Chinese Steamed Buns (Bao)

Well I did it. With all my Dutch heritage and genetic baking inheritance from my Grandfather (Opa) I mastered (well... sorta) the art of Chinese Steamed Buns.

Winter is still here

Weird white stuff falling from the sky seems to be happening more often lately. First we had a Hail Storm on Thursday which lasted for almost an hour and accumulated enough that in the picture I took it looks looks like snow. I really should have taken a closeup so that you could see the tiny, and not so tiny, balls of ice that make up those snow drifts. Was quite odd driving through a blizzard of hail, and then later that night hearing thunder followed by the ping and thud of hail instead of the steady rhythm of rain.

Now there is actual fluffy snow falling, if it sticks I'll take another picture. I knew it was cold this morning when I bundled Son into his winter jacket, but I really wasn't expecting to see snow. The weather man so rarely gets the predictions right that I really didn't believe him today, I thought it would warm up and we would have rain instead. Oh well, the kids will enjoy it during their breaks from class today. :)

Goodbye and hello

We said goodbye to a longtime friend last week. Spooky, the cat I'd had for 12 yrs, passed away on Thursday. He went quietly at the vets office. I have to think that he is in a better place now. He had CRF and had been failing slowly over the past few years. The past months the changes were happening faster, he was slowing down a lot, wasn't coming to meet us at the door anymore (he use to be waiting for us before we got up the stairs), and seemed to forget where the litter box was more and more often. His overall behaviour was degrading as well, he had always had sooo much patience for Son, lately Spooky had been nipping at him almost before Son could say hello. It was very sad. He was not a happy kitty. We would sometimes let him outside to explore with supervision, but more and more he was going into the bushes and hiding instead of exploring. It freaked Son out when he couldn't find Spooky right away, he hated the thought of him going missing.

We spent a lot of time over the last year warning Son that Spooky was very very sick and might not get worse for a while, but that he would never get completely better. He knew that eventually the illness would win. This isn't to say that he was completely ready to say goodbye, neither was I. I still look over to side of the living room where Spooky's cat tree was expecting to see him curled up there. I still look for him on my bed to warm my feet. It is a very odd thing to put a pile of clean laundry down on the bed and know that when I come back there won't be a cat curled up on it.

We will miss you Spooky.

One of the things that helped Son cope with the idea of loosing a friend he had known for his entire life was the idea of getting a new pet. He knew it wouldn't be a dog or a cat, but a fish might be OK. He had seen his cousin's betta fish and thought that might be something we would get him. I was thinking a small 1 or 2 gallon tank with a couple of plants and a single fish. After reading more about Betta fish I realized that it would need about 5 gallons, still a fairly small tank, not a problem I thought just more room for plants or decorations. That was before Hubby started looking into Betta fish and tanks. Those of you who know Hubby know that he doesn't just do something, he researches and reads and falls in love with the process. This is what happened in regards to the fish. We now have a lovely "Nano Cube 12 Gallon Deluxe" fish tank, lots of plants, and some wood for interest. The one thing we do not have is any fish.

We have been researching and learning and following instructions from the fish store.... then following new instructions from actual keepers of fish. The result of following the new instructions is an almost crystal clear tank with actual oxygen bubbles coming from the plants instead of a cloudy tank with sad looking plants. For some reason they didn't like the salt we put in the first batch of water, who knew? The addition of bio-and-fertilizer-infused gravel couldn't have hurt either. According to all we have read, we might actually be able to add in a fish or two in 3 weeks. Son is very very sad, he keeps asking when we are going to get a fish, any fish. I hate to make him wait, but really I'd rather not kill any fish... not this soon after loosing the first pet we had.

Summer is Almost Over

I can't believe the summer has gone by so fast. Actually the last several months have gone by pretty quickly.

I really enjoyed being able to be home with Son before and after school. I know he was happier home with me than at daycare. It was important to me to be able to work with Son on his printing and reading for more than 1/2 hr a day crammed in between dinner and bed. I think he learned a lot, hopefully he hasn't forgotten all of it over the summer! We still have a Math tutor coming in every week so I know that he has gained some ground there and I know his reading hasn't degraded, but I'm still not sure if it's up to 'grade level' whatever that is suppose to be. I'm hoping that he gets a good teacher that will expect good things from him and not just accept the least he is willing to offer. He tends to 'test' new teachers to see how little he can do and have them accept it. This lead to a huge difference in his printing and reading at home vs. school last year, with him doing better work at home. His teacher said that it was because he had 1-on-1 instruction at home, but the Resource teacher had no idea that he was capable of so much until we told her... in March!!! At least they all know what he can/could do now, and this information should be passed on to his new teacher.

