Random

I just remembered this funny thing that Josh did during the summer.  I told him to go let Gideon in the house.
"Why?" He asked.
"Because he's probably hot."
"He's probably broken hearted?" he asked.

This past week I took Lyndsey, Josh's 1 yr old cousin, with me to pick Josh up from school.  On the way home Lyndsey started saying "Ho ho ho.  Ho ho ho."
Josh looks at her and says "Lynds, you can't be Santa.  Santa's a boy and you're a girl."
To which Lynds replies "Ho ho ho."
"Lynds! You're a girl, not a boy. You can't be Santa!"
"Ho ho ho."
By this point Josh is getting a little frustrated but he stays calm and says "Lynds, you can't be Santa but you can be Mrs Santa, because she's a girl.  Do you know what she says?"
"Ho ho ho."
"NO!! She just laughs normal like...ha ha ha"  which he says in a very shrilly girl voice.  "Do you get it?" There's a long pause and then Lynds says "ho ho ho."
"Uhhhh!"

HaHa! Poor Josh.

This is Josh's letter to Santa.  He never bothered to send it.

And here's the picture of him sleeping in the recliner.  It's become a night time ritual now.  How uncomfortable! 

School Christmas Program

Josh performed 2 songs with his class yesterday at a school assembly.  Much to my surprise he sang both songs the whole way through!  I was so impressed.  They also had 'Santa' come and visit.  He was so excited!  He was a little disappointed though that he didn't get to see the reindeer.

Class Picture

Love it!

Aliens?

On Saturday Josh came in the office and announced "I was just discussing with Gwen how I'm probably an alien and she's probably a vampire."  Now, that's a conversation starter.  Mike and I kind of looked at each other and we were both at a loss for words.  Knowing this could only get better, I grabbed a pen and paper to write down all the facts.
"So....you're an alien huh?"  I ask.
"Well I'm not sure, for sure, but I think so."
"An alien.  How do you figure?"
"Yeah cause how come I'm so speedy?  You always can tell by my speed that I'm an alien."
"Why?"
"I'm faster than usual and play stuff that's from my imagination but it seems real."
Josh then adds "I'm just telling everyone don't be fooled by my speedness."
That did it.  I laughed and I laughed hard.  Mike tried to reason with him but he wanted nothing to do with logic.  The rest of the day was spent with him running from one side of the room to the other and saying "How did I make it all the way over here so fast?"

Dentist

We just got back from the dentist and there is good news...I have no cavities!  Josh got his picture taken for the no cavity club so I guess he didn't do so bad either.  When we got there they asked which one of us wanted to go first.  I asked Josh and he said he wanted me to go first. I was fine with that, whatever.  As soon as my xrays were done, Josh came and sat down in a chair at my feet.  I realized that he had nothing to do so I said "I should have brought my kindle, I'm sorry I didn't even think about it."
Josh gives me a very pointed stare and in a condescending tone says  "Mom, I'm getting OLDER now. (long pause) I have more patience."  He then makes a point of staring at the ceiling, the floor, the door and my face for long seconds as if that proves his point. I fought back a smile as the dental assistant burst out laughing.

It's Snowing?!

This morning Josh came running into my room saying "It's snowing!  It's really snowing!  Mom, you've got to come see this, I'm not kidding, it's really snowing.  I rubbed my eyes and it was still there!"
"You rubbed your eyes?" I said.
"Yeah, 'cause sometimes if things aren't real, I rub my eyes and they go away because they weren't real, but I rubbed my eyes and the snow was still there!  It's really snowing!" 

Cottage Cheese

We've been trying to eat healthier around here and the other night we used cottage cheese on our burritos instead of sour cream.  Josh was fine with this since he loves cottage cheese but he wanted to know what it was made of.  I always defer these kinds of questions to Mike since I stink at trying to explain things and usually don't know the answer anyway.  This time was no exception.  I've never stopped to think what cottage cheese is made of because I enjoy eating my food in complete and utter ignorance as to how it's made and what it contains. So Josh asked Mike and Mike shot the question right back at him asking "What do YOU think it's made of?"  Josh looks at the cottage cheese and says "I think it's white beans covered with milk."  We had a good laugh and then I tuned Mike out as he explained the real answer.  I sure thought it was funny though that he thought it was made with beans and milk and he STILL loved to eat it.  Gross!

Trick or Treat Song-Josh's Version

Trick-or-treat
Smell my feet
If you don't then Robin will lay an egg
And Batman stinks
Bat mobile will loose a wheeeeeeeeeeel
And that's all I knoooooooow.

Santa

Josh: "Mom, why I always think that Santa is fat is because he uses 2 winter coats."
Mom: "Oh yeah?"
Josh: "Yeah.  Am I right?"
Mom: "Mmm....?" *shoulder shrug*
Josh:  "I know I'm right."

Where do you sleep?

I swear he has a bed.  These pictures are all from different nights.  He also occasionally sleeps in the blue recliner although I'm not sure why since he always complains that it makes him sore.

Sick

Last night Josh woke me up  and said "Mom, my body hurts."  I propped myself up in bed and asked where exactly it hurt.  "I don't know. It just hurts."  This is such a random thing for him to say that I was a little concerned.  He then said "Mom, can I lay with you?"
Now normally I would immediately tell him no and to go back to bed, but I was a little worried and kind of wanted to keep an eye on him so I let him crawl in next to me.  He immediately fell back to sleep but I was stuck in a very uncomfortable position with too little room that I could not fall asleep no matter how hard I tried.  All I could think about was that my brother had offered me a king size bed and I had refused.  I was definitely regretting it.  After half an hour of no sleep, I woke Josh up and told him that he needed to go back to bed.  He didn't complain, he just got up, went to his room and came walking back in with his pillow and blanket.  He put them on the floor by my side of the bed and quickly went to sleep.  We've been trying to discourage this behavior but since he wasn't feeling good I decided to let it slide.  This morning when I woke up, I immediately asked Josh how he was feeling.  He said "Good.  I thought my body was hurting but it was only thirsty so I got a drink and it was fine."  Boy do I feel used.

