Parent Teacher Conference

We had our first Parent teacher conference at school today. Joshua's teacher didn't reveal any big surprises. She said, "Joshua is really funny. He cracks me up! But he doesn't like to do Art."

I could have told her that from the very beginning. I have a whole craft bucket that I hoped we would use, but is mainly just taking up space in our Laundry room!But she did say that he understands that he has to do it before he can go play. So, he does, it but she sometimes has to make him redo parts of it because he has a tendency to half-heartedly do it and then try and make a dash for it to go play. :) Other than that, he loves school, is thriving and learning everything...he just has to use manipulatives instead of doing art. :)

Other funny story....we have taught him to spell his name, so he has been going around spelling his name. "I'm Joshua. J-O-S-H-U-A. That's me." Apparently at school the other day, he recited this phrase, and then pointed to someone else and said, "That's Elizabeth. J-O-S-H-U-A. that's Elizabeth." It made his teacher's day and I thought it was pretty funny too!

The Blessings of a B-Minus

I need to remember all of this before Joshua gets too old....


http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/12/the-blessings-of-a-b-minus/?hp

Spelling and Counting

Joshua has been on a spelling and counting kick here lately. More counting than spelling. He can spell his name right now and that's about it. There is this dvd that we get from the library about construction vehicles that spell out all the machines. He likes to spell cranes as, "C-R-A-L-M-E, Crane". This movie is about as mind numbing as you can get, but he loves it. It is literally, watching the machines do their work. :)

He has been counting a lot these days. He doesn't quite get the concept of actually counting the items, but rather, just reciting the numbers. This is what he said in the car the other day, " ...25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 20-10". "No Joshua, it's 30". No, Mom, 20 - 10. " I'm obviously wrong. :)

So it's been a while....

It has finally cooled down a little (it's still in the 90s) so I suppose we can call it fall. We spent the month of August trying to avoid the atrocious heat of over 100 degrees by swimming and finding all things air conditioned. We also started preschool. Joshua is in a Spanish Immersion preschool this year ( I am teaching there a little bit, so that gives us a discount) and also spends a couple of mornings at our church preschool with his friends he made last year. So we're at school 4 days a week and he is doing well. Sometimes I hear him mutter a little spanish. He actually says, "Adios" to his teachers and friends whenever we leave school and the other day I caught him singing one of his songs in spanish.

So I try to be a good Mom and ask him how his day is and try and ask questions that are more than 'yes' or 'no' questions. This is about all I get from him because whatever question I ask him: "Yes, Mom. Nothing, Mom. No, Mom." It's like he's already reached his teenage years and decided to tell me nothing! I at least get something from his teachers and from seeing him a little at school or I would think he does nothing!

Here's a few pictures from the past couple of months since I'm a little behind. :)

-Here we are getting ready to play in the rain we had last week. It was pouring for hours and we got desperate for something to do.



-We went to the circus and Joshua got to stand by a Circus motorcyle. Highlight of the day.



-Our Aunt Amanda came to visit us and played with out bubble maker. I think almost more entertaining for her than Joshua. :)



-This is us at the grocery store. This specific one has these fancy shopping carts that Joshua now loves to push except that when we're there, I can't get a bigger cart because I have to spend more time making sure he doesn't ram people's heels or run into displays while he is pushing it. So, we don't go there as often as we used to. :) But he is very proud when we are there to get his own shopping cart!

Sentences are coming out

Joshua is pretty much speaking in complete sentences these days which is amazing to me because it seemed like a few weeks ago that he wasn't. He's also getting more independent and likes to tell me, "Joshua do it!" Which is nice for some things except for when he wants to empty his pee from his little toilet to the regular one. A little wrestling and praying he doesn't miss. :)

Some of my favorite statements he says now:

-"The window is on fire" (back story on this: we'd been singing, "The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire"). He just started substituting window in for it.
-"I help Dad with suitcases on airplane and bus." This is from when we took our trip to San Diego and he keeps talking about it.
-"What are you doing Mom/Dad?"
-"Daddy going to circus with me to see elephants." We haven't actually gone to the circus yet. I mentioned it to him one day and he talks about it all the time.
-"I turn 3 Mom." He keeps saying it since his birthday.

4th of July - It's Beautiful!

We had a great 4th of July. This is the first year that we went to the neighborhood parade. we also went to a friends house to watch the neighborhood fireworks and Joshua loved it. He was so excited about the parade even though it wasn't anything big. The fire truck lead the way and the rest of the parade was golf carts and kids and parents on decorated bikes. They gave out free popsicles and Joshua kept saying, "I am SO HAPPY!"

At our friend's house, we got to play and swim and eat. This was our first time letting him stay up late and he thought it was great. Our friends had an outdoor fire pit, so we got to roast s'mores too! Joshua thought that was the fireworks and he kept telling me that it was the fireworks and that "It's beautiful!" So cute!

Here's a picture of the boys watching the parade.

Potty training is gross

I think that comment is assumed, but you never really know how gross until you actually start. I feel like I am currently picking up after a dog since we are working on going #2 in the potty. Last night, my son thought that the best place to go would be on the stairs. I'll take some of the blame since I didn't put pants on him, but seriously??? The stairs???