I took a huge step this month, I got a job! I am now working 2.5 days a week at my Chiropractors office. This type of work is very new to me, I've not had to deal with the public so much since my retail days back when I was working my way through BCIT. After almost 2 years of working from home this alone was a culture shock. Then add in medical files and patient payments and Gait Scans and you get an idea of all the little things that I have to learn in order to get through the day. My first full day alone kinda fell apart in the afternoon: I forgot to write in new patients on the Chiropractors schedule; I didn't schedule enough time to pull the next days files; I kept forgetting small steps that would have made the afternoon go faster; oh ya, and a patient called at 3:30pm to make an appointment for that day and wouldn't believe me when I said we were booked and closed at 5pm. All in all, it took me about an hour longer to close up than it should have. The next full day alone went much smoother, I was only 10 minutes behind. I have hope that I'll survive this and continue to get better at expecting the unexpected.

I know I said I wanted to work from home at least part of the time, but this is a good compromise.I will be able to walk Son to school 3 days a week and pick him up 2 days a week. Another Mom will take him home with her on the 3 days I work later and Hubby will pick him up from there. It should work out just fine for all of us. Not to say that if I had a chance to work only from home and walk him to and from school everyday that I wouldn't be tempted, but I'm not holding my breath waiting for the 'dream job' to show up.

This week will be all about learning to wake up early again. It figures that my Son, who would normally wake up at 7am no matter what time he went to bed, would pick this summer to learn how to sleep in. He usually wakes up between 8:30am and 9am now, which just won't work in a couple of weeks when school starts at 9am and he has to be fed, dressed and walked over there before that. I am planning to wake him up a little earlier each morning this week so that by the end of the week he's at least waking up before 8am. That is the goal anyway, wish me luck. :)

No work, still busy

Well I've been 'laid off' for a month now and the time has flown by. I took a week to decompress and get use to the idea of not having to start work at 8:30 every morning. This was a great thing, I caught up on sleep and spent time with my family. Then I got a throat infection and was sick for over a week, not the most fun way to spend the time, but at least I wasn't missing work and feeling guilty while I recovered. Then came Spring Break for my Son's school, I had already planned to take that time off to spend with him. It was a good week :).

Last week I went to day 1 of Career Transition training to learn about how best to start my Job Search journey. The course is put on by Knightsbridge and is part of my severance package from work. I made some good contacts while I was there and while I knew that I would have to 'clean up' and add information to my resume before, now I know that I will have to completely rework my resume to make it more effective. So much work to do as part of looking for work! It's a good thing I have some breathing room and can afford to find a job which is a good fit for me rather than just getting the first job that comes along.
Transition training - Day 1:
- Understanding Career Transition
- Trends and Opportunities in the Marketplace
- Reviewing Your Career
- Developing your Target and Focus
- Understanding how Employers Find People
- Communication Strategies - Resumes and Cover Letters

I'm rather enjoying being home and avaivable for my son, I will miss that when I go to work. My ideal job would be as an Administrative Assistant or Software/Hardware help-desk type Support person either work from home, part-time in the office (10am-2pm), or flexible where I could work from home part of the time and work in the office part of the time. That would allow me to pick up my son from school and set him up with homework while I finish off my work for the day. He is very good at entertaining himself as long as he knows I am available if things go really wrong. I think I have been spoiled by working from home for so long. I have no troubles starting to answer emails at 7am and checking for issues and finishing spreadsheets/documents up to 6pm, or later, since that usually comes along with a bit of flexibility which allows me to drop off and pick up my son from school.

I have no illusions though, likely I will end up with a "9-5" go to the office job, but as long as I enjoy the work and the people I work with this will be fine. I have made sure to keep Son's spot saved for him at Daycare so that I can just slide him back into the system when my new job, whatever it turns out to be, starts up.

Teacher Meeting accomplished

Well, we had our meeting with the teacher last week. It went well, I think. She did admit that because Son is so quiet she often won't notice that he isn't doing his desk work until the time is up and she sees his empty or doodled worksheet. She said she will be making an effort to check in on him sooner and not let herself be distracted so much by the louder rowdy kids. She now realizes that Son is just as frustrated as they are, just showing it in a different way. We talked about different ways that Son shows his frustration and how we deal with it at home, hopefully she will remember to look for those signs. His situation will be mentioned at the next meeting she has with the teacher resources to get more ideas on how to help him succeed.

She admitted that he had gone into the cloakroom that day a few times and she hadn't noticed until one of the other kids told her. She seemed embarrassed about that, and she should be. We told her that he uses 'hiding' as a way to avoid things he doesn't want to do. She will keep an eye on that and use similar language as what we are using at home when talking him out of the cloakroom. The good thing is that the kids in the class aren't making fun of him, they were concerned as to why he was in there and tried to help him themselves before going to get the teacher. This seems like a very supportive group of 6 & 7 year olds.

I really hope something comes out of all of this. I don't want him to be left behind or forgotten because he is quiet and well behaved. I won't accept 'he so young' as a reason for him not doing the work in class. I won't let him be left behind.

