A complete turn around!

My soon to be 6 year old has made a complete turn around. A couple of months ago he was having a difficult time getting adjusted to kindergarten. He begged me to stay home and "home school" him. I have never figured out where that came from...but to him a was a great idea. He eventually liked going to school, wouldn't say good afternoon to his teacher, but liked it. This weekend as we drove to Brainerd, he wouldn't stop singing songs and asking us how to spell words (the entire car ride...both ways). He has stated how much he LOVES school. Now that he learned the days of the week...he knows exactly what days he will be going to school and how long the weekends last.

Well...last week he had an ear check-up and failed, so we needed to make an appointment at an ENT specialist. Okay...we can do this...it's probably nothing. The only day I could get him in was today at 2:45. I took the appointment. On Monday, we finally told him that he would be going to the doctors today and that he would be missing school. On Monday night he was talking to Jamma as he was going to bed. He got teary eyed and said that he didn't want to miss school...he wanted me to reschedule the appointment. I said I would try...knowing that it wouldn't happen. So...we decided to not bring up the subject again.

Fast forward to today. We woke up and got ready for our day like normal. At 2:00 my sister brought Riley and Aiden to school so that I could leave from there and bring him to the doctors. He didn't seem to know what was going on. I buckled them both into their seats and headed for the doctor. That's when all hell broke loose!!!

We were driving toward the doctor and going down the road that he goes on toward his school. He looked at the clock and asked where we were going. He said, "Mommy, it's past 2:00. I was suppose to be in school a long time ago. Where are we going? I want to go to school now!" He kept saying we could still make it. I then decided that I should tell him that he was not going to school today! It was at that point that I realized that if looks could kill....I would have been dead right there. I watched in the rear view mirror as he glared at me. He had a frown on his face and was holding back tears...and ohhh...the daggers...they were going in the back of my head. He started telling me to cancel the appointment. He didn't need to go...he needed to go to school to learn! I said I couldn't. Again, telling him this was the only day I could get us in. He asked if I tried for Saturday or Sunday...because he doesn't have school those days. We went back and forth until we got to the doctor. He stormed out of the car and stomped the whole way into the office...muttering I'm not sure what, under his breath. We got in the office and sat for 30 minutes waiting to get in. I thought this was a good thing. It gave him a chance to calm down as I read him some books. Finally we were called back. He was being good...cooperative...and seemed to forget that he was missing school. Then it happened. The nurse asked, "So what grade are you in? Do you like school?" Sh*& why did she have to ask that? The head went down and he started to pout again...daggers came out and I got the if looks could kill look! I explained to her what happened and she said, "Oh I'm sorry!" Same thing happened with the lady who tested him and with the doctor! He was cooperative and did great! He does have some hearing loss, but he is still within normal range, so we aren't going to do anything about it. On the way out...I told him that he was going to get the fish that he was asking for because he did so well at this appointment. Things were looking good. He was happy.

On the way home he was asking again how to spell different words. He then started asking what 1+1 was and 10+10. He then said, "4+1=5." I said, "Yes, how did you know that?" He said, "It's like this...If I have 4 apples and someone gives me one more...I have five apples. I told him that he was very smart and asked where he learned that? He said that he just taught himself that. He then said, "The only way I can get smarter is by going to school! When I am in school...I learn!" He then said, "So don't you dare...ever keep me from going to school again!!!!" And I thought he was over it! Apparently not. I wonder how long he going to hold this over my head. It's not like I just kept him out of school just because....I'm glad that Riley loves school and I hope he continues to love it through all of his school years that lie ahead!

A fun weekend...

This weekend we took the boys to Three Bear Lodge in Brainerd. They had so much fun. On our way the to hotel, we spotted a controlled burn in Ramsey. We stopped to watch as a house was burning down. We then headed to Garrison and spent some time looking a Mille Lacs lake and playing on the monument that were there. The highlight was all the lady bugs that the boys were trying to catch. When we finally got to the hotel, the boys were excited to see that in our room...they had their own mini room with bunk beds, a tv and a window in the wall that they climbed in and out of. We spent the evening in the indoor water park. They loved the HUGE bucket that would dump water on top of them (I couldn't get pictures because things were spraying all over the place and I didn't want to ruin my camera). We spent time in the pool, on the lazy river and the boys went down waterslides. In the morning we spent time playing in the arcade before heading home! It was a great weekend!

What a beautiful weekend!

This weekend we drove up to Brainerd. It was so beautiful with all the fall colors. I would have taken 100's of pictures if I could have, but the boys were getting tired of having to stop all the time. These are some of my favorites.

I spoke to soon!

Well...yesterday I posted about Aiden being potty trained. He hadn't had any accidents for awhile. Well...I knew it would happen today because I posted about it yesterday. In fact when we left the house this morning, I grabbed extra clothes and it was a good thing that I did. We started the morning off by going to the doctors. Riley had to have his ears rechecked and he failed again...so we are going to take him to an ear, nose and throat specialist next week. Aiden had to have his eyes rechecked and he failed again...so we are taking him to an eye doctor in two weeks. Anyway, after the appointments we grabbed some breakfast/lunch and went to school to spend the day reorganizing my classroom. While there, the boys were having a great time playing with all the toys (my stapler, crayons, papers, math manipulatives, etc.). Aiden came running up to me and said, "Mommy...I pooped!" I asked him why he did that and why he didn't go to the bathroom or ask me to take him to the bathroom. With tears in his big blue eyes, he looked up at me and said, "I thought it was just a toot...and then something slipped out! I thought it was just a toot!!!" Poor thing! I felt so bad for him!

Finally Potty Trained!!!!

We have been working on potty training Aiden now for almost a year. He showed no interest in wanting to go on the potty. In May when he was sick, we gave up hope...because we it just wasn't the right time. We tried again in August because his 4th birthday was coming up in September. We got him fun underware and talked about how he was going to be a big boy. He wanted nothing to do with them. He would crouch in a corner and do whatever he needed to do. Finally we resorted back to Pull-ups after having to clean up after him several times. Riley was never this hard to train. We started with him and a week later....he was fully trained. Well, Aiden discovered his brothers COOL boxer briefs and decided that he wanted to wear some too. He started wearing them and started going on the potty all by himself. He'd go without even telling us. One night last week he had a fit about having a Pull-up on and took it off at 10:30 at night. He wanted big boy underware. He put some on and hasn't had an accident with us since! He has been dry all day and all night for almost a week! We are so proud of our big boy! (I'm betting he will have an accident tonight now that I have written this!)

Happy Birthday Grandpa Joe

Happy Birthday Grandpa Joe! We hope you had a great day!
Love, Riley and Aiden