Jonah's First Allowance!

Jonah was very excited to learn that if he wanted money, he could do chores to earn an allowance.  We set up a very simple chart (drawn by Jonah) illustrating two tasks he is supposed to do (but needs constant reminding) every day.  #1: clear your plate after every meal, and help clear the table after dinner.  #2: pick up your clothes every time you get dressed, and help put away your clean clothes from the laundry.

Since Friday, this has been going very well.  Jonah has been eager to help, even to the point of taking dishes from his brother (who thought helping looked like fun!) so he could get the allowance, and not Elliott.

After only 3 days (to set Sunday as payday), we rewarded Jonah with his efforts: one quarter for each task done well.  He was so proud and excited to put his two quarters into his money bank.  At bedtime he was too tired, but told me we would discuss his allowance in the morning.  He's already scheming ways of getting more!  (Apparently doing a good job - even for only 3 days - deserves an extra 25 cent tip.)

In which Mom finally understands (sometimes)

Elliott's speech has been incredibly difficult to decipher.  "Wawa" can be either "Jonah" or "water" depending on the context.  To be fair, with a very discerning ear, "Jonah" has a slightly different sound, edging toward "wowa".  Still, there is typically a lot of hand waving, pointing and context required to understand what he is saying.  I'm certain his vocabulary is hundreds of words at this point, even though I can only comprehend a handful on a regular basis.

Yes, we are seeing progress, albeit slow.  And I've lately found greater confidence in grasping his meaning on most occasions.  So although we are both still frustrated with trying to hold a conversation, the frustration/fussing is getting less and less as the pronunciation/comprehension is improving.

Who is this Kid?

Elliott has been experiencing a bit of a renaissance of late, one which was clearly illustrated today.  He has always been a very serious and overly-cautious kid.  I chalked this up to being a chip off the old block.  But recently, he's become a very silly, energetic mover-and-shaker.

Today's examples: Elliott has thus far refused to go in the bathtub, so we've been using the infant/toddler tub, even at nearly 2-1/2!  Today, PopPop and Cailin brought him upstairs for bath, and he dove right in and had a fabulous time "swimming" like a pro!  In the evening, he even jumped right into the kiddy pool with Jonah to horse around and had a complete blast.  Sure, this is behavior one might expect from a 2.5 year-old - but I have never seen it from Elliott until today!

Jonah's Good-Night Mantra

We hear this - verbatim - every time we put Jonah to bed, just before leaving his room:

"Remember to leave my door open a crack.  And leave Elliott's door open a crack.  And come check on me and check on Elliott.  I will be asleep in 2 minutes, and Elliott will be asleep now, or maybe not.  And you can check on me when you think it's a good time."

YMC

Jonah has been learning new songs in school lately.  No longer does he come home singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" or "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" (not that those were ever favorites... just sayin').  No, last week he came home repeatedly singing "YYYYYYYYYYYYYY MC!"

Nailed it.

After much arguing and several viewings of the Village People on YouTube (linked in case you need a refresher) he now has it down pat and even added "it's fun to stay at the..." for a bit of variety.

This week's song: "Copa Banana!"  ???

Come, Sit!

Elliott is getting much better at telling us what he wants.  For example, pulling your pant leg (forcibly) and then patting the floor/couch means, "sit here!"  I hope he learns the words before I dragged all over the house!

Now Enrolling: Fall 2017

Short story:
After many tours and much deliberation, we enrolled Jonah and Elliott in a new school for next fall!

Long story:
We've started to have some misgivings about daycare.  Nothing serious, but it is becoming more and more clear that their bottom line comes first and the children second.  Education is a distant third.  Kids are constantly shuffled between rooms to make quota.  Our flexibility and perks have also been declining with the new administration - our sibling discount decreased and we were charged a boatload extra just for switching which 3 days the kids attended for one week.  During parent-teacher conferences, Jonah's teacher seemed particularly discontent with the way things are run.  Case-in-point: for BOTH kids' teacher conferences, we were double-booked with another family!  That gave us time to observe the 32 kids in Jonah's classroom and the chaotic play during the scheduled circle time.

In our town, preschools open enrollment for the following year in OCTOBER.  Yikes!  Add to that pre-enrollment for current families, and it starts to feel competitive to get one of the few remaining spots before they fill up!  We looked at Montessori, which I wanted so badly to love, but I couldn't see Jonah - a very social learner - working quietly by himself.  Elliott would fit right in, but what is the point in telling a toddler he can only play work with something in one particular way?  Apparently I value creativity more than I do the very beautiful and sophisticated math manipulatives.  So we found a preschool that offers play in the mud (Jonah's favorite past-time), field trips to the library (I've always thought that was a super cute way to teach responsibility), and a kindergarten curriculum.

Yes, we are those parents pushing Jonah into an academic program to challenge his little brain.  And so, at the age of 5, Jonah will start his first of two years of kindergarten, since he still won't qualify for first grade when he turns 6.  Elliott will go along for the ride to preschool when he turns 2.9 in October.  Oh, and school gets out at 2:30.  Mommy and Daddy are going to have to figure out the rest...

Audiology Part Deux

Elliott passed his second attempt at the hearing test!  Yay!!!

Mommy Didn't Take Care of Him

We had a lovely outing at the zoo today, but I was shocked and somewhat alarmed by the small comment that seemed to stick with Jonah throughout the visit and back home.

During our visit, I casually read a sign about a baby kangaroo, who's mother wasn't caring for it in the wild, so they are acclimating it to life at the zoo.  A few hours later Jonah asked to go back to see it.  And at dinner it was the one thing he told Dad about his trip.

I can only image how traumatic the idea would be to a small child, to be abandoned by his mother!  I hope it doesn't cause poor Jonah distress to have this thought in his very impressionable brain.

OW-WL

Every day PopPop asks me for the word of the day.  Sometimes it is a stretch to fashion a word out of a few sounds, but today it was very clearly: au(-e)l  Elliott couldn't have pronounced it any more clearly - which brings to question how clear the Merriam-Webster pronunciation actually is.

This was followed by a long "whoo" contest between Elliott and Jonah.  Elliott's was the soft "ooo" of a barn owl, while Jonah preferred the loud "WHOOOT" of a screech owl.