Something a little concerning that I discovered during the meeting is that he tested into the lowest possible levels in both reading areas that he was assessed for. This is the kid who can read 'early reader' books from the library and is sounding out words so wonderfully when working on the Set 3 "Word Families" Bob Books. It just goes to show how different things are in the classroom vs home. I think the more confident he gets at school the better he will do. In theory he should 'progress' very quickly once he learns what they want to hear. :)

I got some good news today around these issues. While talking to the teacher, after taking Son to school, she mentioned that since our meeting he has been listening more and not resisting going for 'floor time' or other activities as much. He isn't asking "why" he has to leave his current activity right then; he's getting into the routine of the class. He seems to be more aware that we talk and all want him to participate in the class work so that he can learn. This makes me very happy.

I'm still planning to sign him up for Time4Learning, it will give him some extra reading and math practice. He enjoys doing educational games on the computer so I think this will be a good compromise for those days when he wants to watch a movie instead of playing with his toys. Considering they have a special on until November 30th where you get full access for $20 over 2 months instead of $20/month, this is a good time to try it out. We will be able to see how he deals with it over the Christmas break too.

"Fun" with School

Son has been in school for 2 months now and I feel like I've failed him already.

He is reading phonetically really well, he can sound out most words he sees if I break them down into syllables for him. But he doesn't have a huge vocabulary of words he can read quickly. He also has extreme issues with printing, namely he doesn't want to do it. (He seems to feel that if he can't do something perfectly that he shouldn't do it at all.) These 2 things make it hard for him to complete the worksheets in class. He can't read the instructions so by the time he gets to his desk he's forgotten which answers go where on the sheet based on the class discussions. I'm also wondering why he is being given worksheets that ask him to pick the correct spelling for irregular words when he is just learning to read. An example would be:

Circle the word that is spelled correctly
1. da dae day dai
2. bok book buk bouk

Since Son reads phonetically most of these words would 'sound' the same when sounded out. The task assumes he has had enough exposure to the correct spelling to be able to pick the correct spelling out; "day" and "book" don't follow "standard" phonetic rules. *sigh* I feel like these questions would be better suited for a Grade 1 student who came from full day Kindergarten and learned to read and print well in that class. The 1/2 day Kindergarten he had didn't really prepare him for reading instructions on a worksheet.

I feel like I have let him down, or kindergarten did. Last year they were focusing on letter sounds and just starting to write letters, not words. This year by the first Parent/Teacher meeting the Teacher showed us a page of printing copy work she had the class do. He managed to do 1/2 a page and finished 16/20 in the class. Since he wasn't writing sentences last year I thought he had done well until she told me about the other kids doing so much more. Some of the students were able to get to the 2nd side of the page. His teacher last year kept telling us not to worry that he was "very young" and would get it. But now it seems like he is already behind and it's only 2 months into the year.

I started him on the BOB books in the summer and he is already in Set 3 "word families" and doing well. I began doing printing practice with him 5 days a week after the meeting and continued with reading every night. I feel like I now have to start doing the "Language Review" worksheets as well so that he knows what to expect when he sees them in class. I guess that will be extra reading and writing practice. Why does it seem like I'm Homeschooling my son who goes to Public School? The only things I'm not doing at home are Math and Science, I hope he's doing well in those because I just don't have time to do more after school and on weekends. The last 2 weeks he hasn't done his optional homework sheet for class because I've felt that it was more important to learn how to correctly print the numbers and letters than to fill in the blanks for 1-100. There is only so much time I can get him to do work at home before he starts to hate school work and rebel against my help. As it is Hubby and I take turns helping him with printing so that I'm not always the "homework" person.

The teacher seems encouraging, says that he is in a class where he can excel because the students are so caring and helpful. She says that he is happy and fun to have in the class. Then she mentions that she has to take his supplies box away sometimes so that he can focus on his work, or that he needs 1-on-1 attention to do the work that other students are doing by themselves, and that he sometimes draws random marks on his worksheet instead of filling it in.

I have to wonder how prepared he is for Gr 1 and if maybe I should have held him back, do they even let you do that in BC anymore? I know they do a "social pass" for kids that are behind so that they stay with their classmates instead of having to do a grade over again with younger students. I don't think I agree with that. Son was born in August, so he is one of the youngest kids in the class, I hope that doesn't mean he will always be 'behind' his classmates and start feeling like he's no good at school.

I guess all I can do is offer support at home and hope that he picks up the skills he needs to do well in class. Hopefully this happens before he decides that school is where he goes to play with his friends and that class time is a waste of time. He's only in Gr. 1, he shouldn't have that attitude for years yet. ;)

1st Grade and Cast Free Arm

Son has spent a few weeks in 1st Grade now. As far as he is concerned the first week doesn't count, he thinks he was in Kindergarten for that week. He wasn't really but he was in last years classroom with last years teacher, so you can see where the confusion comes in. After 1.5 weeks in his new class with his new Grade 1 teacher he feels like he has finally arrived. He is getting use to the routine of the class and managed to bring home his 'homework bag' 6 out of 7 days. I'm not sure if he's remembering to pass on all our messages to the teacher but at least we are getting the notices from the school. Sooo many notices! I feel like I'm the one back in school with all the forms I have had to fill out and organizing at home to keep him on track. Hopefully that will settle down over time, I'm not ready for Grade 1 plus my regular work!

