A good day at daycare

Today the daycare teacher told me 'everyone was in a good mood', which apparently is rare on Mondays!
James also did 2 pees at the daycare, so things are improving in that respect!
James had an excellent lunch at daycare and some cheese when he got home so he hasn't been hungry for dinner yet. I'll have to work on dinner soon though!

Myron's new computer is now up and running and connected to the internet, however, our old computer still contains all my old files and though I can access them, I can't connect that machine to the internet, so I can't get them sent out. I'm sure I'll work it out though. It will be a pain if I have to keep switching between the 2 computers:(

Got to pack myself up for tomorrow at RMC and then make dinner!

New Potty Step

A few weeks ago we bought a soft potty seat so that James could use the 'big' potty. Now, James has graduated from the seat. When he runs to the potty he calls 'no seat', and instead when he goes on he hangs precariously over the toilet. But he is happy and using the toilet to do his pees and poops so I am happy too:)

New Computer

Myron got a new computer yesterday and because of that my computerizing is currently limited. I was not able to check my mail until the last few minutes (not that there was anything;)

Some sad news though- the baby birds in our garage are gone, likely due to a predator. I'm pretty sad about it really:(

Back to the routine

After a good nights' sleep, James is back in daycare, I'm back eating and working again:)
Yay!

The Melancholy Child

Well, being sick and incapacitated for the morning has allowed me to read a bit of a book anyway.
I am feeling a bit better now, trying to keep some solids down.

The book I was reading is called "The Personality Tree" by Florence Littauer. She divides personalities in 4 categories:
Sanguine Personality (The talker)
Choleric Power (The worker)
Phlegmatic Peace (The mediator) and
Melancholy Perfection (The Thinker)

Reading the descriptions of the personalities, Myron is definately a Melancholy and I am definately a Choleric. James seems to be a mix of the 2, leaning more toward the Melancholy. The book gives suggestions how to parent each type of child and suggestions for each parent type. For a Melancholy child, they suggest it is very important to teach him how to express his feelings as this is the personality type most likely to do this and end up depressed.

James called Oma to say he wanted to blow out the candles on her cake. He was ready to leave right away to head to her place to accomplish this. (not that we could)

Happy birthday Mom!

Today is a day to celebrate my Mom!

I have been up sick since 3am, so I am not feeling too well:(
James, however, has been quite helpful, offering to get me a bowl in case I need to 'puke'
Thankfully, it has not come to that yet.

Starling babies

We have a nest of baby starlings between the walls of our garage! Very sweet to hear their peeping.

James still did not pee at daycare!

An excellent laundry drying day!

Today the wind is strong (whipping really!), the sun is shining, and the laundry is drying quite quickly.

My class has an exam this afternoon, so it's quite an easy day for me really as I have to answer their questions for an hour before it starts, then just stand around for 2 hours while they write it.

I'm just taking a break from going through 5 volumes of the International Journal of Modern Physics. My eyes were starting to go a bit buggy.

I can only hope James will pee at the big house today. He was upset when I left to learn he was assigned to play in the downstairs playroom. He prefers the upstairs one, but he can't play in it EVERY day. I hope this dissappointment will not set back his bathroom work.

The last couple of days James has brought James the red engine with him to daycare. He really loves that engine.

The waiting day

In spite of me spending the weekend working with James to be able to get his pants and underwear up and down by himself, so he could pee independantly at the daycare, he still did not want to pee there.
During their outside playtime, they found James under the picnic table, curled up in a ball crying because he wanted to wait until his Mommy came home.
Polly was at her wits end. She said "With all my ECE training and years of experience, I've never had a case like this" She tried offering stickers, she tried leaving him alone, she tried giving him bear to help. No luck. Finally, she told him if he peed she'd play the peek-a-boo game with him. Well, that did it. He peed. Polly was triumphant and she was quite happy to play the game with him!
Let's hope she is as successful tomorrow!

The Roundhouse

Last week at the daycare, one of James' little friends brought the Thomas the train roundhouse to share. James really liked it and today has been obsessed with it, saying he wants the Roundhouse and all the trains in it (not knowing that likely the trains are sold seperately!) I (being a CRUEL mother!) told him he could have it for his next birthday. He was quite pleased with this, as time means NOTHING to him!
I can't believe he needs to keep up with the Jones' allready!

Dandelions

Yesterday, I spent a few hours exterminating the weeds from our lawn with my new stand-up weeder. It was so much easier than doing them with just a spade! Anyway, I was so pleased when I looked out today to see that I had got most of them yesterday as this morning all the dandelions that were yellow on the neighbours' lawns had now gone to seed! Glad I got them before that!