Nutcrackers

While out shopping last week, Josh and I passed a huge Christmas display filled with Nutcrackers.  Josh excitedly pointed to a section of stuffed Nutcrackers and said "Mom, look. A Nutcracker that doesn't nutcrack!"

Darth Vader

After buying the Darth Vader costume for Josh, I figured we were set for Halloween.  Then the school sent home a note saying that there are no masks or weapons allowed.  Great.  Darth Vader NEEDS his mask.  That's who he is.  And no Light Saber?  Well, I didn't push Josh into being something so recognizable only to be left wearing a cheaply made one piece jumpsuit that could hardly be considered a costume.  The only solution was that he needed to get his face painted.  When I brought this up, he immediately and adamantly opposed it.  He kept saying that it would look weird.  I didn't pressure him about it at the time but did find subtle was to bring it into almost every discussion we had.  Then Sunday was upon us, the day before Halloween and he was still refusing to get his face painted.  I knew I had to bring out the big guns.  As we were driving in the car I said "Josh, we're painting your face for Halloween tomorrow, right?"
"NOO!" he whined back.
"Why not Bud?  It's going to be so cool."
"No it's not."
"Who can we ask to see if it will be cool? What if Dad says it's cool, then can I paint your face?"
"No."
"Well, what if Jake say's it's cool?  He knows about that kind of stuff."
Josh kind of half way looks at me and says "He does?"
"Yeah! Of course.  He would totally know if it's cool or not. What do you think, should we ask him?"
Josh kind of grins and nods his head.  I pull out my phone and as I'm finding Jake's number I  say "Ok, so if Jake says that it will be cool, then you'll let me paint your face right?" He does a half nod.  That's not good enough for me though so I say "What?  I can't see you."  He reluctantly says yes out loud. I dial Jake's number and put him on speaker phone.  I tell him the situation and really play up the part that we called him because he "knows about this kind of stuff."  True to Jake's character he catches right on and gives the face painting a very enthusiastic stamp of approval.  I glance at Josh and he's trying to hide a smile.  I glance at Mike and he's rolling his eyes at the way I'm manipulating Josh to do my will.  I just smile. 

Halloween morning I send Josh off to school and promise to meet him at lunch to help him into his costume and to paint his face.  He didn't even complain. When I met him at lunch he was nervous but excited.  I brought out the face paint and that's when I froze.  What the freak was I doing?  I've never painted anybody's face before.  Heck, I don't even know how to put on makeup.  As I'm staring at Josh I've realized I've come too far to back out now.  I grit my teeth and start painting away.  Josh can't seem to stay still and it feels like it taking forever.  I keep telling Josh that he's starting to freak me out and that he looks amazing.  This makes him smile and I can tell he's starting to feel more confident.  I'm still not so sure.  We finish and I wait for his approval.......He loves it!!

After school I asked him how it went and he said "Great! The kids didn't even recognize me."  He also said that no one thought it looked weird. 

Mike took Josh trick or treating and sure got off easy.  Josh went up and down the street and then asked if they could be done.  Here's his loot.

This was the one year I regretted having told my brothers and sisters that I didn't need any left over Halloween candy for my birthday.

The Little Rascals

Saturday night, Josh and Mike were watching tv together when they happened to catch the last half of the movie "The Little Rascals."  The race had just finished and Spanky and Alfalfa had gotten a jar with $500 in it when Alfalfa says that Spanky's disappointed that AJ Ferguson wasn't there.  That's when AJ gives Spanky a kiss on both cheeks.  Josh gets a gross look on his face and says "I think the $500 would be better."

Emergency Preparedness FHE

Tonight for FHE I decided to do a 'Pretend Earthquake' drill.  I had the alarm on my phone go off just after we started FHE. I told Josh it was for him.  When he found it, there was a note attached to it saying "It's an Earthquake! Find cover for 1 minute."  I told Josh to pretend that it was really happening and that he needed to act quickly.  We were in the living room and so he looks around and then dives under the piano.  "Umm, that's probably not very sturdy" I told him "is there somewhere else you could get to super fast that would be safer?"  He ran into the kitchen and slid under the table.  "Great job!" I told him.  The next note said "The front door and the garage door are both blocked.  You have 2 minutes to grab anything you need and then meet outside."  He is full of smiles as he runs to his room.  Mike and I leave out the front door and Josh tries to follow.  "No" I tell him "remember the doors are blocked, you have to find another way out of the house."  He looks kind of shocked for a second and then shouts "The back door!"  He get's out, scales the small fence, and runs to meet me over at our designated safe house (Bode's).  It took him 2 min 25sec.  I look at what he's carrying in his hands.  It's a pair of socks.  Dirty socks.  Hmmm.  The next clue says that Bode's house is on fire, where do you go?  "The mailbox!" he yells and starts taking off down the street.  He is having so much fun.  We make it to the mailbox and it says that a gas pipe broke and they're evacuating the neighborhood, where does he go now?  He didn't know this one and neither did Mike so I just told them that we're suppose to meet at the park by the tracks.  We walk down there and Josh see's the last note stuck to our truck window.  It says that the community is all shaken up and there are no open stores, electricity or drive-able roads and that he has to rely on his 72hr kit for dinner. I had put our 72 hr kits in the truck before hand and had left it by the park because I knew Josh would never think to grab it before leaving the house.  Although, I don't think he really understood what it was for so it's okay.  I let Josh go through his bag and see what's in there.  He's thrilled with the 'treasures' he finds.  I tell him that he has to pick an mre to eat for dinner.  Mike says it won't work without water, but I got the kind that doesn't need water.  Score one for me.  There was a little 'stove' in my bag and we heated up the meal in a large mug.  It was Ravioli with Beef Sauce or something like that.  Josh loved it.  Mike was trying to humor me but wasn't all that excited to eat that for his dinner.  We had an mre shortbread cookie for dessert, which Mike said tasted like cardboard, and then Josh said he was thirsty.  I let him open up one of his pouches of water and he drank it happily.  He said that he was starting to get cold and then wanted to know if he could open up his emergency blanket but that was where I drew the line.   Josh had so much fun that he asked if we could do it again for FHE next week.  Probably not, but maybe after I add a few things to our 72 hr kits, we'll have to have a practice drill again.  Hopefully Josh will remember to grab his kit....instead of dirty socks.