Son's teacher has started a Parent Reading time 3 days a week. From 9:00am-9:15am each Mon/Wed/Fri the parents can go into the classroom and read stories to their child and any other children who want to listen in. This is a Wonderful Idea and I love it. Too bad my work day starts at 8:30am. *sigh* I made an effort and did go into his class today for the first reading day, it seemed very important to him that one of us be there. Thankfully we live a 5 min walk from the school so it really only takes 1/2 hr out of my day. I don't know how often I will be able to participate though, a lot of my meetings start at 8am and run for an hour or so. He will just have to listen to other parents read. He won't be the only one listening in, I can't be the only one who has to work during the week.

Son's cast finally came off on Thursday Sept 17th after being on for about 3 weeks. I booked a 7:30am appointment so that he wouldn't miss much school. This went well, hubby took him to the Cast Clinic at our local hospital and was back home by 9am to pick up Son's stuff for school. The only piece of information I didn't have when making the appointment was the fact that after removing a full arm cast the individual could be prone to dizzy spells and might even faint. It was suggested that Son stay home for the rest of the day. Had I known that I would have booked a 2pm or 3pm appointment for him so that he could spend the morning and at least part of the afternoon in class instead of missing the entire day. Best laid plans, 20/20 hindsight and all that.

Hubby dropped Son off at school the next day and had a nice chat with his teacher. He passed on the Doctors orders that Son not play on the climbing equipment or swings and the suggestion that he stay inside during recess and lunch so that he wouldn't be tempted. As I'm sure you've guessed, Son reported that he did go out with the rest of his class and played with his friends. At least he survived and didn't re-break his arm in a fall from the equipment. When I picked Son up from daycare I let his After school Care teachers know that he wasn't allowed to climb as well; they aren't set up to keep him inside if the rest of the group goes out. I think they listened as I made sure to mention that the Doctor was worried about the arm re-breaking. No daycare wants to have a child break an arm while under their watch.

It's been almost a week since the cast came off and he is now able to fully extend his arm and no longer complains if we touch it or pull on it a bit. This is great news and I feel like I can stop worrying about him while he is at school and daycare. He will have his first Karate class without his cast tonight. I'm looking forward to hearing how that goes. I made him go to Karate last week even with his cast because he was doing everything he would normally do and had so much energy. He was a little embarrassed because he couldn't extend the arm with the cast but otherwise did well. I'm sure everything will go well now that he can extend his arm and fully participate again.

Birthdays, Broken Bone, & Adventures

Once again August has proved to be a month to remember.

First the fun stuff. Camping was accomplished and we attended 4 birthday parties in 2 weekends!

• August 8 - 12 - Hubby and Son went camping with friends in Harrison Hot Springs. I had to work. It might sounds like I was abandoned, but honestly I was kind of relieved not to be tent camping in the rain. I don't sleep as well in an empty house though, so I was pleased when they came home safe and sound.
  
• Saturday the 15th - We attended the 6th birthday party of Son's best buddy in the park. Much fun was had by all on the tire swing, climbing equipment and running through the water park. Of course the kids enjoyed destroying the piñata and eating the cake too. :)
• Sunday the 16th - Son & I walked onto the ferry to Nanaimo to attend his Great-Granny's 91st birthday. This was our first time on the ferry without Dad and also the first time he didn't want to spend the whole time in the Play Area. We spent a lot of time on deck and wandering from place to place on the ferry in both directions.
  The party itself was great, everyone came that could and Son got to spend time playing with his cousins whom he hadn't seen in about 6 months. All the kids moved as a group, total pack mentality. It was fun to watch. Lunch wasn't served till after 3pm so the kids were directed to the veggie and fruit plate. Son focused on fruit and cherry tomatoes of course. :) Great-Granny was thrilled to have so many kids running around.
• Friday the 21st - Grandma arrived to spend the weekend, she wanted to be here to attend both her grandchildren's birthday parties. Son was thrilled!
• Saturday the 22nd - We attended my niece's 5th birthday party at a different park. Her father had taken the time to set up a treasure hunt, each group of kids had to find the hidden keys then follow the directions to the buried treasure chest. The kids had a blast going through all the treats and prizes in the chest.
• Sunday the 23rd - Son had his birthday party at the rec center of Brother-in-law's townhouse complex. All the kids and about 1/2 the adults had a good swim in the indoor pool then came up in time for a lunch of hot dogs/smokies, veggies, and chips. We also provided the kids with the fun of destroying a piñata and the parents the fun of watching them. Grandma left for the ferry with Brother-in-law after the party.

Here is where life starts to get even more interesting!