James reads

or does he?

We were lying out in the hammock today and he had his book 'Thomas gets Tricked'. He told me he was going to read it to me. I don't think he can ACTUALLY read, but he has the book memorized! So I listened 'Thomas the Tank engine lives on the island of Sodor. He's a cheeky little engine with 6 wheels, a short stumpy boiler and a short stumpy dome.' Then the second sentence was repeated about 4 times.

Then when I was making cookies in the evening, he guessed the kind of cookies I was making and one of the main ingredients, though I had never made this recipe before. It's from a book Shieleen gave me on good food for kids- a chocolate chip cookie made with applesauce- interesting how he guessed that without my saying anything (or having any of the ingredients out!). Maybe he can read? lol

Today Myron went to see Return of the Sith. I asked him when he got back if the Sith had returned and he said 'Oh, yeah!' He says he liked it.

No pee for the daycare

Apparently James will not pee for them at the daycare- He holds it in all day and then only goes when I pick him up and take him home! What a funny little guy.

Yesterday, James was sitting on my lap and we were doing stickers and he said "Mamma, you're my friend". Awww, how sweet.

Tired

I can't believe it's been since Saturday since I've posted. Goes to show how busy I am right now- it feels like only yesterday. I will be swamped with work until mid-June and then things will let up a little.
James is dealing well with my extra-busyness in that he's quite content to sit and play with his docks as long as I sit and work beside him. He doesn't really like other people playing with his stuff anyway so it works out well for the both of us.
James also decided he would take care of the dishes this evening. This involved great amounts of water being strewn about the kitchen and the almost demise of several glasses, but he did manage to put a number of things in the drying rack. It was very sweet.
On June 4th Bob the Builder is coming to Kingston. James is hyped. I was telling Oma about it on the phone and James invited her to come too.
James is sleeping on the couch tonight. This apparently reminded him of Oma as he indicated he wanted 'Oma to come here RIGHT NOW!' as he was getting into bed.
We are dealing with a bit of an issue at the daycare as James will not go pee there. He holds it ALL DAY! Hopefully, he will be more comfortable there tomorrow as he didn't make it until the end of today and had an 'accident' just before I arrived. Then after we got home he had to pee every half an hour! What a funny little guy:)

Care corner

I tried to post yesterday, but the blog seemed to be having some technical issues:(

I took James to the doctor and she said he seemed fine, so that's all good:)

When I took him to the doctor we also visited a department store that sells Thomas the train things. They have a little table set up for kids to play at and James really liked that!

At Church every week there are jobs that you can choose to volunteer for. One of these is the 'Care corner' where you can go to talk, pray or generally be cared for. Myron selected to run that tomorrow and this morning I reminded him that he was going to be doing it. James overheard me and immediately asked if he could go to Church. I was pretty impressed that he made the connection between care corner and Church. (I shouldn't have been surprised but I was surprised that he even knew what the care corner was! Even though he spends most of his time at church colouring and running, he really does pick up a lot)

Another interesting connection I saw James make today was that of 'trading'. He had put a blue happy face ring on my finger and he had a yellow one. He decided he wanted the blue one and suggested we 'trade'. He must have learned that at daycare. Lots of things and children to trade with there!

Marla left today to head back to Oakville before her big trip back to Moncton.

Ear infection

James was up for a couple of hours last night. I think his ear was bothering him. Myron said he was holding it this morning. We have a doctors appt. for tomorrow :(

Cold continued

James still has a nasty cough, but he slept better last night. I have been giving him children's nyquill before bed.

He's just figured out how to work his Leap pad- it's pretty funny really. He's got the Thomas the Train book and that's all he really needs at this point.

Feeling low

James has a runny nose and cough and isn't feeling great now. Last night he was up at 2am coughing. I've given him a nighttime cough medicine just now, so hopefully, he'll sleep through the night.