Halloween

Last year for Halloween Josh wanted to be Dan, the main character from the kid show Bakugan.  NOBODY knew who that was and we tried to convince him to be something else but he had his mind set.  So he was Dan.  This is what his costume looked like.

This is the only picture I got of him at his school parade because there were so many parents there.

Anyway, this year he decided that he wanted to be Gingka, the main character from the BeyBlade cartoon.

If you don't recognize him, don't worry, most people don't.  I had no idea who he was until Josh started asking to be him.  On Saturday I finally decided that he wasn't going to change his mind and so tried to go online to buy it.  Everywhere cheap was sold out.  SOLD OUT.  Really? I thought Josh was the only kid alive who knew about this guy.  I finally found one but it was $35 plus $9 for shipping.  There was NO way I was going to spend that much on it.  Josh wandered in at this point and I showed him how they all said sold out.  I told him that he was going to have to come up with a different idea for a costume.  Nervous, we again started searching websites for the 'perfect' costume.  After an hour, he declare that he was going to be Anakin Skywalker.

Really?  That's great!!!  I couldn't believe that he had picked a normal looking costume that many people could easily identify.  It didn't look too complicated so I decided that I would make it.  The only condition Josh had was that he needed a 'glowing' light saber.  Fine, I could handle that.  That night Josh, Mike and I all went to Walmart looking for a light saber.  We found some in the toy section but they didn't glow.  We started searching the Halloween section and were rewarded by finding one that glowed.  The only problem was that it was red.  RED!  He really wanted it but it just wasn't going to work with an Anakin costume.  He decided, with a little help from Mike, that he was going to be Darth Vadar instead.

I couldn't believe my luck.  This was a costume that EVERYONE would recognize.  Yes!! They even had a costume there his size so we just went ahead and bought it.  He is now all set.  Costume? Check.  Light saber? Check.  Realistic Darth Vader breathing sound machine?  Check.

School Picture-2nd Grade

Enough said.

The Joy of Stairs

Yesterday while we were at the Valgardsons for dinner, Tyler asked if he could show Josh how to go down the stairs in a sleeping bag.  He said that he did it all the time as a kid and that it was super fun.  I told him that would be fine as long as he didn't remind Josh that we have stairs and a sleeping bag at our house too.  So Tyler got a sleeping bag and showed Josh how it was done.  Josh was fascinated and wanted to try it.  Tyler helped him the first few times and then Josh took over.  He slid down the stairs and then ran back up countless times.  He was sweating like crazy.  One time after he had just finished climbing the stairs he said "Mom? Do you know your letting your son have the best day ever?!"

Banana Bread

I had 5 old bananas and 2 banana bread recipes.  Not sure which recipe was better I decided to make them both.  As soon as Josh could smell the bread cooking he started hounding me for a piece.  20 minutes later, I cut him a slice and he ate it.  He said it was great and asked for another piece.  He then asked for a third piece but I told him that I had a different banana bread recipe that I wanted him to try.  So when that loaf finally came out of the oven and cooled down, I handed a piece to Josh.  He took a bite and said "Mmmm...tender....sweet....and DELICIOUS! I totally like this one the best!"  I guess we have our winner.

Vocabulary

Heeoucheese

Josh: "Mom, do you know what Heeoucheese means?"
Me: "Nope.  What does it mean?"
Josh: "When you hit your elbow you say Heeoucheese.  And plus I just learned this from my brain.  It's just a new Spanish word. So when you hit your elbow you say Heeoucheese and that's saying 'Ouch' in Chinese."
Me: "Wait, I thought it was Spanish?"
Josh: "Oh yeah, Spanish.  I get those two mixed up sometimes."

Magnets

This morning Josh was playing with some Magnetix that he borrowed from his Aunt Jen.  After a while he laughs and says "Mom, guess what?  A magnet ball just rolled up my sleeve!"
"At least it didn't roll up your nose" I replied.
"Why not?  That would be funny."
"No Josh, that would NOT be funny."
"Why?" he asks with a puzzled look on his face.  Really? Why?  Whatever, I decide to play along and answer.
"Because I would have to take you to the hospital to get it out and it would really hurt.  You don't want to have to go to the hospital do you?"
"No."  A moment of silence then, "Could I still breath through my nose?"
"Probably through the other side" I reluctantly answer.
"That's good right? How would they get it out?"
"I don't know for sure but they'd probably have to use tweezers."  All these questions have made me anxious and so I want to make sure he's not thinking about trying it.  "You're not thinking about trying it, are you?  Because that's just stupid."
"No, you're not suppose to put them up your nose."
Relieved I start walking away when he adds "Only fingers go up your nose, right mom?" *sigh*

Wingers

While Mike was gone on a business trip, I asked Josh if he wanted to go to Winger's for dinner.  He looked up at me from his Mac and Cheese and said "I'd be okay with that."  So off we went.  When we got there he asked if we were at the Spanish Fork one.  I told him we were and he said "Good, because they have the newest and most delicious food." Thank you billboard.