• Wednesday the 26th - Oma (Grandma in Dutch) came to visit, she wanted to visit with her aunt and uncle during the day and to be here for Son's actual birthday. While she was off visiting with other family, Son was playing in the playground outside his karate class. Nothing odd about this, he loves to climb all over the equipment and go down the slides. This time he is sharing a spinning wheel (has replaced monkey bars in many playgrounds) with a friend and falls. Again, nothing new, but this time he lands on his arm instead of his feet. He complained that it hurt but there are no lumps or bumps and he can wiggle his fingers so I just took him home, gave him some advil and let him watch some TV. I figured it was a sprain or strain and would get better on it's own. When Hubby got home he took one look at Son's arm and noticed how swollen the elbow was. It was decided to take him in and get that elbow x-rayed. After a few hours in the hospital it was determined that the humerus was fractured near his elbow and he would need a cast. The doctor on call in emergency was pretty confident that we would only need to leave it on for 2 weeks. Son was pretty freaked he had NO idea what a cast was, but he knew he didn't want one! Once he saw what it was and noticed that it didn't hurt as much now that he didn't have to hold his arm up with his other hand he was a bit happier. Son declared this his Worst Birthday Ever! We kinda agree, at least he had his pool party before he broke his arm
• Thursday August 27th - Son's actual birthday! He got to open Oma's present to him and one of mine first thing in the morning but had to wait for Dad to come home before he could open the rest of our present. I was happy to see that he was able to use his new Tag pen and books with just 1 hand. Son got to take the day off from Kids Club and visit Science World with Oma, at least there were activities he could do one handed there. Oma went home after dinner and birthday cupcakes for desert.
• Friday August 28th - My sister and her 3 kids (1 girl 1 yr old, 2 boys 5 yrs & 7 yrs) come to spend the weekend with us. They were sorry to have missed the party and actual birthday but understood that there are just so many people that can fit into our townhouse at one time. Cole was sooo happy to see them and thrilled to be able to come with me to pick them up.
  
• Sunday August 30th - The Boys had a big adventure!
  My sister and I left Hubby with all 4 kids while we went shopping so that the kids wouldn't be bored. He sent the 3 boys out to play in the back yard while our 1 yr old niece napped. After a while he couldn't hear them anymore, quickly checked the outdoor pool and was relieved to see that they weren't there and that a couple of families were using the pool so that they would be noticed if they went there. He had to go back to the house though as niece was still sleeping. He called to get us to check the school playground on the way home and send the kids back.
  About 45 minutes later I got a phone call asking me where the park was that had "4 slides." Apparently the kids had left our complex, crossed 3 main streets and 2 streets leading to other townhouse complexes, followed a path leading over a bridge, past baseball diamonds, and finally arrived at a playground with 4 slides with other good climbing stuff. They enjoyed the park, maneuvered over the rocks in the creek and generally had a good time. They felt very proud of their adventure, after all they had followed all the rules: they looked both ways at the streets, held hands crossing the street, and the oldest child was tall enough that the cars could see them! It was, of course, explained to them that as good as all that stuff was, it didn't negate the fact that they should have told Hubby where they were going. Son had only been to that park about 10 times in his life and usually rides his bike there. It probably took them about 20 min to walk there.
  Privately I'm pretty proud of them all. The oldest wanted to bail and come back, but stuck with the younger kids when they wouldn't hear of giving up. They made it to the park and back with no mishaps. This says a lot for Son's sense of direction and for all of them for remembering the rules for crossing the road. Can't let Son know quite how proud I am of them though, that might give him more ideas. :D
• Monday August 31st - Sister and her children went home, the house was quiet again.
• Wednesday September 2nd - Son had his 2nd bath since getting his cast and somehow managed to get a lot of water in it! None got in the top, so there must have been a hole in the bottom of the bag we used to protect his cast. Poor kid went to sleep clutching a cloth to his cast hoping to soak up some of the water.
• Thursday September 3rd - We called the Cast Clinic to see just bad it was to get his cast wet. It was recommended that since it wasn't a waterproof cast we should go in and see how bad it was and perhaps replace it. I arrived with Son at about 8:30am. The cast was removed, his arm cleaned and tension bandaged in prep for x-rays. After finally getting the x-rays we had wait for the Dr too look at them and determine how the fracture was healing. I was pretty sure we needed another cast since the Dr who looked at his x-rays on the Tuesday follow-up said we needed at least another 2 weeks. This was confirmed and we got to go back to the cast clinic to have a new waterproof cast put on. Son got to pick what colour he wanted, his first choice was red but he finally decided on orange as signatures would show up better on the lighter colour. All of this took about 3 hrs, Son was finally dropped off at Kids Club in time for lunch. *sigh*

I'm glad it's September now, hopefully the next month won't be nearly as eventful as the past few weeks were!

