Mama, I Need a Challenge!

Alex has been backsliding on potty training lately. The other day, he received a prize from his Abuela. It was Ron Hover, the heliciopter from 'Cars' and Alex just loves him. Still, he's been neglecting his potty training. He's been skipping using it in the morning, arguing to stay in his overnight diaper. He's even gone back to accidents. I was feeling rather glum over this and had a really bad reaction towards him on Tuesday.

I decided to regroup and review. What was it that Alex had accomplished in Big Boy Boot Camp, now in its second month? Well, frankly, a lot. He sleeps in the Big Boy bed all the time now. He naps more times than not. He rarely wakes in the middle of the night any longer. The bottle is a distant memory. He uses the potty for pee and even wants to stand while using it. He doesn't gripe and run away when I ask him to clean up now. Instead, I've even found toys put away in the wrong places - indicating that he's cleaning up some toys when I'm not looking.

Dressing himself isn't going well. It's proving too difficult for him to do still. At least, it's too hard to dress himself from head to toe.

I realized that Alex may be getting bored with the categories he aced within two weeks and is getting discouraged by what's left, especially using public toilets and pooping in the potty.

On Monday, he had insisted on carrying his own plate to the table for a meal. On Tuesday, when I'd really been angry over a poop accident, it occurred to me to give him some more challenges. I called him to the kitchen gate while I was cooking dinner and gave him dishes to set out on the table. Piece-by-piece, he carefully set the whole table with very little direction. He positively beamed with pride. I told him that he did such a good job, that it could be his own chore from now on.

I decided to try some NickJr.com lesson plans. I downloaded a letter recognition game and a rhyming storybook. He had to work through them, but he got both activities. This was it, I'm thinking. He needs challenges!

I started a new category, telling him that the Bottle category is done. It is now Alphabet Skills. I showed him that NickJr.com had a certificate that he could win for completing all of the alphabet activity packs they have. For 3 days in a row now, he's been thrilled to get these lessons. He's getting the phonetics of each letter and learning the lower cases of them. He's totally acing rhyming. Today, I gave him a math lesson. He had to match a series of items with the numeral that represented their number. He got all five.

He asks for these lessons now. Sometimes, he's too tired or not into it at that particular moment, but he still goes back to them.  He's had a poop accident since, but no more pee accidents.

Sorry Alex, I had no idea you needed more challenges!

September 9, 2010

The Big Breakthrough

So, something happened in Alex's brain. It was clear.

Sometimes, we play NickJr.com interactive games. I don't do it too much because it's a source of frustration for him. I have to operate the mouse for him because the abstraction of the cursor 'moving' in correspondence to the mouse's movements was just too hard for him. And he didn't get 'clicking' either. I would have to play the games for him, which wasn't much fun. He's been practicing with a Sesame Street game that has him move the mouse without clicking. We hadn't played in a while though.

Last night, we did Spin Art on NickJr.com. I taught him how to click on the colors and controls, but I still had to move the mouse for him. Dan did the same later that night during a game.

Tonight, I told Alex that he could watch videos on NickJr.com while I cooked dinner. We've done this before, because he would otherwise need me there to play the games. He insisted on playing games. I brought him to the game home page and let him move the mouse around. He wound up starting up a service we don't have. I had to reset it for him. I choose a game that might entertain him 'enough' for a few minutes.

Instead, he played it through. I had to check by coming out of the kitchen. I thought I'd heard indications that he was winning and restarting new games. I DID hear that. That's what he was doing - intentionally and deliberately.

He had focused on the task until he got it right. He finally called for my help when he opened up a game whose KEY movements he didn't understand. He needed to use the arrow keys to move the character and the Space bar to make it jump. When I came to help him, I realized that he'd figured out the jumping part all by himself. I told him that he had to come to dinner with the promise that I would play with him afterwards. Dan came home during dinner.

Dan played with him instead while I set up the scavenger hunt math game I'd printed out eariler. Alex opened up a game that involved creating his own robot to play with. Dan only explained the functions to him. ALEX was the one who built the robot. We printed out a picture of the robot and Alex was so excited that he ran to hang it on his easel. He did that without any help also.

Then he rocked the numeral and shape scavenger hunt. He loved it so much that he wanted to play again. I told him that I would play it with him tomorrow. After objections, he built another robot on the computer game.


I talked Dan into giving Alex a bath even though it was past the time he should have been in the bath. I felt that he really needed a warm bath to calm him down. This was far too much mental activity going all at once for him to be able to sleep easily.

Once in bed, he told Dan. "I'm the robot maker. I'm the President of robot making."

He should be proud of himself like that. I can't believe the number of brand new skills that all burst though in ONE day.

September 9, 2010

Fireworks

To have said that introducing challenges to Alex turned out to be the key was an understatement. Today was a day of breakthroughs I could not have imagined. Something burst open in his mind and he's been chewing up knowledge like so many Swedish Fish.