Cookies

The other day I was craving some Lemon Creme Sandwich Cookies.  Growing up it seemed like my dad always had some of these in his office.  Later that day, Josh was with me at the grocery store when I picked up some of those cookies.  I told him how good they were and that I ate them as  kid.  He asked "Mom, can I have one when we get home?"
"Sure" I told him as we continued walking down the cookie isle. This made him super happy until we arrived at the Oreos.
"Mom, can we get some Oreos...Please!"
I looked at him with a bewildered expression on my face and said "Josh, didn't you just see me put some cookies into the cart? That's more than enough cookies for us, I'm not going to buy Oreos too."
"What cookies?" he asked.
"Really Josh? Don't you remember that I was just telling you I had them as a kid and you asked if you could have one when we got home?"
"Oh yeah."
Then wanting to make sure that he understood that this meant we were NOT getting the Oreos, I said "Are you ok with that?"
He put the Oreos back and with a smile on his face pointed to the cookies in the cart and said "Yeah.... because these are like the Oreo's brother."

Neck Pain

While driving in the car, Josh was in the backseat playing with Lyndsey when he said "Ow." I asked him if he was okay and what had happened.  He said "you know when your saying a word but trying to hold it back at the same time?  Well I did that and it hurt my neck." 

Josh's New Word

Josh added a new word to his vocabulary this week.  It happened while we were playing a game online.  We ran out of lives and I told Josh that all we could do was wait.  He looked at the screen and said "Well that sucks."
I swiveled around to look at him and asked him what he said.  He took a step back and put his hands over his mouth.  He looked remorseful and I couldn't bear to see him like that so I calmly and quietly said that we don't say that word.  I asked if he heard it a lot and he said yes.  He told me he wouldn't say it anymore.  

Mrs. Echols 2

On Mon, Sep 26, 2011 at 7:26 PM, Michael Levie <mglevie@msn.com> wrote:

Josh has been doing a lot better at focusing on his homework here at home. His attitude has also changed drastically and he is so much happier now. I used your advice about getting him to recognize how he feels after accomplishing his homework and have carried it over into his other activities. He seems to really enjoy that. I talk with him everyday about school and he only has good things to say. Everyday is still 'great!' I'm wondering though, how do YOU think he's doing? It seems like he's doing pretty good on his spelling but that he's still struggling with his timed math. How's he doing with math concepts in general? How is his reading coming along? He seems to have a lot of words memorized but he struggles sounding words out. I've noticed that he doesn't recognize word 'chunks' as having a certain sound like '-tion'. Has his behavior improved at all during class time? If you have any more suggestions on things we can do at home that would help him learn things better or help him improve, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks,

Genevieve

On Tues, Sep 27, 2011

He is so adorable! He is always smiling and always seems happy. I love having him in class! I, too, have noticed that he's done much better with focusing and getting his work done. As far as timed tests go he's not the only one. Starting tomorrow I am going to have a "first stop" and a "second stop". So he'll be in the second stop and get about 30 more seconds to work. I'm mostly looking to see that students can quickly and easily add these small facts so that when we start into concepts that build upon addition it will not be completely overwhelming. On his test today (I haven't sent them home yet) he only missed answering 5 problems! So that extra 30 seconds should allow him time to finish. Josh did great on his math test! He only missed 3 out of 40 questions! I think he does well in math. As far as reading goes, I plan to be reading with him in a small group every Tuesday through Friday. He reading slightly below grade level but I'm not worried about him. I think we'll get him right on grade level in no time. We will work with words and parts of words to help him build those skills for sounding words out. The best thing you can do to help him is to have him read his "take home" book every night and to read to him. Also, rereading books is a great way to practice being a smooth, fluent reader. His behavior is great! He pays attention and remembers (most of the time!) how to behave. I am not worried about his behavior at all. :)

Let me know if you have anymore questions!

Thanks!
Rebecca

How many times..?

How many times can one person touch their face while reading an easy 12 page book?  Well, let's see.

Today during reading Josh did:

Page 1: Nose scratch, chin rub, cheek scratch, cheek rub.
Page 2: Cheek scratch, nose rub, nose rub cheek scratch.
Page 3: Cheek scratch
Page 4: Nose rub, ear scratch, cheek rub, nose scratch, nose rub, cheek scratch, cheek scratch, cheek scratch.

I'll stop there.  You get the picture.  And every time he does one of these things he slows down, his book closes and he looses his place.  It takes a while to open the book back up, look at the picture for anything he missed the first 4 times and then to find his place again. But by that time, he feels the need to touch or scratch somewhere else.  After weeks of this, I finally made a new rule.  No touching your face while reading.  You can scratch all you want while you turn pages but not in the middle of the page.  Yes, sometimes it takes a whole minute to turn a page because he is touching every part of his face just in case, but it's worth it. 

Commercials and Infomercials

As I was writing that last post I started thinking about some of the other commercials/infomercials that have made an impression on Josh.  When he was 4 he saw an RC Willey billboard while we were driving.  I didn't even notice it until I heard him say "Your home Your way RC Willey."

Earlier this year Josh asked me what kind of fridge we had.  "I have no idea" I replied.  "Why?"
He said "Because we should get a Kenmore. 'You can fit more in a Kenmore.'"

Last week as we were driving through town, he saw the sign for a store called "Love to Learn."  We had been inside a couple times and he had made his first 'big' purchase there.  A container of Sea Monkeys which hatched but died the next day.  As we're driving by, he says "They should make a commercial for Love to Learn and I know what part of it will say."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah.  It should say "This store has lots of fun things for your kids.""

At one point he wanted to get a Shark Vacuum and even tried to get me to buy the Aqua Globes. "But Josh, we don't even have any plants."
"But we can get some and then you won't have to water it all the time."

Oh, and we can't forget the Pillow Pets.  "But mom, it's a pillow AND a pet. So I don't have to worry about where my stuffed animal is because it will be with my pillow."

And of course the Snuggie.  I received this as a Christmas gift one year from Josh and I have to admit, it lives up to it's hype and more.

Most parents worry about what show's their kids are watching.  Not me.  I just have to worry about the commercials.