Journey to Reading

My son has always been interested in books. He would bring us book after book after book to read as soon as he learned to walk and carry a book at the same time. He loves the idea that we can magically decode the marks on the page to always read the exact same story every time to go with the pictures. When he was 4 almost 5 I started trying to introduce him to reading on his own, using "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons." This did help him learn letter sounds and how to blend the sounds together into words, but he found doing the same thing over and over boring. Also, the book indicates that the lessons only take 15-20 min with the child, but if the child is resisting or doesn't want to do the writing part it can take over 1/2 hour. The further into the book the longer it takes to do the sounding out and repetitions. This was too much time for my little guy to do, so we eventually agreed to stop with the program at around lesson 10.

I was still interested in teaching him more about reading and looked for fun ideas. He seemed very receptive to the idea of flash cards, loved the ones he had for numbers and alphabet. So I got him "Picture Me Reading" sight word flash cards. One side of the card is a pictograph of the word and the other side is the normal view of the word with a sentence that goes along with it.
See how "n" can run!
These were fun for him for a little while, but again I think I started too early. In the mean time Kindergarten started and they were focusing on letter names and sounds, and counting so I decided to wait a bit before trying teaching him on my own again.

Son had his Kindergarten graduation this week and has been showing a huge interest in what the words say, he will point at any word and ask what it is and is trying to spell words for us to guess. It's very cute! This seemed like the perfect time to start introducing him to the fine art of Reading again. I started reading when I was 5 and seem to have it in my mind that he should read when he's 5 too. I'm sure he'll let me know if that's a false assumption!

A couple of weeks ago I picked up "BOB Books - Collection 1" which I found on Craigslist. I had read about them before and had been thinking of getting them, but $15 for each set seemed a bit much when I didn't know if Son would like them. $7 for the Collection, which includes 18 books from both the "Beginning Readers" and "Advanced Beginners" sets seemed about perfect! All the letters of the alphabet, except "q" are introduced within the first 12 books with no more than 4 new letters in a book. In addition by the time Son has finished the 18 books he will know 33 Sight Words. I dug out his "Picture Me Reading" flash cards and will review the sight words with him before we read his books. I think this will help him a lot! I have also instigated a "Word of the Day" for him, starting with the first Sight Word he is introduced to in the books "on." This has been a hard word for him to "get" since I started showing him the flash cards, hopefully seeing it on the fridge, in his lunch box, and in his books will help.

Son is soooo excited by these books, he even volunteered to read book 1 to his Daddy just for the fun of being able to say he did it! He is so proud that he can read by himself now! I have made it part of our bedtime routine; he reads a BOB book, with help if needed, and then I read one of his bigger books like a Dr. Suess. This way he gets to practice reading and still gets his usual bedtime story. He is very happy with this routine and already reading books 1 - 3 with only a few stumbling blocks and about to start book 4 tonight. At first I thought we would be reading a new book every 1-2 nights, but I have decided to stay with each book until he is comfortable with all the new sounds and words even if that means 4 nights or more with the same book. I also give him a break by having him read the earlier books instead of the new harder one to give him confidence in his abilities.

I figure by the time school starts in September he will have a really good handle on sounding out words. I think that part of his resistance to learning to read in the past was his thought that we would no longer read to him if he could read by himself. By having him read a book and then me read a book I think he has realized that we will always read to him. That him being able to read is just a way for him to tell himself the story when we are busy with something else, like sleeping in on the weekend. :)

BOB Books Collection 1 - Letters and Sight Words in order of introduction in the collection.

Book	New Letters	New Sight Words
1. Mat	M, m, A, a, T, t, S, s	on
2. Sam	C, c, D, d	and
3. Dot	O, o, H, h, G, g, R, r	a, has
4. Mac	B, b	can, got, had, the
5. Dot and Mit	N, n, P, p, I, i	did, hot, is, not, sit
6. Dot and the Dog	? question mark
7. Jig and Mag	J, j, W, w	big, ran
8. Muff and Ruff	U, u, F, f	at, for, in, it, to, up
9. 10 Cut-Ups	Numerals 1 - 10 Plural Endings - s
10. Peg and Ted	E, e	red, went
11. Lad and the Fat Cat	L, l, K, k, X, x	get, six
12. The Vet	V, v, Y, y Z, z	into, yes
13. Fun in the Sun		was
14. Up, Pup
15. Pip and Pog		do, now, saw
16. Bow-wow!
17. The Big Hat		off
18. Sox the Fox		but

blurry vision

I went to the optometrist for the first time in about 2 years today. My eyes are doing pretty good, not as good as right after my Lasik surgery, but pretty good. 20/20 and 20/25, can't really complain. However that slight bit of near sightedness has been hard on me when I'm using the computer, so after 2 years of glassesless bliss; I now have 'computer glasses' to help my afternoon computer screen headaches. They were very accommodating and helped me find a pair that looked decent, didn't cost an arm and a leg, and called me on my cell when they were ready only 40 min later. I"m really hoping that they do the job!

