Woods Family

Maks and Mom have been spending a lot of time together. I think that it took him a while getting used to Mom being home with him all day (instead of Dad) and during July, I didn't take him to preschool at all. It has been so much fun and completely exhausting all in one. We are really getting close and love to be together.

Maks loves to exercise with his Mommy. We walk and swim and bike ride. He loves to give hugs and kisses to his mom.

We are going to Utah again to see Uncle Phil marry Auntie Sharon. We are all very excited. I even get to make the wedding cake. It will be my first real wedding cake so we'll see how it turns out. Mom and Dad even get to take 24 hours to be by themselves! Yeah! Nana is having a sleepover with Maks.

Ohh.. I almost forgot.. I also get to ride on an airplane that does weightless parabolas. I will get to log about 7 minutes of "weightlessness". I won't bore you of the details concerning the quotation marks. It will fly aboard G-Force One. This is an opportunity for science and math teachers around the country given by Northrop Grumman Foundations Weightless Flights of Discovery. We get to take experiments on board and they will video tape everything. I went to a workshop yesterday to begin preparations for the flight. I am really excited.

In other news.

Potty training is sooooo hard. I don't think that Maks can completely recognize what it feels like to need to go. Sometimes he can. I don't know. Most days he is successful until around 4 or 5 (as long as I am monitoring for his signals) then he does number 1 or 2, 2 or 3 times in a row right in his big-boy pants. He stays dry during naps and most of the time at night. But how many times can you wash all the underwear and shorts?? I have tried everything: Sticker charts, gummy bears (the vitamin kind), etc. The one technique I read about but haven't tried is putting him in a time-out chair every time there is an accident. Sounds a lot like punishment. He can't enroll in kindergarten (which he is technically old enough for) or for that matter pre-K (which requires potty trained kids) until he is trained. I've checked at many different schools. So where will my baby go when I have to start work on August 22?

Well....Just as Maks is getting settled in the summer routine... we'll change it on him again. :)

Summer Fun and other things...

Our summer so far has been filled with trips to the beach, bike riding, and a Fourth of July trip to Utah WITHOUT Daddy! Yikes.

Maks and Mom have been having a wonderful time learning and playing together. He is so snuggly and sweet with me when we get so much time together. Well, except for the spitting. Yes, Maks decided it would be fun to spit big giant loogies on people when he feels frustrated in the last 2 weeks. Where does a child learn these things! Mom has had 5 or so, Dad has received a few. After cousin Zeke and Uncle Gregg got one each, Mom was furious.

We spend our mornings with two learning sessions. We are working on early math and fine motor skill development. We are definately making progress. He won't stay focused for more than about 5 minutes on each activity and not for longer than 30 minutes total. So we take a movie or computer game break in between. I typically do 2 sessions in the morning and find time for 1 more in the afternoon. I have no idea if this is too much or too little. I usually work with 14-18 year old academically gifted students in my physics classes.

Maks got a bike trailer - one of those bikes where it hooks on to the back of an adult bike to become a tandem. It has been so much fun. He loves it. When we were riding it the other day he shouts "Thanks Mom and Dad for my new bike! It is so much fun! Woohooo!" Yeah. Manners are developing. :)

He is making progress in toileting. We have been in big boy pants all week with just a few accidents. He was nearly trained a few months back and completely regressed. Now we are making progress again. He can't move on to pre-K next year unless he has no pull-ups. That is one of his goals.

We are getting used to each other and more comfortable and I have learned a few of his triggers to "freak out" time. First a definition of freak out - my husband calls it back brain. He starts seeking sensory input by chanting nonsense, spinning in circles, hitting, or flopping his body. He pretty much ignores anything you say and won't look at you. He acts aggressively towards his toys, nearby cousins, or mom and dad. It is difficult to get him back in thinking mode after one of these and something that has worked before won't necessarily work again. These used to get me really frustrated until the last few weeks. Since I have been able to spend more one on one time with him, I have noticed they occur in a particular situations. 1) loud, crowded places like lines (check-out, rides, amusement parks) or 2) when he needs to go to the bathroom or 3) when he is hungry.

If I remove him from the line, feed him, or try to get him to use the bathroom, he snaps out of it easily. Otherwise, it can turn into a 1 hour screaming fighting mess where I have to restrain him. He will start some Occupational Therapy soon to try to help him in this area. I have been trying a few techniques and they seem to help sometimes.

How can my sweet little snuggly polite boy turn into such a monster?? Hopefully he will learn his triggers and be able to calm himself down in the future. For now, I feel happy that I am learning how to cope.

I will end with a few pictures of the fun...