Chase: Chase has had the hardest time transitioning to school starting. He was very unhappy about changing schools so that did not help. Homework has been a beating!! His teacher apparently sent out an email about shortening the homework amount but the email did not make it to us. As a result, he did double the amount of homework this week. Chase is making great grades, but he has to work for them. I hope he can keep up the hard work. He also has a "binder-signing happy" teacher. He has had his binder signed twice for little minor things. That is devastating to him. Chase is really maturing before my eyes, and it is painful to watch. I remember that awkward time. He knows things now and he sees the world through older eyes. Makes me sad that he is leaving his childhood behind. He cares so much about his appearance now. It is torture to him to have to wear a shirt with a collar. He will not wear it one second longer than he has to wear it. He and Nate continue to have such a wonderful and special bond. I don't know how I would do it without Chase helping so much with Nate. Chase has also developed a very caring relationship with Cade. Chase has always struggled with Cade because he did not understand why Cade acts the way he does sometimes. Chase went with me to one of Cade's therapy sessions and a light bulb went off! He truly gets Cade now and understands why he is the way he is. Chase is now super patient, helpful, and loving towards Cade. He helps Cade when Cade is having a hard time. He wants to be the one to help with Cade's brushing therapy. I even heard him standing up for his brother to someone! It has been wonderful!
Dylan: There is not a lot to write about Dylan. He is loving school!! He loves learning and does very well. Everyday is a great day for him. He has a good friend in his class so he is happy. He and Cade now wear the same size in pants. That could get interesting. Dylan is the same sweet, silly, daydreaming boy as always.
Cade: There is always something to write about Cade :-) He had a cavity filled at the dentist. He proceeded to suck and bite his lip so badly that it became very swollen and painful. That caused a lot of problems for a few days. He has been having good days at school and bad days at school. Most days he has at least one small meltdown. I never thought that I would be glad that we are a half-day Kindergarten district, but I am. God knew what he was doing! The good news is that Cade is bright and can already read (simple words and his colors). I hope that helps his confidence. He is having meltdowns at school. He hit his head one day and started screaming. Then he noticed that everyone was staring at him so he started crying and saying, "Why are they looking at me, stop looking at me". That made me so very sad. He is struggling some with his fine motor skills. When he has had enough of trying he will just start drawing circles and scribbling. I am going to ask his therapist what we can do to help with that. His kindergarten teacher continues to be fantastic!!! God truly answered my prayers. I was talking on the phone with my dad the other day when I had an epiphany. I "understand" that God gave me Cade for a reason but I had not been feeling in my heart that I was the best mom for Cade. When I was talking to my dad, I suddenly saw that I am the perfect mom for Cade. I will love him no matter what. I am willing to search out therapies, ideas, or whatever will help him. I am patient (most of the time) and calm (again, most of the time) so his meltdowns do not disturb me like they do some other people. Most importantly, I am open-minded about sensory issues and I truly understand that he is not behaving badly. I have been told that Cade could be fixed by some good old-fashioned discipline. I know that is not true. We have spanked our kids in the past. (I have found that the longer I am a parent the less I spank - we only spank now in very rare instances, safety related usually) Out of all our children, Cade has been spanked the most because we were trying everything to help him. Old fashioned discipline is not the answer for him. After we truly understood what was going on with him, we really felt some guilt. I am starting to ramble some, but the gist is that I know that I really can give Cade what he needs. He started museum school on Monday and he absolutely loves it! He was so very excited when I picked him up. He hid something behind his back and told me that he had a thousand rocks behind his back. He showed me a bag of sand and told me about how sand was made. He also made a hermit crab out of a pasta shell and some clay. He loves it. I was worried that museum school would be too much for him to handle, but he had the best time and cannot wait until next week. I told his teacher about SPD at meet the teacher and she knew exactly what it was! When we came on Monday, she remembered Cade and specifically asked me if flashes bother him because they were going to take some pictures. I am thrilled that someone so knowledgeable is his teacher.
Nate: Nate continues to crack us up!! He is just so much fun and so full of joy. He adores his brothers. He loves shoes, phones, and singing. That doesn't sound very manly, does it? He makes us laugh and brings so much joy to our lives. He started preschool today. He was thrilled to be taking his backpack but he was less than thrilled to go into the classroom. He cried and cried. I stayed in the hallway until he settled down. I am sure he will love it soon.
Nate had the best time playing with the car shooter. He loves cars right now.
Nate going to preschool. He was thrilled to have his backpack. See him holding tight to his 2 bears.
Cade's beautiful lip, this picture does not do the grossness justice.
Nate will put on whatever shoes he finds. Here he is in Cade's socks and shoes.
Cade's hermit crab
Nate talking on the phone
6 comments:
I hope the boys have a great school year! It sounds like you are a great mom to all of them-Cade included! It takes going through something difficult sometimes to realize what you are really capable of-sounds like you are capable of being just the kind of mom God picked out for him!
Growing up is so hard to do!!! I am glad that each of your boys had the perfect mom, handpicked just for them. Chase is going to do so great this year with a challanging teacher. So sorry he didn't get the homework amendment sooner!
Sweet Dylan just rolls with it. Blake enjoyed playing with Dylan the other day. We will have to do more of that. Dylan is such a good friend.
I am glad Cade got such great teachers and I love that crab. Those are the things he will remember!!! I remember my kids making it in MS. I love MS so much. Michael was too young this year. So sad. . .
That Nate is too cute. I love it when he says my name. He cracks me up when he is talking away. He is so matter of fact! I can just see him shooting those cars out and talking about it.
We are going to have to hang out really soon!!!
That breaks my heart about Cade...I don't want kids making fun of him & I hate that he is now at that stage of noticing he's a little different. He is the most loving little boy in the world & I so will come and beat up any little kid that talks smack about him! : ) You give him BIG hugs from his niecey!!!
As for Chase...what the heck is "binder signing"? I'm guessing he got in trouble? ...fill me in later!
Love you and all my sweet, precious nephews!!
Jenna, little do you know that you are bragged on all the time. I was just telling a friend of mine that is pregnant with her fourth kid how managable you make it. You take the time to know and love each of your boys, and that is such an inspiration to us who can barely handle two!! Your boys are terrific, and I love reading about them. Also, the binder signing thing, hopefully that is just to prove a point at the beginning of the year. Maybe it will loosen up in the weeks to come!
Hey stranger! I'm confused. Why did Chase have to change schools? I'm sorry to hear about his teacher. Sammy had one like that in 2nd grade. I swear, every week he'd come home with a "number". She'd even give him a number when I'd forget to sign his moose. It's so nice to hear how your boys are doing. Even though we don't get to see them any more, it's still like watching them grow up in front of us, you know? Don't you ever worry about what kind of mother you are to ANY of your children. You and Mark both are absolutely wonderful parents and I'd love to know your secret. Take care, Lady!
Great pictures of Alaska. My Mark is jeleous! I know all about people giving the spanking advise. Someone from our old church told me that he would take Ashton for the weekend spank him a few times and that would do it. It would make me feel like I was not a good enough parent for Ashton. You are doing the right thing. No one know what you are going through until they walk in your shoes. Keep up the good work.
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