I only started the NickJr.com Alphabet packs on Tuesday. I'd printed out only some learning games for him on Monday. This had been inspired by their 'Get Ready for Kindergarten' promotion. They provided an online test and based on your answers, they suggested learning games and activity packs for your child.

Alex is two years away from Kindergarten. I wasn't really trying to get him ready for it. I took it to see if any of the suggested packs looked like they would be fun. 'Fun' turned out to be an understatement.

We worked through only three days of activities and Alex's mind just burst open, it seems. He wanted more and more activities. Today, we did four different lessons. One was quite difficult - an emotional/social readiness game intended for 4 year olds. It was a series of cards, showing a character named Rintoo with different facial expressions. The backs of the cards explain scenarios that would prompt the emotions connected to the expression shown on the front. Alex had a really hard time distinguishing 'sad' from 'mad'. He didn't understand 'relaxed' at all. Frankly, he's not supposed to at this point.

He tried hardest with this game, asking the most questions of all. He wanted to play it again and again. Hours later when the subject cartoon came on Nick Jr, Alex recalled what he'd learned from the game and started to apply it to the story.


"Rintoo is mad." he told me, "He's mad because he lost the race." That was one of the scenarios on the cards that he hadn't gotten right before. This was amazing.

During the lessons, he also selected math lessons, which we'd never tried before. He loves a particular math-based cartoon named "Team Umi Zoomi" He wanted "math" because that's what Team Umi Zoomi does. Here again, he ate up his own mistakes and worked hard to correct them. Asking to try again. He worked on a numbers-to-numerals game and a pattern recognition game. He did the latter one twice, asking for crayons so that we could do it "right". (He had to color figures in to match the patterns). In a shape and numeral scavenger hunt, he was thrilled to participate, squealing all the way through the game and asking to play it again.

The most outstanding was yet to come, explained in the next entry.

This was an astounding day for us. Really, astounding. Along with his break through on lessons and his learning hunger, he obeyed Quiet Time with a reasonable grace I've never seen in him.

"OK Mom," he acquiesced to me, "I'll go now. I won't sleep late today." (He often delays his nap so long that he winds up not getting enough of a nap and lasting to past 4 PM.)

He used the potty religiously. He ate all of his meals and asked for reasonable things as snacks instead of sweets.


Wow. I couldn't believe it.

September 9, 2010

Ahoy Mateys!

This morning we all took a chance that we could get seats on the Greenwich Cruise to Nowhere. Today was its last day for the season. It was best that we got to the dock at 10 AM to buy the tickets, so we decided to make it a morning out on Great Captain's Island as well. (Alex had seen me uploading some stories from last year to the new blog. When he saw the footage from the island, he really wanted to go again.)

I got up early and packed a picnic lunch for the three of us and we made easy travel to Greenwich. When we arrived at the dock, the ticket agent informed us that we would not be able to purchase the cruise tickets until 10 AM, but that was also when the boat for the island was bound to leave. There would not be another for an hour. On any other day, I would have waited the hour, but the ferries to the island sail around the tide flow. That day, there would be ferries until noon and not start again until after 4 PM. Irritatingly, we were stuck with a choice between the island and the cruise because the cruise was certain to be sold out before we returned on the 12:30 ferry. But I digress. Between the two, exploring 'Pirate's Island' (as we called it last year) was most certainly the better choice. Besides, we can ride the ferry to Governor's Island for free on weekends up to mid-October. I'll make sure to get on that deal.

Alex was thrilled to be boarding the boat and sitting all by himself (kinda) on the benches. Last year, he had to ride in his stroller. He was also thrilled to be able to walk around the island with no puppy leash like he'd had to use last year. We knew by now that he would not run off into the water or down a dangerous path by himself. He could truly be an explorer on the island.

We started at the main beach, where Alex and Daddy dug in the sand. Then I reminded Alex of "Crab Beach", where he and I so commonly find crab shells. Then I led Alex and Daddy further down the island. Alex told Daddy "We're going to the lighthouse!" I hadn't said that to him. He remembered the lighthouse and its path all on his own.

It was quite a walk there, around the pond for wildlife, past the rookeries and shelters. Once there, Alex wasn't all that thrilled because he was hungry. He wanted our picnic lunch. We had to walk back to the halfway point at Crab Beach to sit down at a table.

After our lunch, we explored more of the shore and shells. Alex and I collected a whole bunch of shells and rocks. Alex even tossed a hermit crab shell (nautilis looking) into the water. Mommy braved getting her sneakers soaked to get it back.


By this time, our little explorer was sleepy. 
 
 

We didn't bother asking about the cruise to nowhere at that point. We just found our way home. A really cool adventure and still home in time for Quiet Time.