Mother's Day

Well, this mother's day involved a lot of cleaning for me :0 as we awaited Marla's arrival. I finished about 3pm, just as James was done his 'rest time'. I left James in Myrons' capable hands and went in to work to finish up the marking I needed to do for tomorrow. Unfortunately, Myron fell asleep. Not a good scene when someone needs lots of assistance with the potty. I called him around 4:30pm to tell him to feed James some Mac and cheese as I wasn't going to be home soon. This, at least, woke Myron up and he was able to assist James with his wet, poopy underwear. I called home at 6:15pm to find that Marla had allready arrived, so I packed up the rest of my work to take home with me and came home and made the rice to go with the dinner I had made in the slow cooker. Then after getting the boy into bed, I finished up my remaining work. Then, off to blog and off to bed!
I really am proud of how James is doing with his potty training, and all his work he's doing on the Brendam docks. He is also very helpful outside. When Kim came for his birthday, she brought some Lilies to plant. James assisted her and then latched on to her (like an Oma- he must have thought) and didn't want her to go. Rambling now, must sleep.

Party Time!

Yesterday I spent a good deal of time cleaning in preparation for the party and Marla's impending visit. Got to bed late because I had to wrap the gifts for James.

James woke up this morning at 6:30am and we explained to him it was his birthday. He was very pleased to see the gifts. He was not so excited about the cards. He opened the Leap Pad from Great Nan first and his Thomas the Train cartidge to go with it from us. Then he opened the Brendam Docks (Thomas the Train docks) and he was pretty much ready to be done with opening stuff. He only wanted to play with the docks! He played quite a lot with them so far today!!!

Then at lunchtime Tara and co. and Kim come over for lunch, which went very well I think. The best part was when we brought out the cake and sang Happy Birthday as James giggled and laughed through the whole song. He really enjoyed that! James was pretty tired after that and dropped off quite quickly for his nap, which he is having now. I should try to tackle some of the dishes from the party and clean up!

Doors

We are having new interior doors put in. I thought this would not be a big deal, but it turns out it's a lot more difficult than I thought! You have to get the hinges in and the door trimmed (not to mention even thinking about painting them!- I'm not thinking about that yet) Took a good chunk of the evening and they aren't up et and don't even have door handles. They will be nice....eventually!

Kim and I had planned an evening of shopping, but she ended up working until 8:30pm so we could only go to Walmart. We got all kinds of interesting stuff. I bought a Leap Pad with Nanny's money (blue, of course!) and from us he'll get a Thomas the Train cartridge for the Leap Pad. I also bought a soft toilet insert in case James wants to use the big potty. As he says it's 'so I don't fall in'. As a party favor for Tara I bought a lovely butterfly hat. I hope she likes it. I could get something nice as he's only having one little friend over for his birthday lunch. Kim and Zully should be coming too. Should be a fun day Saturday. Lots of cleanup after to make sure the place is ready for Marla who arrives the following day!

Circus train

We got a circus train in the mail that I bought for $3 on ebay. It is a vintage one- 1976 or so. Similar to the one I had as a kid. (though I think mine was a slightly different version) James absolutely loves it. He slept with it last night, ate breakfast with it and took it to daycare with him!

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

This evening Myron is out to see the HGG. When James asked him where he was going, Myron started in quoting him the first chapter of the Guide that he has memorized. James just looked at him for a while as he went on and on and finally said 'that's too long!'

We also had the new Dr. Who on for a few minutes, while James stared at the funny looking aliens for a brief minute, then declared 'I want it off!'

Potty training at the big house

Yesterday James did really great at his daycare, where he had previously been a bit leery to go on the potty. Yesterday, he peed on the potty all day long. They didn't have to change his diaper once! They even said it was o.k. for him to graduate to underwear, if I wanted!

Yesterday was also a train documentary day for James. He has a 15 minute documentary of trains in Chile that he loves and likes to watch over and over. You'd think it would get boring after a while.

At the daycare they have a toy called Road and Rail that James absolutely loves. I'm trying to find something like it for his birthday present.

I also bought him a circus train (old Fisher price thing that I also had as a kid) on ebay for $2.75. He's looking forward to getting that in the mail.

M-A-Y spells Mamma

We changed the calender yesterday and James wanted to spell the month. He spelled the M-A-Y and then said it spells MAMMA. It was pretty funny! He recognized the first 2 letters anyway.

James did really well on the potty train front. He went all day without an accident! I was so proud of him. He's doing great. However, he doesn't ASK to go yet, so I just have to put him on the potty every hour. It requires a lot of thought on my part.

Train cake

Today James and I went through the A&P's fine cake selection book for his birthday. They had some really cool stuff- a Bob the Builder cake , a Blue's clues cake and even a construction zone cake complete with a dump truck that dumps, but James was not happy with any of them because they did not have a cake with trains! After all that he decided he just wanted a chocolate one.

Trains are definately his current obsession! (Bob the builder seems to be on his way down)