I had forgotten how long it takes for the dialation to go away, it's been about 1.5 hrs since they put the drops in and my eyes are still almost totally black and the world is a very blurry place indeed. I feel like I'm looking at everything through a piece of plastic wrap. It is rather disconcerting to say the least. I wonder what my Son' s daycare is going to think when they see my eyes... I don't have a history of erratic behaviour with them so it *should* be OK, but one never knows. LOL

I was going to do a mini reading lesson with Son, review some letter sounds and tracing of letters, today. I may have to put that off till tomorrow, or just do the parts that have *BIG* print so my eyes don't have to strain so much. Somehow I don't think he'll mind the slight reprieve. :D

loose tooth :(

This morning I got the dreaded call from Daycare "Please come get your child, he was running with another child and fell after the ran into each other. His tooth is loose and bleeding, he needs to go to the dentist to have it checked" Wow, instant shock/panic Mommy mode!!!By the time I got to him the bleeding had stopped and he was pretty calm.

I took him to his regular dentist, but they didn't have time to see him in the morning and didn't even recognize him from his visit *Yesterday*! I ended up taking him to a new dentist nearby. The people there were very kind and helpful and I got a good feeling from them. Turns out the dentist use to work in the hospital as an emergency dentist so he had seen a lot of bonked teeth. He said that we were extremely lucky. The x-rays showed that the tooth had not been cracked and neither had the bone, also the tooth had not been pushed up into the adult tooth growing underneath it so his permanent tooth should be fine when it comes in. The dentist said that the nerve was likely severed so the tooth will probably discolour, and it will be loose and tender for about a month. Overall it was a good prognosis though. I'll take a discoloured tooth over having to have it extracted any day! We still have to keep an eye on it, there is a chance that it may separate and have to be extracted after all, but it looks good that he will be able to keep it until it is due to fall out on it's own.

First Day at Preschool

Son had a great first day at Preschool last Wednesday. I decided to go with him to the first class so that he wouldn't be the only kid there without a parent. He couldn't wait to get into the classroom, we had to hold him back and remind him to put away his lunch stuff, go potty, and brush his teeth first.

It was a 'free play' day, no structure other than a good bye song at the end. He went right to the 'water and sand' station and started to play beside a girl from his daycare. He stayed there for a while and gave me smiles, he came over a few times for hugs as well. After about 10 min he started to play in other areas of the room and asked some kids thier names and told him thiers. I just sat at the table near the door and watched him play.

After the first 10 min he didn't even need to look for me, he was just happpy to be in the Preschool room and play with his new friends. At the end of the class he had a choice of going back to the daycare room with me, or staying for a while longer and having one of the teachers take him back.

He barely gave me a hug and a wave goodbye, he was so eager to get started on a puzzle. :)

Good Deed

I did a good deed today. I have been carrying around a Baby Buddy "Shopping Cart Safety Belt" in my purse just in case we need it at the grocery store for Son. We usually use a super soft deluxe safety belt but sometimes don't remember to transfer it to the other car before we leave. Today at the grocery store, I saw a woman with a small child in the shopping cart seat. The poor child almost fell over as she turned a corner. I got her attention and told her I had a present for her. I pulled out the Safety Belt and gave it to her. She was impressed by how small it was and mentioned that she always forgot to go to Customer Service to get a safety belt, but always used the ones that some stores attached to thier carts. I'm just glad she was happy to take the belt and not upset that I would presume to give it to her. :)

I think I will have to make sure I have a supply of these Safety Belts so that I can give them away. I got mine from BabyProofingPlus.com. The picture on thier site is wrong but they sent me the right thing. My mother was quick to remind me as soon as Son could sit up that the leading cause of head injury in children is falling out of a shopping cart, so all kids should be buckled in.

French Immersion?

I thought I had it all figured out. We found a Daycare for Son which would take him to to the Kindergarten just a 5 min walk from our home and would also provide "Out of School" care until he is 12 yrs old. This seemed perfect to me. Now I see that they are not taking kids to Kintergarten at our local school next year. This could change by the time that Son is ready to go of course. But it got me thinking.

After talking to one of the teachers at the Daycare I found that the school that most of thier students go to is a French Immersion school. If I want Son to have the benifit of knowing several older students when he first attends school, that would be the one to send him to. Hubby and I have never wanted to send him to French Immersion. We felt that, based on the kids we saw come out of the program, that it allowed for social isolation and wasn't needed in BC. This school also offers an English program so that might be an option. One more thing to think about when I thought it was all decided. *sigh*

Ideally he would go to the local Elemantary School and when he is in gr 2 or 3 I would let him come home after school and do his homework while I finish off my work day at home. The short walk wouldn't hurt him and we live in a safe area so it would be fine. I could even wander over and walk home with him at 3pm. It 5would allow him to do after school activities too as he wouldn't have to leave when the school bus comes to pick him up for After School care. There will be at least 5 older students at that school that he would know from daycare. Which is 5 more than I knew when I first started gr 1. Silly Mommy sent me to the 'better' school instead of the one all my friends were going to.