Now, that's a Great Captain's Island adventure.

Labor Day the Proper Way

Dan and I hadn't made plans for this Labor Day. Dan knew that he had a lot of work-work to do at home. I knew that I had a pretty busy week ahead coming up. I'd taken Alex to Playland on Friday, the very same day that Dan had to have an emergency root canal. He wasn't feeling so great on Saturday, to say the least.

I'd bought tickets to Great Captain's Island from Greenwich Town Hall, as well, fully expecting to go by myself with Alex. I thought that we might want to try to get to the Cruise to Nowhere on Sunday or maybe combine the two, but it depended a lot on how Dan would feel by Sunday. I knew I had plans with my mom coming up too. So, Saturday was supposed to be a mellow day. Alex had other plans.

I let Dan sleep in really late that day. About an hour after he was up and about, Dan took Alex to the store. Predictably, Alex demanded to stay outside, which they did for a few hours. Then Alex asked if we could have a picnic. When I asked for more detail, Alex said 'Like we did in the park, that day.' (Father's Day)

So, I grabbed a blanket and Dan ran back to the supermarket for some quick picnic foods. I poured some lemonade in plastic cups and set out the plastic cutlery with plates. A picnic was born on our front lawn.

I thought that Alex might enjoy a nature walk, so I grabbed his buckets and we all set off to collect colorful leaves. That turned into a day in the park and a day of late summer sights.



How is it that a day of no plans so often turn into Alex Days?

Saturday, September 4

Bye-Bye Playland!

Playland will be open only for this week, Labor Day weekend and next weekend. After that, it reopens on October weekend evenings for 'Scared on the Sound', but the only entertainment for Alex's age group occurs on Halloween afternoon. The weather report expected rain on the weekend of the 10th and 11th. Labor Day weekend was due to be a crowded one.

In other words, this was the close of our summer at Playland. If we wanted to get the last of our prizes, we had to go on the last available weekday - Friday, the 3rd. BUT...

Greenwich's islands and cruise to nowhere also close soon. I hadn't yet gotten to Greenwich Town Hall to buy tickets for Great Captain's Island or Island Beach. We never got to the cruise either. Big Boy Boot Camp has kept us tied to the house pretty tightly. No room for adventures. If we were to get to Great Captain's Island at all this summer, I had to get to Town Hall that Friday. So, we did both. I set out early on Friday morning with Alex to Greenwich Town Hall. We stopped for lunch in Greenwich and then set out for Playland. Unfortunately, this meant that by the time we set out for Playland, Alex was ready for a nap.

Maybe it was time for a mellow Summer Wrap-Up. We saw both shows, 'Wonder' and 'High Voltage'. Alex loves both of them and even said 'Bye Jason!' to the star juggler/illusionist of 'High Voltage'. We strolled around the arcades, perusing the prizes we could get. We won more tickets to round off our wins. Alex wished to buy a souvenir ship like Mommy has. We both wished to have the last of Playland summer treats while we could.

Alex tried cotton candy for the first time ever. He didn't eat any, but he sure did love having it. He did eat the popcorn, though. He loved that part. We walked along the sea walk and the boardwalk. We danced to the show music and to the Kiddyland DJ. We played the duck game for the last time.

It was a great way to close the summer season.

"Bye Playland!" Alex called as we left. "See you soon!"

And we will, for Halloween. Thanks for a summer I won't soon forget, Playland.

Friday, September 3

A Vinyasa Habit is Born

I've been trying to work in some yoga sessions on alternative mornings. My goal for September is to get back my flexibility and strength to be able to make it a habit again. So, on alternative mornings, I've been playing yoga videos on Mag Rack, a free On Demand service from our cable company.

Alex loved the first one I did. I didn't. It was too advanced for my out-of-shape self. I found a more beginner level Vinyasa energy flow routine that lasts about 10 minutes. I held up well while doing the poses, considering that it's been three years since I could do this regularly.

While I was in Downward Facing Dog position and stretching my leg behind me, my body turned and I was able to see Alex right besides me, also in Downward Facing Dog position and looking up at the screen to see what to do next. I had heard him repeating the moves as the instructor stated them. I didn't know that he was trying to do them too.

I squealed with excitement and wished that someone else had been there to capture us both in pose on camera. I stopped and grabbed the camera, but Alex went shy and left the pose. I went back to my routine and Alex got up and stood besides me. He was still repeating the instructor's directions and helping me pose. He tapped my lower back while he said 'Keep your back straight'.

Why, thanks, my little yogi!

The video runs into a Sun Salutation routine right after a short break. I left it on and told Alex I would be taking a shower. Instead, I snuck behind him and turned on the video function on the camera. I was able to get some still shots too.

He says he likes yoga. Wow!

Alex in Downward Facing Dog

September 3, 2010