Gotcha!

DSC_0620a, originally uploaded by planetdavis23.

The difference in their sizes seems much less these days. Jonah really likes that he can get more physical with his little sister and vice versa. Here she is practicing for powder puff football.

Getting Dressed

DSC_0617a, originally uploaded by planetdavis23.

One day last week, I asked Jonah to go get dressed to go to the park and told him I laid out clothes on his chair. I guess he didn't like what I picked out, so he picked out this outfit. The shirt is backwards and the shoes are on the wrong feet. But, hey, he dressed himself and the pants are on correctly - that's progress!

Strawberry Pickin'

Hidden Objects are a Hit

A friend gave Jonah a Highlights calendar for Christmas where each month has a picture filled with hidden objects. I love those types of things and was excited to work on it with him. In January, I sat down with him while Elisabeth was sleeping to see if he would find it interesting. I don't know if he just didn't get it or it was a bad time of day or what, but the couple of times I tried to engage him in the activity I failed miserably. So I just put the calendar in his sight line on the refrigerator, and, recently, he went over to study it and found something hidden in the picture. I guess the whole idea clicked with him then and he has been very into it ever since. We finished almost all the pictures up until April and he has already started on May. So today, I got the idea to search online for some free, printable hidden object sheets. If it's something he will sit down and work with me on, then I want to encourage it. The thing he most needs to work on is his fine motor skills and holding a writing implement (he will hardly use a fork). So I also printed off a couple of sheets where he traces objects and he really enjoyed that as well. So I guess I'm just encouraged because I feel like I have finally found a starting point to work with him on some things. Here are the links I found for some useful, FREE worksheets.

http://www.supersubstituteteachers.com/printables.htm
http://www.tlsbooks.com/preschoolworksheets.htm
http://www.highlightskids.com/GamesandGiggles/HiddenPics/HiddenPicsPrintable/h8hiddenArchive.asp

Working for the Money

We recently started a new "thing" with Jonah, where we ask him to do some work for which he gets paid. (This is above and beyond the pick your toys up - normal stuff.) It helps direct his energy and teaches him responsibility. It also gives me a direction for "conversation" in the the store when he wants something. (BTW: He knows where all the Target's are in the area, as soon as you get close he asks if we are going there - he is his mother's son after all.) So now he can save up and buy himself his own toys.

A couple of weeks before Easter, Jonah was looking through the Toys R Us ad and telling us all the things he wanted. Since then, we have been getting his brain around the idea that you have to sell some of the toys you have so you can buy new ones or work for the money. He has been all for it. Last week, we collected up some toys that he hadn't played with for a while and sold them at a local consignment store. As a result, he had a good bit of money in his piggy bank (it's actually a blue, fuzzy, bunny bank that I paid 25 cents for at a recent consignment sale.) 

The next time we went in Target, he wanted to buy a toy with his money. We saved that department for last and walked up and down a few aisles while he looked over his options. He kept going back to this $20 Imaginex set with men, a truck and a monster, and finally settled on that. I have to say he knows his likes pretty well, as he has played with that almost exclusively all week.  Now he only has a few dollars left over, but want's a bubble lawnmower like his friend Livi. Daddy told him if he helped mow the whole yard that he would buy Jonah one. He couldn't hang in there for the whole task, so he only got some change for his piggy bank. Maybe next time!