PackIt

Josh loves commercials.  No, really, he LOVES them.  Tonight at dinner Josh was pouring himself some milk when he said "If you have a PackIt, you can take milk to school."  Mike and I looked at each other completely confused.  I'm trying to figure out if he means like a carton of milk or one of those pouches for emergencies or something.  I have no idea.  We ask him about it again and he just keeps saying "it's a PackIt and it keeps stuff cold."  As I'm searching through my limited memory I flash upon an image of a commercial for a lunch box that is suppose to keep food cold for a long time.  "Ohhh" I say "You mean the one on tv that you put in the freezer to keep the food cold?"
"Yeah. It keeps food cold for up to 10 min."
"You mean 10 hrs?"
"Yeah 10 hrs.  We should get one."

Football

For the last BYU game we went to Brad's house for a pre-game BBQ.  As Misty and I were discussing the game, she said "there's suppose to be a fly over." (meaning, of course, how the jets fly over the stadium before the game starts.)  Josh was in the kitchen when she said this and he comes running out yelling "You're right!  There is a fly over.  It's in the kitchen!"  We sure had a good laugh.

Wrestling

A few weeks ago a flier for wrestling came home from school and so I asked Josh if he wanted me to sign him up.  I was using all my brain power to influence him to say no because there is just something about guys wearing singlets that is just nasty.  It didn't work.  So I said "you know that wrestling is kind of tough.  You might get hurt but you can't complain because that's just part of wrestling."
He got a big grin on his face and said "That's good that I have special training from Tyler Valgardson, because we've done wrestling before."

Timed Math

Josh came home from school yesterday with 2 pages of math problems with 100% written at the top.  He said that everyday before they leave school, they do a timed test.  He said that he finally passed his +0's off yesterday (Wednesday) and then had just passed off his +1's.  He was so excited.  From what I can gather, they just started it this week, they get 1:30 min to complete 25 problems and since he missed Monday, he's only done it for 3 days.  He told me that he didn't pass the 0's the first time because he got too distracted.  But then he passed them and then he passed the 1's too.  I praised him like crazy and asked him how it made him feel and he said "kind of scared and like nervous."  That was not the response I had expected.  I asked him why and he said "When I'm doing it and I get near the end then it's like my body just goes....like....I can barely even write down the answer. I'm like...trying really hard but it's like.."
I'm finally able to ignore all his 'like's' and figure out what he's talking about so I say "oh, you get nervous?"
"Yeah and then it's like I'm so excited to finish that I can't write.  But then I can and then I finish!" He cracks me up.  Today he get's to do his +2's and I'm interested to see how that goes.  He did a practice one this morning and it took him 4 min to finish.
Overall though, he's been doing amazingly well these last 2 weeks. He's gotten into the homework routine and is getting really fast at finishing.  We started piano lessons this week too and he's done a great job practicing.  I'm so proud of him and I'm hoping that this is the start of a great school year.

Recess

All last year I would ask Josh what he did at school.  He would always respond with "we had recess." So I'd ask him what he did at recess and he would tell me that he played by himself.  He usually played 'Bakugan' but would sometimes play on the playground equipment.  I tried to figure out why he played by himself when he is such an outgoing, socially needy kid, but he would only ever say 2 things.  First, he liked to play by himself.  Second, that the other kids never waited for him.  I asked him if he's ever asked them if he could play with them and he said no, that they always just ran past him. I finally gave up on trying to get him to play with friends during recess and he seemed fine with it.  Well, this year I was hoping it would be different.  But everyday after school I ask him about recess and he says the same thing, "I just played by myself."  Ughh.  I felt bad for him, so after the first 2 weeks, I stopped asking.  Yesterday he brought up recess and said "Guess what I did at recess?" I said something about playing on the swirling chairs or something and he was like "no!" like that was the dumbest idea in the world.  Thanks.  He said "I played dragons with my friends." I didn't have to ask many questions because he just started talking non stop.
"I played with Fisher and Chelsea and another kid whose name I don't know and we even got to play with the star student, T.J. And we played dragons but we didn't fly like real dragons!"  At this point he busts up laughing like the thought of it was hilarious. "But I do want to figure out how to do it. I'll have to experiment.  No , that won't work.  No.  No not that either."  I assume he's thinking up ideas in his head and then just vocally dismissing them, although he never tells me what the ideas are. He then goes on to explain how the dragon game works. "We chase Chelsea, because boys chase girls. When 2 of us get her then one grabs one arm and the other boy grabs the other arm and we take her and lock her up.  Then after she's locked up for a little bit then they get married."
"Who get's married?" I asked.
"The leader and Chelsea."
"Who's the leader?"
"T.J."
It was hard not to bust out laughing but he was so excited about it that I didn't dare hurt his feelings. "I can't wait for it to be morning!" he shouts.
"Why?" I asked.
"So I can go to school and we can play dragons again.  I'm just so excited!"
Well, when he woke up this morning, the first thing he said was "I'm so excited for school!!" When I asked him why he said "because I get to play with my friends.  I just can't wait for recess."   I'm so glad he found some friends but I'm even happier that he is not the leader and will therefore not be getting  married while in 2nd grade.

Josh-ism

"My belly's mouth watering to eat some food."-Sept 9, 2011 waiting for dinner to be served.

"And the little pig was helpless...actually he was helply."-Sept 14,2011 while looking at a picture of a cartoon pig helping a girl tie her shoe.

