The last week.

I just realized that I was doing a great job updating the blog and keeping far flung relatives and friends informed for a couple of weeks, then suddenly, this week was over and I hadn't posted at all. Actually, this whole month is slipping away from me at an alarming rate. And by month, I think that I might mean year. We managed to get our Christmas tree and decorate it this week. Most of our Christmas shopping is completed. I didn't do any cookie baking or card sending for the second year in a row. Last year, I had a stellar excuse, which was that we had just moved into our new house. This year my only excuse is that most days I can hardly keep us together enough to get basic life stuff done: household work, groceries, library trips, playdates...that sort of just muddling through stuff. I cannot put my finger on what is making life feel so challenging lately. I am counting on it being holiday stress and maybe a little winter blues. Kai is also transitioning out of naps, which means that many days he is up and active all day long from 6am to about 6pm. So, the feeling of being just barely in control could be due to that major change in our daily schedule.

Kai has been having a pretty good week though. We picked up a chart to have a visual of the things that we would like him to work on being consistent with. I initially thought that just putting a magnet on the day would be incentive enough to want to do things like pick up toys, brush teeth without a hassle, etc. I am trying to think of a small reward for filling up a whole day of magnets and something a little more substantial for having the whole week full. I wish that he was more interested in stickers, but not so much. I was thinking about putting slips of paper with rewards like playing a computer game, making cookies, playing with the water table, etc in a bucket for him to choose if he fills a day. I am ironing out the details of this in my head currently.

There are things that Kai has been stubborn about learning. He can identify a lot of colors and if I give him paint chips with three shades of colors he is able to put them in order of dark to light. He can identify a few letters and numbers if in the right mood to do so. He is able to put together puzzles with up to 24 pieces. He is able to lace beads and pour water from one cup into another neatly. All pretty awesome...you know, from my completely unbiased view. While he has accomplished these amazing feats, he has refused to count out loud to us. He tell us that there are two or three of something from time to time and generally he is right, but he doesn't say "1, 2, 3..." On Friday night, we were reading stories before bed and he counted three wheels in a book. Out loud. While pointing at them. I threw a party. I thought about it for awhile and decided that it was probably more advanced than repeating back a memorized string of numbers. Perhaps he just isn't down with memorization? Or maybe it is that he doesn't like to recite things to us? Who knows? Not me. I do know that my child is pretty amazing. Again, from my completely unbiased view point.

We spent the day yesterday at my sister's house. Kai and his cousins played together, mostly nicley, all late morning into the early afternoon. The were outside for over an hour playing in the snow together. When I was helping Kai to get his snow gear on I was thinking that they would be back in the house in ten or fifteen minutes. I was shocked that they were out for so long. They have really hit a place where they are able to play together well. Riley and Kai especially. Since they will be moving to Virginia soon and I have been thankful for the low key time that they have been able to spend together over the last year and in the past couple of months. After they are living far away it will be back to visiting a few times a year. Which is awesome that we are able to have that time, but visiting always has a different sort of feel.

And now for some photos:

Kai models the Santa hat that he requested that I make.

Our Christmas tree!

Kai's chart...the areas that are posing a challenge to get magnets daily are
"no teasing" and "keep your hands to yourself"
The "share" row is a pretty easy one for him, he needs encouragement to share some items but does a pretty stellar job in general. In his very literal way...everyday he looks at that tile and says, "I want to share my baseball with you."