Yesterday we started a new behavior chart for Jayden.  They have never really worked for Jayden in the past, he’d rather just keep doing what he is doing and not earn a sticker or toy, but then again he has never really wanted things before.  And since being in Washington with his cousins he really, really, really wants a Wii (so not gonna happen if Royal has anything to do about it), and a razor scooter.  So, after trying so many other things, and much frustration and doubts about my parenting ability, I decided to try this one more time.  If this doesn’t help, well, then I’m just not sure what I’m gonna do…

We put 2 categories on the chart that he doesn’t have trouble with (helping around the house and good behavior at school) just to help him get excited about earning stickers since he’ll get stickers for those without even having to try.  He’s always been really good about picking up, helping with the dishes, helping in the yard, etc.. and he’s been loving school.

We went over the chart last night with him and how he could earn stickers in each category and how when he got enough stickers in each category, we would go together and buy him the scooter he wants.   When we got to the take turns and sharing section, he clicked his tongue and shook his head and said, “I’m just not sure that one’s gonna work out”

Then when I was putting him to bed and we were saying our prayers, Jayden prayed this : “Dear God, Please help Willow not play with my toys long.  Amen”

Jayden was quietly coloring at the table while I was canning some peaches.  Willow starting begging that she wanted to color too.  So, I taped some newspaper down to the table, gave her some markers, and she started coloring too.  Of course, she only colored on the paper when I was right next to her, when I left for a split second to check on my boiling water I came back and found that she decided the markers were really lipstick.

Then later, when Royal made the kids some fruit smoothies for a snack, Jayden showed Willow how to give herself a mustache (and a third eyebrow on her forehead)

Jayden has been loving going to school, but getting details out of him as to what he did during the day is like pulling teeth. My questions have to be very specific if I’m to get anything. I guess I forgot to ask if he had music class on Friday because he didn’t say anything to me about it, but at dinner he looks at me and says, “Hey Mom, guess what?” and then he proceeds to bust this out with no warning or explanation.

I feel like I have been preparing Jayden for school for years now (well, turns out that’s what you do as a mom, prepare for school, prepare for life…who da thunk???).  He has always been clingy and he’s never liked being dropped of somewhere unfamiliar, and he definitely does not like doing things that are not his idea.  It took him until he was 3 before he stopped screaming every time we took him to the church nursery.  I purposefully signed him up for swimming lessons at a place that I knew wouldn’t be deterred by Jayden throwing a fit on the side of the pool, they would dunk him in the pool and make him swim even if he was screaming.  I have been dreading his first day of school for almost the last 4 years, just sure I was going to have to leave an upset, screaming child.  When he does that, I feel bad for Jayden, I feel bad for the person I am leaving him with, I feel bad for all the other kids that are around him, I feel like I have failed him in some way, like I haven’t prepared him for this, like he doesn’t have the confidence in himself to make friends and play and have fun without me, I feel like he doesn’t trust that I will always come back for him, that he doubts how much I love him.

So, since last March, when we officially got Jayden signed up for Pre-K, I’ve been trying to help him get ready.  Anytime we’d drove by his school I’d say, ‘Hey!  Look!  That’s where you get to go to school next year!  Look at all those toys!’  And he’d reply, ‘I don’t want to go.  That doesn’t look fun at all’.  To which I wouldn’t say anything because he has a whole lot of Royal in him and he just likes to argue.  But I knew he was processing things, every once in awhile he would pipe up in the backseat and out of the blue say, ‘Hey Mom, you’re really gonna miss me’.  And I’d say, ‘Miss you?  Where are you going?’  And he’d say, ‘You know, next year, when I’m at school.’

