Struggling With Behavior  

Wednesday, March 31, 2010



Life has been challenging around here the last week or so.

About two weeks ago, I got a call from Paige's preschool about "behavior issues." Roland and I have joked her whole life that she's going to be a challenge and that we would "get calls" from school, but it caught me off guard.

After a long conversation with her teachers, we decided on making some changes in Paige's schedule. Since I have been out of work, I tried to keep her schedule as normal as possible, having my mother-in-law continue to take her to school and pick her up, even though I was at home. I am pretty sure though that although I never told Paige about losing my job, she picked up on my worries and anxieties, and it is coming out in her behavior.

Recently, Paige's sleeping issues have resurfaced as well, and I think not sleeping well is also tied into this, as well as several other issues, such as our family cat dying in January. In any event, Roland and I decided to try having me alternate days with Grandma for who took Paige to school. Paige has a close relationship with her Grandmother, and lately when she's with me she tends to cry and say, "I miss Grandma" and when she's with Grandma she says, "I miss mom." Therefore we decided that if we stopped her spending days with Grandma altogether it'd be too hard for her.

So last weekend I told her about my job, and tried to explain it to her the best she could. I also told her that two days a week I'd be taking her to school and she'd spend the day with me. Paige is a child that has a difficult time with changes in her routine, and she kept crying and asking why everything had to change. She then proceeded to test her limits with both myself and Grandma last week.

By Friday I was exhausted! So, once again, this blog took the back burner while I used all my energy battling bad behaviors, trying to figure out what is going on with her. She's not acting like herself, and I'm worried about her.

I'm trying hard to make sure she knows that everything is ok, that she is loved, and that it will all work out. In the meantime, it is going to be a difficult process getting her behavior back on track.

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Thursday List  

Thursday, March 18, 2010

(Hopefully) better late than never...some of my most recent "starred" items.

I like this picture frame gift wrap idea.

I might actually have to try making a birthday wreath.

Tie Dying handkerchiefs looks like fun - as do the other rainbow birthday party ideas.

This "scrappy canvas frame" is neat.

Here's a yummy looking cookie recipe.

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Project Life Tuesday  

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Here's my second entry for Project Life Tuesday at The Mom Creative. I will say that making myself post these did mean that I had to get them off the camera, get them organized, and jot down something that can be used as journaling later on, if I need it. Now I also have the pictures ready to print next time I find a good deal on photos.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

This picture is just so Paige right now. She loves to play outside. She wants to wear her sparkly shoes with everything. She wants to pick out her own clothes and insists that they match, when they don't. She often makes that little face she's making in this photo. She's enjoying Tinkerbell fruit snacks.




Monday, March 8, 2010

This is looking down at our front door. I finally realized that keeping this area looking neat made affects how I feel, because if I come in the front door and everything looks messy, it puts me in a bad mood right away. I decided that instead of the Flylady's kitchen sink, I need to "shine" my entryway every day.



Tuesday, March 9, 2010

This picture is a little dark, but these are the books Paige has out of the library that I've been reading to her - The Berenstain Bears. She's been enjoying the books and the cartoon recently, and it amuses me, since I remember reading Berenstain Bears when I was a kid.



Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Oddly enough, I'm having trouble deciding between the picture from my walk in the park,



and one of my toes. Paige painted them tonight. She wanted to paint them in a "pattern." She says it so it sounds more like, "pattren."



Thursday, March 11, 2010

I really don't like pictures of myself, but it feels weird that I don't think my Project Life has any photos of me in it, and we are in March. So I took this one as I was getting ready for a job interview.



Friday, March 12, 2010

One of our foster kittens, Neko, has a hurt leg, and has had to spend some time in a crate in our bathroom to rest his leg. The other day Paige decided he needed something in there to keep him company, and moved some of her birthday/Valentine's Day balloons in there with him.



Saturday, March 13, 2010

Today Michelle and I went shopping at Target, and she bought a Leapfrog birthday cake toy for her twin niece and nephew, who will be one in June. Paige saw it in the bag and told us, "I like frog toys" and wanted to play with it. She played with it in the box for some time, and was upset it wasn't for her, even though I told her it was a "baby toy." Here she's blowing out the candles. I like this picture even though it's a little blurry.



Well, that's my week! Thanks for stopping by.

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Thursday List  

Thursday, March 11, 2010

I'm a little late today with this. I had a job interview today (number 7) and they want me to come back tomorrow for a second round, so this week how about education related links? Some homeschool, some special ed, etc. Let's see what I've got starred...