Am I being obsessive? Do I really need to start thinking/worrying about this now? Son won't even be 4 until August and won't be ready for Kintergarten until September 2008. I guess I like to borrow trouble. I have been thinking more about French Immersion though since my Sister is sending her kids to French School, no English at all. Now that is Immersion!!! She has a good reason for that though, most of her Hubby's family doesn't speak English. In order for her kids to understand thier family on thier Father's side they have to have an understanding of spoken French at least. For my Son living in BC, he doesn't have much of a need for it. I know it is the 2nd official language of Canada and all that, but outside of Gov't jobs there isn't much call for it. It would almost make more sense to send him to a Mandarin Immersion class. :)

Oh well, I will add it to the list of things to research and obsess over. Could be a non-issue if the Daycare starts to service our local Kintergarten next year, which they said was possible. It just depends on how many kids will be attending in which catchment areas.

It has to be good...

When your child is begging for vegetables. My son was just bouncing up and down asking for a bowl of frozen veggies. This can't be bad. :)

Sadness is...

Having to give away your kitten because she isn't happy. My Rowan is the sweetest, cuddliest, neediest kitten around. I have had her since she was 4 months old, almost 6 years now.

When it was just her, Spooky, hubby, and me it was all good. Then we had baby boy and suddenly Rowan wasn't the baby any more and she didn't like the change. She was scared of the noisy little person who took all my attention away from her. She spent most of the first year hiding in my bedroom when I was downstairs with the baby and leaving the bedroom when I was in there with the baby. She would leave my lap and cry and baby's door and then be surprised when he woke up and started to cry. She would mark all his things with incredible accuracy hitting nothing else. We finally had to put her on kitty prozack to get her acting 'normal.'

After about 5 months of medicating her we thought she was ok. Baby wasn't as scary and she was actually going to him for head rubs and seemed to accept that he was part of the family. Lately she has gone back to her old habits, finding unique places to urinate like Son's construction helmet and against a plastic bin only a foot from her clean litter box. She constantly goes upstairs and cries for attention when all of us are downstairs, she will even leave a warm lap to do this. I think it might be due to the fact that Son is 3 yrs old now and is more independant and thus scary again. He can be rough when he means to be gentle, he just loves to give her hugs and gentle pats and play with her.

We really don't want to medicate her again, she hated the whole process and would run when she saw us going for the medicine. So it is time to admit that she isn't happy with us and find her a home with someone who can give her the attention that she needs. Hopefully with older children who won't scare her as much as Son does. I have contacted the Bengal Rescue group for my area and will be sending pictures to her soon so that Rowan can be added to the website.

I will miss her.

Mish Mash

Wow, it has been a while since I last wrote in this blog. I'd like to say a lot has been happening, but it has just been life getting in the way.

My Reiki is getting spotty, I haven't done a full self treatment in a while. Ironically I have been feeling very run down which is probably the time I should have been doing the self treatments more. But instead I just did spot treatments on the head positions. Now I have broncitis and my asthma is acting up and I'm feeling awful. So if anyone wants to send me distance healing I'm open for it!

My 3 yr old son is talking up a storm and loves his 3 and 4 sylable words like Battery. A mother in the grocery store was surprised when he identified the batteries in her grocery pile, and she has a 4 yr old! Makes me proud.

Brain freeze, can't remember what else I was going to type, but at least you know I'm still out here and alive. :)

I love my Kozy

The other day after daycare my 3 yr old son decided that he didn't want to walk from the van to the house. He had to be carried. This was of course on a day where I had lots of stuff to bring inside in addition to his usual lunch kit and art of the day. So I pulled out my Kozy Carrier and strapped him on my back. He was comfy, I had both hands free and he was close enough to my back that my center of gravity wasn't messed up too bad and I could carry everything inside with no problems. The nice thing is that he doesn't seem to weigh as much when in the carrier as he does when I'm just holding him.

This wonderful contraption of a rectangle and 4 straps put together in a fabulous form makes it easy to carry kids from newbord to age 5, or older if you can still lift them. The Kozy site shows the creator being carried on the back of her husband, which shows how strong the carrier is, and how strong her husband is!!! Because there are no clips or buckles it is a custom fit everytime and hubby can use it just as easily as I can. My son is 35 lbs now and I see myself using this carrier for quite a while yet. It lives in the van for just such an occasion. :)

Plant Energy

My son gave me an impatient plant for Mother's Day as part of the Daycare art project. I have a wonderful 'brown thumb' and have even killed cactus' (I gave it too much water), and having 2 cats doesn't help the longevity of plants in my home. This one is thriving though. I have been watering when it seems like it needs it and have been giving it Reiki. When I put my hands over it to send Reiki I feel such a warm energy coming from the plant. It is as if I can feel it's aura. It feels similar to when I did the energy ball exercise. The warm energy is definitely coming from the plant, a few times it felt like there was resistance as well when I got closer to the plant as if it was telling me where to send from. Very interesting.