Before we left for our trip to Washington, Jayden and I were looking at a calendar and we mapped out how many weeks until we got to go to Washington, then how many weeks we got to stay there, and then when we got back how many weeks until he started school.  So Jayden has known since we’ve gotten back that he was going to start school really soon and he would vacillate between wanting to go and not wanting to go.  On Monday, he was in a I-don’t-want-to-go-to-school mood, but we had an orientation that we were going to, so we could meet his teacher.  Jayden perked up a bit when we saw some other people we knew, none that were going to be in his class, but I think it helped him not feel so alone.  We went into the school and found his locker with his name on it that he would get to store his coat and backpack in.  Then on Tuesday, we went back to his school to check out his classroom and fill out some paperwork.  I think this helped a ton, because he found the bin of dinosaurs (which he proceeded to line all up on the counter) and he found other toys that he wanted to play with.  All this week at Strollers in Motion (formally StrollerFit), he has been asking where his friends are, and I’ve had to explain that they are in school, just like him.

So, this morning he woke up knowing that he was going to go to school today, and thank the Lord!, he was in a I-think-I’ll-like-school-you’re-gonna-miss-me mood.  We went and worked out this morning and played in a park for a little while, then came home and made lunch.  To which Jayden said, “Thanks for lunch, Mom!  I was running out of energy, and I needed more so I could play with those jets at school!’  We then read some books on the couch and waited to leave.  I got shoes on the kiddos and said I wanted to take their pictures before we left.  To which Jayden had a moment of panic and started in on a fit of screaming and yelled,

“NOOOOOOO!!!!!  I’m not going!!!” (I took a picture of it, because I was getting first day of school pictures whether they were good or bad!)

So, Willow and I went out on the front porch and we found a present that Scooter had left us last night.  A headless bird.  I yelled in the house at Jayden, ‘Hey, come look what Scooter left us!’  He perked right up.  I said, ‘I’ll let you come look at this dead bird if you let me take your picture’.  Jayden replies, “OK Mom!”, and comes trotting outside.  Thank you, Scooter!!!

We got in the car and headed off to pick Royal up and take Jayden to his class.  While Jayden and I were standing by the car in the parking lot, waiting for Royal to get Willow out of her seat, I thought I’d test his mood and I said to him, ‘Hey buddy, I don’t know what I’m going to do without you, maybe you should just stay with me’   To which he said, ‘Oh Mom, I can’t.  I have to go.  I have to leave you today’.  Then he points at a mother walking back to her car holding the hand of a little boy with a backpack on and he says, ‘See Mom?  See?  You’ll get to come back and get me.  Then I’ll be able to go home with you.’  And we walked into the school, hung his backpack up in his locker, and went into his classroom, and he said, ‘Bye Mom.  Bye Dad.  Bye Willow’, and turned around to go play with something.

Such a brave kid.  I can’t believe all the worry I’ve had about this day, he did great!  Here’s to hoping he doesn’t freak out on me a couple weeks down the road or something!  :)

I’ve totally forgotten to post about all the fish Royal managed to catch while we were in Washington!  It was some hard fishing for Royal, they spent the better part of the day out on the river (like 6am - 4pm), but they were strugglin’ to bring anything home.  Royal told me the boats around them were slaying fish left and right, but for some reason they couldn’t get the darn things to bite.  Of course, now that we’re back in Kansas, Royal’s been calling home for the fishing report, and Fireball’s catching HUGE fish and a bunch of them.  Oh well!  We managed to come home with 14 packages of fish for our freezer and really Royal’s backpack couldn’t of held anymore!

Royal and my dad went fishing and my dad was the only one to catch anything! (Royal’s sitting behind me and he just said, “Well that’s because your dad had a great guide”)

All 3 boys were real interested in the fish and loved watching Royal clean it (cut off it’s head and rip all it’s guts out…)

Then Royal managed to catch these two lovelies…

And Willow got to pet one.

Then there was this stealhead.  Jayden wanted to be in the picture with it, but he didn’t want to look at me or smile….I’m not sure why he wanted to be in the picture….

On Royal’s last day of fishing, he managed to catch this one late in the day right before they decided to call it quits.

Jayden got to get up early and fish for the big fish earlier in the week with Royal and Grandpa Fireball and Papa.  They managed to get 2 big strikes with him in the boat, but while they were trying to convince Jayden to start reeling it in, the fish spit the hook.  Big. Fat. Bummer.  No fish that day….

