, Noah's been wanting to read books a lot lately. He frequently comes and sits in my lap, wanting me to read him a story. It seems to be helping his vocabulary quite a bit!
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