Rowley Reunion

Every year we pack up our trailer and head up the canyon to the Rowley Family Reunion.  Since it hadn't been very long since my surgery, I told Mike to go ahead and take Josh camping and that I would be fine at home by myself.  He immediately told me that there was no way that he was going to leave me here and spend all weekend worrying about me.  I thought about it and figured I could lay back, relax and read a book up the canyon as easily as I could here at home, so told Mike that I was up for the trip.  I tried to help get things ready but Mike didn't let me do much.  I asked him to help me into the trailer so that I could see what utensils and things were already in there since I hadn't been in the trailer since I left our Yuba trip early.  He said that he wouldn't  do that but that I could ask him what I was looking for and he would search for it.  I tried to help pack things up and get the food ready but Mike was right, like always, and I wore myself out after only half an hour.  It was awful to have to sit there and watch Mike get EVERYTHING ready.  He never complained though.  We ended up leaving later than we had wanted to, but we made it up the canyon nonetheless.  The trip was great.  Mike did all the cooking and cleaning.  He kept an eye on Josh and made sure that I had all that I needed.  I spent most of the first 2 days just laying around, sleeping, and reading.  Just like I had planned.  One morning Mike left to go running and before he got back, Josh woke up.  He asked if he could go sit out on the porch.  Porch?  We have 3 steps in front of the door and that's it.  But if he wants to call it a porch.... I said that would be fine until Mike got back.  A few minutes later Josh came back into the trailer and said "Mom you have to come out and feel the warm of this beautiful day."  So cute.  Josh had a great time with no responsibility and the freedom to roam camp and mooch food off of everyone else there.  However, I couldn't complain too much because twice he scrounged up some donuts and because he wasn't able to finish them, he came and gave the rest to me.  He's sweet that way.  Gideon wasn't as happy here as he was at Yuba because there were too many dogs and people that he couldn't just roam without supervision.
On the way up the canyon, Mike started playing 20 questions with Josh.  Josh was awful at it.  One time Mike had picked a cow as the answer and it took Josh forever to figure it out.  He knew that it was an animal that ate grass and was brown. When he finally guessed it, after a lot of prompting, he said "cows aren't brown."  When we asked him what color they are he replied "white with black spots."  Well, there you go.
Josh usually sleeps on the top bunk in our trailer but it's kind of a pain because we always worry about him falling off, which  he has already done twice.  He also tends to forget to mention that he's coming down and ends up landing on whoever is sleeping underneath.  On the last night, we had a lot of stuff piled on his bed and so Mike convinced him to sleep on the "big boy bed", the couch.  He put the egg carton pad on top of it and talked it up big time.  The next morning Josh was all compliments about how fantastic the big boy bed was and asked Mike if he could put the egg carton pad on his bunk bed because "it's so soft." Mike told him that it only fit on the couch and so Josh is now convinced that he's found his new bed.  

Mrs. Echols

This is an email from Josh's teacher, Mrs. Echols, in response to one of mine.

Joshua is a great kid! I love having him in my class. He has a great smile. And, he has done much better at his new table than last week. It helps that I am continually getting to know the kids better so I can take care of their individual needs. Josh seems to be happy and making plenty of friends!

Joshua does struggle with focusing on an assignment and getting it done. We have set up our own little reward system where he gets a sticker for every assignment he completes. After he gets 6 stars he gets a small prize. This seems to be working for now, however I don't want him to only rely on extrinsic motivation for such a life skill. I have also kept Josh in from recess twice to finish his work before he can go play. He seems to work much more quickly when that is on the line! But I hate to keep him in too often. So, for now we will keep with the stickers. Reinforcement at home is priceless. I will start sending his chart home so that you can see completed ones and even just asking how many stars he has or how many he earned today can really help him to realize that you are "in on it" too. Hopefully we can move him away from that eventually and see if it made a difference.

One more suggestion: I am going to start encouraging Josh when he completes is work by saying things like, "Doesn't it make you feel good to get your work done?" , "Don't you like that feeling?". This will help him to realize that it really does feel good! and hopefully this will help when we move away from the extrinsic motivation towards an intrinsic.

Joshua really is a great kid. Every child has their challenges and I am here to help them move past those challenges. I truly want the best for Josh and I believe that as the three of us work as a team we can do that.

Thanks!
Rebecca

2nd Grade

Josh started school last week and his teacher, Mrs. Echols, is AMAZING.  On the first day of school we arrived early so that we could figure out where he was suppose to go.  We found his class and his teacher immediately came over and started chatting with him.  He felt at ease immediately.  I gave her a quick once over and since I'm a very shallow person, planned to base my opinion of her on the way she looked.  I noticed that she had on clean, plain work clothes and was walking around in some plain jane sneakers.  I loved her instantly.  After we got Josh situated I pulled her aside to give her a quick heads up.  I debated long and hard on whether or not I should even say anything, but decided that she should at least be warned.  I let her know that Josh has a hard time concentrating and get's distracted very easily.  I also mentioned that his teacher last year wouldn't communicate with me and it made things pretty rough.  I also told her that I would love to help with anything, both at home and in the classroom.  The whole conversation only took maybe 2 or 3 minutes. She seemed very understanding and I left hoping that I had done the right thing.  I  worried that she might take what I said and immediately give him up as a lost cause.  Add to that his very unattractive 'skin diseased' looking face and...

The next day I spent all day at the Dr's office and had planned ahead of time for a neighbor in our ward to pick Josh up from school.  He didn't see her as soon as he got out of school and was crying when she found him.  I felt awful.  He toughed it out though.  When I got home I asked Josh about the kids that sat at his table.  He said "Well, I don't really know them that well yet because I'm at a new table." I groaned and asked why. He said "Well.....see....there's this really funny kid in my class.." I burst out laughing.  I could picture it in my mind. Josh busting up laughing at everything this kid did.  I was also relieved to know that the teacher was on top of things and split them up immediately before it became a bigger problem.  I asked him how he felt about her moving his desk and he said "Good, because now I can't get distracted."  Right... He also said  that the other 3 kids at his table were girls and they were really quiet.  He liked that too because that meant they got a lot of table points.  Smart kid.

The CT scan had revealed that not only did I have an ovarian cyst like I had expected, but also kidney stones.  Unfortunately, this cyst would need to be surgically removed.  Because I was in pain and unable to eat due to nausea, I was quickly lined up for surgery.  It started out as a Laparoscopy but ended up being a Laparotomy.  The doctor found cysts and endometriosis galore.  In the end he was able to save a 'sliver' of each ovary.  Then he brightened up and told me that I am more fertile now than I have been in the last 5 years.  Josh heard us discussing this and his face instantly lit up. "You're going to have a baby!?" There aren't words to explain the pain that I felt in my heart for him.  He looked so hopeful and..and...trusting. I tried to downplay it but did admit that it was possible.  He mentioned it about 4 more times that day and each time his face would light up again with that same hopefulness.  He would be such a good big brother.  He loves Lyndsey with all his heart and helps me watch and take care of her.  I would love for him to be able to have a little brother or sister.  Only time will tell.

