Monday, October 27, 2008

Treasure Box

Thomas has a slight issue at school that we have been working on. The first week of school, he came home and excitedly said "When you talk in class, you get your name on the board!" We eventually got him set straight that your name on the board is not a good thing. In his class, you get a green check each day you don't get your name on the board, along with a reward of Skittles or M&Ms. After a week of green checks, you get the treasure box. We usually do great on the first day of the week. Second day is usually pretty good too. By day three, you can be almost sure we don't have a green check coming home in the homework folder. This was such an issue, that his teacher and I talked about it in our conference at the end of the first quarter. I told her the day he got treasure box I just might take him to Chuck-E-Cheese (nasty place that it is, the kids love it, or at least the idea of it in our case, since he has never been.)

The first week back from break, he had 3 green checks. All we had to do was get one more. Friday, when I asked him if he had a green check, he said he didn't. Rats! He probably lost his green check at 2:00, at the end of the day. So, last week, we tried again. Every day I got oh so excited for each day he had a check. Every day, as I dropped him off, I would remind him to get a green check. Each day he came home with a green check. Friday was the big day. Would he get the treasure box? 3:15, Thomas comes through the door. "Did you get a green check today?" I asked. "I GOT TREASURE BOX!!!" was his excited reply. (Of course, his toy is a most annoying McDonald's Happy Meal toy that plays music. Not like that one can conveniently disappear any time soon.) Finally, after 12 weeks, we finally had a complete week of green checks. Can I just tell you the party I wanted to throw. We called anyone we could think of who knew our battle. Also, I have become a sappy mom. Yes, I nearly wanted to cry I was so excited and proud of him. Instead we just did a Happy Dance.

So, tonight, we are going to CiCi's for dinner. He loves it, and it means I don't have to fix dinner. I think I can manage to pinch the budget enough for this treat. Now, can we do it again this week? Check back and see.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Unihorse

Thomas is working on letters. We go over recognition, sounds, and words that start with the letter. Last night we got to the letter "U" and the "U" word he gave me was unihorse. I knew exactly what he meant and double over on the floor laughing. Tyler was lost, at best. He said "what?" Thomas repeated, "a unihorse. It has a long pointy horn that comes out his head like this." Then Tyler got it and started laughing just as hard. I think from now on, I will call it a unihorse, because it is a horse with a long pointy thing on his head, no corn to be found. Sometimes it takes a kid to make us realize how silly some of our words or descriptions are. Nope, still not seeing any corn on this horse.

Monday, October 06, 2008

Pirates





While enjoying Sunday dinner at Lolly's house, they boys decided to be pirates. Pirates with umbrellas. Pirates with winter hats and scarves and gloves, on a blazing hot June day. Yes, I have the best pirates ever. They sang pirate songs and said "Arrrrr" over and over. I am sure there was some plank walking involved, but I don't remember all the details. I do remember all of us laughing hysterically for quite a while. Eventually the pirates left and the boys and Aunt Amanda (she is so great!) came back. You never know when they will reappear.