I actually should print this out - I want to make this Leprechaun Book with Paige.

An interesting sound related Montessori inspired activity.

For anyone like me who is involved with severe special education, here's a post I found interesting about eye gaze communication.

Not quite education, but still sort of school related, lunch box love notes.

A homeschool preschool "curriculum" of sorts, Read to Me and ABC. I really liked how one of the things this mom did while teaching each letter was a part called, "Making A Memory."

A list of websites that teach reading.

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Project Life Tuesday  

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

This year I am having fun with Becky Higgin's Project Life. It is a scrapbook/photo album kit that is made for you to take a picture every day for a year. There are many different ways to use the kit, and I've had fun looking at what others are doing with it.

The Mom Creative hosts "Project Life Tuesdays" where you share how you are doing with your Project Life. I've been wanting to join in, but I keep forgetting. As it is, I'm posting this late on Tuesday...but better late than never!

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Paige's first "friend's" birthday party. We had the party at a plaster painting place. Paige painted a butterfly. I have a ton of great pictures from the party. This is her cake, which is a cupcake cake. Each guest got a cupcake, a Hoodsie, and a juice box.



Monday, March 1, 2010

Paige's preschool class was studying dinosaurs in February. Today Paige brought home a dinosaur "diorama." I didn't even know that kids still did dioramas!



Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Paige has been having trouble sleeping again. She doesn't want to go to bed and often wakes up several times a night. Lately she's been very hot when she wakes up, as she likes to burrow under a lot of blankets but also overheats easily. She didn't want to change into something cooler...but we convinced her to when she got to wear one of Aunt Michelle's shelter shirts, just like her.



Wednesday, March 3, 2010

An after dinner snack for me...one of Paige's cupcakes and a Hoodsie.



Thursday, March 4, 2010

Paige worked on thank you cards for her birthday party. She wrote the names of her friends on the envelopes and used a couple of her stamps to decorate the envelopes. She's in her new green nightgown again.



Friday, March 5, 2010

Roland's Christmas Darth Vader is still lurking on top of the refrigerator, next to a "porcupine" that Paige made in preschool in the fall, and some junk that has accumulated up there. Time to clean the top of the fridge.



Saturday, March 6, 2010

One of Paige's cousin gave her a kid sized pizza making kit for her birthday. Today Paige and Daddy made pizzas.



So that about wraps up last week here. Thanks for visiting.

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Thursday List  

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Once again...a few fun links from my "starred" items...

My brother and his girlfriend are expecting their second child in June. Maybe I'll try making a diaper wreath.

I keep meaning to try this action game with Paige, since she is always moving!

A yummy looking recipe for skillet lasagna.

I was actually just thinking about this one last night. Need to print this out and try it with Paige - counting the house.

Another recipe I've been meaning to try - apple brownies.

So many of my starred posts are for holidays. I scrolled through and found Valentine's...then Christmas...then Halloween. LOL

So, the last one is the first thing I bookmarked, this cool castle cake that I toyed with trying for Paige's birthday.

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What I'm Listening To...  

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

A little over a year ago, I started listening to audio books in my car on the way to and from work. Before that, I'd never really listened to an audio book, preferring to read books "the old fashioned way." I quickly became addicted to listening to the books in the car, and now I get a little cranky if I don't have a story to listen to!

I found that I really enjoyed listening to stories for children and young adults. The stories were entertaining, but not too distracting. One of the women I worked with started listening to books with her children when they were in the car, and found that they enjoyed listening to stories as a family. It is a great way to squeeze in a little educational time...and have it be enjoyable too!

Even though I'm not working with her right now, she's asked that I continue to send her the names of good books. So I started thinking, why not share them here too? Maybe someone else would be interested in listening to a good story. Last year, I started writing down all the names and authors of the books I listened to throughout the year. I was going to keep track of how many stories I listened to. Toward the end of the year I started to forget to write them down...but I've started again this year.

I just finished listening to: "Project Mulberry" by Linda Sue Park.



In Project Mulberry, the main character, Julia, and her friend, Patrick, raise silk worms as a project for a school club. At first, Julia, who is Korean, doesn't want to do the project, as she thinks it is too "foreign," and wants to do something more American.

In between the chapters on the audiobook, the author has "conversations" with the main character, Julia, in which they discuss how the story was written. At the end of the story, there is an interview with the author.

I really enjoyed this story and would recommend it. :)

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