So while I was busy hanging out at the hospital, Mike and our neighbor took care of getting Josh to and from school.  I spent the night and was released the next afternoon.  I was immediately put to bed and Mike was in charge.  He was and still is amazing.  He took such good care of me, no nurse could have done better.  There was nothing I needed to do because most of the time he was one step ahead of me.  He would get Josh ready in the morning, cook him breakfast and send him off to school with his lunch box full.  He cooked dinner and did the dishes.  He did laundry and even taught Josh how to do his own laundry, which Josh is very proud of, by the way. (I am too!!)  He went out of his way to make me more comfortable and picked up prescriptions, medicine and more.  He wouldn't even let me cut my own nectarine!  He was so sweet.  He wanted to go down stairs and play Zelda one night and I said I wanted to go too.  I had been told not to do stairs but I figured that didn't really apply to me.  Mike wasn't sure it was a great idea but after I kept saying I'd be fine, he slowly helped me down the steps.  I made it about halfway before we stopped and I admitted that it was a very bad idea.  Mike didn't get upset or anything and just lovingly, and gingerly walked me back up the stairs.  He then unplugged the Wii and brought it up to our bedroom so that I could still be with him while he played. He did a lot of other things but I'll only mention one more.  He told me that he was planning on working outside on the sprinkler system the next day and said that he was thinking that I might like it if he took out a camping chair and an umbrella and I could sit out there with him and get some fresh air.  Oh my gosh!  Isn't that so romantic? And the next day we did just that and it was perfect.  Ohh, I'm in love.

Vocabulary

Evening-"That's just a short way to say 1/2 morning and 1/2 nighttime right?  That's cool."

Yuba

Oh how I love Yuba!  A week of stress free, relaxed living...normally.  This year was definitely an exception.  We started packing the trailer after church last Sunday and planned to leave as soon as it was ready.  I asked Josh to please unload the dishwasher.  Yikes.  That was the wrong thing to do.  "It's too hard.  I don't think I can do it all.  I don't want to.  It's not fair."  Those are just a few of the excuses and complaints that he used instead of just doing it.  Finally I told him that he could either clean out the dishwasher or he could spend the rest of the day/night in the trailer once we got to Yuba.  Thinking he would hate this, I felt pretty confident that he would clean out the dishwasher.  You'd think I'd have learned by now.  He chose to stay in the trailer.  Great.  Then Mike hears about it.  He tells Josh that it was not an option.  He has to clean out the dishwasher, there was no getting around it.  Well that made Josh upset and the next 20 min were spent with Josh yelling and screaming while Mike took his toys away one by one.   You would think that Josh would understand that to stop Mike from taking away his toys, he needed to stop crying and clean out the dishwasher.  Nope.  Well blah blah blah Josh finally cleans out the dishwasher and we're on our way.
The next day I experience some pain in my stomach/side and come home to try and figure out what's wrong.  They can't find anything and since I'm feeling better I head back down. Tuesday went by without a hitch but on Wed I started feeling sick again.  After being miserable for hours and unable to sleep, I finally leave Yuba to come home and be sick in my own bed.  Thursday I feel quite a bit better and head off to play on our coed softball team.  Before the game's over (which I didn't play in) I'm feeling that sharp stabbing pain in my side again.  I spend that night miserable.  The next morning, Friday, I see the Dr. who orders a cat scan.  Unfortunately this won't take place until Monday and I'm dreading the thought of having to drink all the nastiness that they gave me.
So while I was pretty much MIA, poor Josh got this:

Poor guy.  His life jacket had been rubbing against his chin all week and now he looks awful.  What a great way to start the school year.  His teacher's going to think he has some kind of a disease or something.  Also, he missed 'back to school' day because I was at the dr's office so he doesn't even know who his teacher is and school starts tomorrow.  Yikes.  I'm so nervous for him.  Oh well.  He says that he had a blast at Yuba and I'm sure he did.  He even went on the tube multiple times out of his own free will and choice.

Happy Birthday!

You know that Primary song, "..One year older and wiser too..?" Well, Josh takes that literally.  All day long he would do something or say something and then follow it up with "I know that because I'm 7 now" or "Now that I'm 7 I can do ____ all by myself."  Yeah right.  However, I must admit that I did encourage this thinking in the hopes that he would gain more confidence in his ability to do things by himself.
Jake and Jen have been staying with us for a few days while they search for an apartment.  It has been a lot of fun for us.  Josh has LOVED it.  The first thing he says in the morning is "Are Jake and Jen here?"  And then all day long all I hear are comments about Jake and Jen. "Shouldn't they be home by now?  How come they're not home yet?  Did they go to do errands?  I think they should be home now."  He sounded worse than an overbearing parent. For his birthday they gave him a caramel covered apple. He still talks about it.

I decided to start a new tradition this year and put a dollar bill inside 7 different balloons that he could pop with a pin.  He had a blast.  I liked that he had to jump for them.  One of the balloons popped and then stuck to the wall.  This caused him great happiness and was shown to everyone who stopped by.

I also made him a BeyBlade pinata but never got around to taking pictures of it.

August Already? Part 2

This morning Josh came running in the door frantically yelling "She has a DS. She has one.  This is incredible. I need to go to the bathroom because I'm just so excited that she has a DS."  He's talking about the neighbor girl to our north.  That was the only explanation I got because by this time he had finished going to the bathroom, with the door open of course, and was muttering "I can't believe it.  I just can't believe it" as he ran back outside slamming the door.

