Ok, we'll try this again. I tried blogging earlier in the week and it got accidentally deleted.
What could be good, bad & ugly as far as my beautiful children are concerned? Well, Ian's behavior towards other kids covers the "ugly" part. He has been downright terrible towards his friends lately, usually the smaller and younger ones...Heh, like his daddy he's afraid of getting beat up so he picks on easier targets.
My brother's family and another set of friends with a son (Derek) near Ian's age came to visit a few weeks ago. A great time was had by the adults, but poor Derek pleaded with his mom to go home the same day they got here. Ian would just take a toy out of his hand, run somewhere and "hide" it. Granted, hiding to him is just putting it somewhere else, still in plain view...but its the thought.
When Ian's cousin, Paige, came he did the same thing to her...He also had 2 MORE sets of kid-friends to visit that weekend and do you think he treated them any different? Nope.
I wish I could say it was because having the baby around was still all so new to him, but we had issues just today at playgroup. He was walking by a girl who was sitting in a chair playing with a jack in the box and he just grabbed it and kept walking. Poor little girl started crying hysterically. There really isn't much we can do except stay consistant with our discipline and not let him get away with any behavior like that.
Although I would really like to get inside his little toddler-head and see what he is thinking. For those reasons, but plus he comes up with the most random thoughts.
He was standing at the table in our playroom coloring when he looked up and said to me "Maybe Poppa and Nana have a big TV?" By the way, his new thing is to phrase his comments or observations as questions, beginning with 'Maybe'.
After that, without blinking an eye, he continues with "Maybe Ian no have a big tv". He even said it disappointingly, that ungrateful kid! But it is a good observation, as we have a 32" tv while poppa has a giant friggin 70" monstrosity.
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Hi. My name is Don, and I'm a Geotrax-aholic.
My brother & his family gave Ian a starter's set of Geotrax for Christmas. We exchanged gifts when they came up 2 weeks ago and waited until everyone left to open the boxes. You see, we had to wait to set up the trains so as we could have clear escape routes for the kids running in fear from Ian.
For those that don't know what Geotrax is, it is remote controlled, battery operated trains that go along platic train tracks that you can set up any way you like (as long as you have the right pieces). Here is a link to the official page with some example layouts, so you can see how in-depth and crazy it gets:
Official Source of My Addiction
So as I said, they bought us a starter set (the Workin Town Railway for you fellow junkies) and a gas station "depot" and set it up. Let me tell you, I thought it was the coolest thing. Ian liked it too! And I need to preface all this saying i was never into model railroads as a kid. The appeal with this thing is that you can customize your tracks & layout to however you want it.
The next day I went to return a duplicate gift we had recieved from someone else and what did I do? Why I bought a bunch more sets of Geotrax! I got some ramps and additional "depots" and another train.
So last week I was changing the layout after Ian went to bed (Dude, shut up. My reasoning is that Ian will appreciate the different setup when he wakes up). Anyway, I had an idea for the layout, so I started setting it up and realized I didn't have enough of the right pieces. CRAP!
So I re-configured it a little bit, nope, wouldn't work. I tried another way (and Allison even got into it a wee little bit and made some suggestions), and it STILL wouldn't work. I finally figured out a way to make it work, but decided that I, I mean Ian, needed more pieces to work with.
God bless EBay! As of yesterday, we now have some more track as well as a few more sets of ramps, so I should be able to build this puppy up even more!
Ian keeps telling me that I should spend all of Mommy's hard earned money on Geotrax, but I keep insisting that it isn't right and that we need to scale back some. Well, at least until she goes back to work and/or our tax refund gets here.
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In other news, we decided on our next house-item upgrade. We decided to replace our crappy wood-stove insert in the basement. We've used the thing no more than 3x and each time we nearly got smoked out of the house. It would be a great way to conserve oil and keep the cost of heating the house down. Besides, it'll add some cool ambiance to the room as we would be able to watch the fire burn as opposed to watching a hot steel box.
Below is a link to the model that we will most likely get. We already went to the store to check things out, but the guy is coming out tomorrow so he can see the setup for himself.
Wood Stove Insert
We'll keep you updated as to this newest venture, but I'm betting we'll have the new insert in time for Memorial Day! Yeah, its a little late in the season for it to be truely cost effective this year, but the place is running a good sale on them and it's something we've wanted to do for awhile.
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We're happy to report that we found the right preschool for Ian, and that he has a spot and we're very excited about him going on this new adventure!
It's through the Childhood Development class at the new high school. The teacher has 20 students and takes 10 preschoolers. Each preschooler is assigned to 2 "buddies" for the semester. On one day, one of the buddies interacts with the preschooler while the other one observes and takes notes from a room behind a one-way mirror. The next day the two students switch.
We love it because Ian will get one-on-one attention with the same people. Like most kids his age, he likes routine and knowing whats going to happen. Believe it or not, he really likes schedules, which this program provides. The days that the preschoolers aren't there, the students develop lessons and themes and learn about whats going on with these kids developmentally.
Another reason I like it is because he'll be working with high school kids who elected this class, which means they want to be there. That translates to excitement for everyone...the high school students as well as the preschoolers. There will be a diffferent enthusiasm about holidays and just everyday stuff from these students who are learning about this right now as opposed to someone who has been doing it for 20+ years.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure Preschool teachers love their jobs and are happy to go to work, but I'm betting its just different. At the end of the day, it's only Preschool and its not like we're choosing a college for him, but we just really like this program.
Another perk is that it starts at 8am which means Allison can drop him off in the morning on her way to work, or even better, she can go to work late if there's something special going on with school, like a little play that the kids put on or something like that.
Oh yeah, and it's the least expensive preschool option that we've come across...but then again, we're already paying for it since its at the brand new $54 million high school (and no, thats not an exageration!).
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Other than that, there's not much new to report. The little Wookie is doing well (yeah, she STILL has more hair than me!). Although we found out that she has blocked tear ducts in BOTH her eyes.
Nothing major needs to be done at this point. We give her antibiotics 2x a day, but that is ending soon. We also have to give her eyedrops and massage the little tear sacs near the bridge of her nose several times a day. What fun it is to nearly poke her in the eye, but hopefully it'll resolve the issue so she doesn't need surgery like Ian did.
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Anyway, thats about it. Until next time, for God sakes, keep your fingers out of your nose!
(and if you have any Geotrax lying around and you're not using them, feel free to send them my way).
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