We decided that Josh was going to run a mile fun run in July.  Actually I decided and Josh and Mike had no choice but to follow along.  Josh's first "training" session was pretty slow.  Over a 16 min/mile.  Yikes.  After a few times of me taking him, Mike stepped in.  I don't know if Josh is afraid of Mike or just thinks that I'll baby him, because his speed increased pretty significantly.  He was down to a 12ish min/mile the week before the race.  The day of the race came and he was a little nervous but he sucked it up and ran his heart out!  His official time was a 10:03 min/mile.  I couldn't believe he did it that fast.  He was definitely motivated by all those other kids.  Mike ran most of the race with him as a 'pacer' sort of thing and told me that at one point Josh glanced behind him and said "Dad look at all those kids behind me!"  That a boy. 

Josh also participated in a "Fish Rodeo."  You pay $5 and then you get into a big pool full of fish.  You use a net to catch one and then get to take it home.  Josh thought it sounded fun so we signed him up.  They had volunteers "helping" so it only took Josh about a minute to catch one and get it bagged up.  I tried to convince him to leave it there like some of the other kids had done, but he refused.  He wanted to keep it.  On the way home we explained that it couldn't be a pet and that it was soon going to die.  He accepted this and as soon as we got home he ran over to get Bode while I filled up a bucket with water.  They had a blast "playing" with the fish.  Even Gideon joined in.  By the end, the fish was dead and bleeding from multiple places.  I was able to get Gideon to pick it up and take it into the backyard so that Mike could bury it in the garden.  It was all very gross but Josh had a great time.

August Already?

Wow!  I can't believe it's already August.  I've definitely been slacking on posting updates but that's just the way it goes sometimes.  Josh has had a blast so far this summer.  We've had plenty to keep us busy and on our toes.  I've jotted down a few notes of random things Josh has said or done, so in no particular order, here we go.
I bought Josh a new laundry pop up bag and he loves it.  He is constantly taking it down to the laundry room whenever he feels like there are too many clothes in there.  Normally it's only two or three days worth but I figure this is good practice.  The other day he came out of his room wearing only his boxers and announced that his laundry was too full and that he was taking it downstairs.  He then headed down to the laundry room and was gone for a good 10 min.  Just when I was starting to think about wondering if I should be worried about him, I hear him coming up the stairs singing "I'm a Mexican, I'm a Mexican! I'm a Mexican, I'm a Mexican, I'm a Mexican."  By this time he's outside my office door and when I glance over he is standing there in his boxers with a big sombrero on his head.  Yep.  Definitely a Mexican. Unfortunately I never took a picture of that.  Darn.

I've been super tired lately and have had to take a lot of naps. The mornings seem to be the worst and by the time I do make it out of bed, the last thing I want to do is make breakfast.  This particular morning was no exception.  Josh came into my room and asked if he could have cereal for breakfast.  I tried to trick myself into thinking I was going to make breakfast and told Josh no and that I would go make it in just a minute.  About half hour later, I groggily walk into the kitchen and tell Josh "I changed my mind.  You can have cereal."  He practically jumps for joy and immediately grabs some cereal just in case I decide to change my mind again.  As I'm pouring my cereal I half jokingly say "It's a good thing you have such a lazy mom so that you can have cereal all the time."  Josh replies "You ARE a lazy mom. You sleep in all the time and almost never get your work finished."  I just laugh because I can't argue with that. 

 
Josh has a morning routine that consists of waking up and saying "Is it past 9 o'clock yet?" This is because I once told him that he couldn't watch cartoons until 9 and it just kind of stuck. Before he really knew about the wonders of Cartoon Network, I would be in charge of the remote and turn it to something that was sweet and innocent and somewhat educational.  You know, like "The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That" or "Curious George" or even "Super Why". However, he soon learned (with Mikes help I'm assuming) that he could watch other cartoons like Bakugan and Beyblade.  One morning he came in and said "Do you know how I like watching like 'cool' cartoons now that I'm older?  Do you think you can find one for me?" How could I say no?  He has since learned that all his favorite shows are on channel 32. He no longer thinks that the other shows are up to his level.  He reiterated this fact just yesterday in the car when he said that he hated the Primary song 'If you chance to meet a frown' because "it's like for preschoolers."

Swimming Lessons

Wow, what to say about Josh.  School's been out for over a month now and I'm pretty sure that he's already lost whatever it was they claimed to have taught him last year.  Oh well, that's what 2nd grade's for, right?  Josh just finished swim lessons at the local pool.  He loved it.  I was upset at the beginning because they automatically stuck him in the beginning level because of his age even though he had taken swim lessons for the past 2 years at another pool.  However, he ended up getting sick and missing 3 days so it all worked out okay.  He was also the most advanced kid in the class and he loved it.  The teacher would brag on him and tease him that he was showing off and Josh would eat it up.  Overall, a great experience.

Man, look at those ribs!  I promise that I usually feed him.  Well, at least 2 out of the 3 meals.

 What's he thinking?

That's his teacher waiting at the bottom for him.  The second time, he had Josh swim to the side all by himself.  Josh was pretty proud.

Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs are still ALIVE!!  Yes, we witnessed it with our own two eyes this past week at the local zoo.  Josh was kind enough to point out which of the dinosaurs roaming the zoo were real and which were, in fact, fake.

This dinosaur is fake because...

...it shoots water out of it's mouth.

And although this dinosaur is fake...

...Josh would not put his head or any other part of his body near the dinosaurs mouth. I don't think Mike's play acting helped encourage him either.  

The rest of the dinosaurs you'll see are very real.

The dinosaurs weren't the scariest part of the trip for Josh's Uncle Ben.

The whole trip wasn't gloom and doom though.  There were a couple highlights.  The gorilla was very entertaining.  We loved watching it slam it's plastic lids against the glass and pound it's chest.

The elephant was fun to climb on.  Watch out for its sneeze.

The horses weren't so bad either.

He did enjoy pretending to be a turtle, for about 3 seconds.

And at last, the Carousel.  Amanda was kind enough to escort Josh since he was a little nervous to ride by himself.  The first round he chose a safe, stationary peacock.

 After getting his nerves out of the way, he went all out by choosing a ....

....Penquin?  That's my boy!!