But Jayden got to hold one of Royal’s…

Then he followed Royal inside while Royal cleaned the fish, and decided he wanted to hold just the fish head.  Of course it was dripping blood all over the place and Grandma had to keep helping him hold it over the garbage can.  ;)

We’ve been having troubles yet again with Jayden and sleeping.  He doesn’t want to sleep in his room at night when we put him to bed, and then he wakes up numerous times during the night to tell us he doesn’t want to sleep in there anymore.  While we were in Washington, both my parents and Royal’s parents set up a separate room for Jayden to sleep in, but because I didn’t want to fight the “I can’t sleep here”, “I’m scared in there”, “That room is just not good for sleeping”, “I want to sleep in your bed” thing, I just set Jayden up a bed in our room on the floor.  Jayden and I talked almost every night that this set up was just for while we were in Washington, once we got back to Kansas he was going to sleep in his own room again, and Jayden always said, “Oh yes, I know.  I like sleeping in my own room.  I won’t be scared at our own house.  I want to sleep in my own bed when we get home”  Now, I knew that he was pretty much just telling me what I wanted to hear and I was expecting some trouble with him once we got back to Kansas.  And I was right, Jayden is still fighting staying in his own room, telling me that he is scared.  I had an inkling he was using the whole scared reason because he knew I couldn’t really argue with him - if you’re scared, you’re scared.  Turns out I was right.  He woke up 2 nights ago around 2:30am telling me he just couldn’t sleep in his room anymore, it was just too scary and he needed to sleep in our room because he just couldn’t sleep by himself anymore.  I told him that wasn’t an option, but that he could choose to sleep where ever he wanted in the house and I would set up a bed for him.  I figured he would pick to sleep on the floor right outside our bedroom door, but no, he picks the farthest place form it.  He decided he wanted to sleep in the bedroom in the basement.  So, he grabbed his horsey and I followed him downstairs, fully expecting him to bolt back upstairs the minute I left him.  But I was wrong, I tucked him into bed down there, turned a light on outside the bedroom door and he slept down there all by himself until 8 the next morning!

So, today I had an idea.  I told Jayden I would rearrange the furniture in his room however we wanted it (and by I, I really meant Royal because that stuff’s heavy, but I would supervise), in hopes he might stay in his bed at night.  I don’t know if it will work or not, but even if it doesn’t, it’s always fun to get to move your stuff around.

Jayden first decided he wanted his bed downstairs in the basement.  I told him he had to leave all his furniture in his room, but I’d put it where ever and however he wanted it.  So he says, ‘Ok, I want my bed right by the front door where everybody comes in and out’.  I said yet agan, “It has to stay in this room”  So, after some more arguing, Jayden finally decided he wanted his bed right next to his closet.

We also took this opportunity to take down his “fishy room”.  He’s been saying for almost a year now that he wants a dinosaur room.  So, since the comforter on his bed has ginormous fish on it, I flipped it over, so now it’s just stripes and I put the dinosaur blanket / wall hanging that Royal’s mom made for him on top of it.  I also took down all of the hanging felted fish I had made him, the fish paintings my mom had done, his fish handprint picture, his fish wind chimes, and his fish coat hanger.  The only fishy things we left in his room are his actual pet fish, Fishy, and a picture that Jayden likes of Royal and him with a big fish.

We have some ideas of some other things we’d like to put in his room because the walls are looking a little bare.  The hanging flying dinosaur that I put up in the corner above his bed has already been ripped down by Jaydenosaurus.

*hint*hint* Nana and Grandma - we need dinosaur stuff :)

I’m gonna have to do some improvements in the garden next year.  The strawberries are taking over everything and while I try and hold them back, they sprout starter shoots out faster than I can rip them off and I swear when I rip off one, two more take it’s place!  In the beginning of summer, there was plenty of room next to the strawberry patch to plant my cucumber and cantaloupe plants.  We were just going to let the vines intermix and grow all over each other.  Well next year, I am so doing my vine plants vertically.  The strawberries are choking out the cucumbers.  The cucumbers are trying to squish the few carrots I have left, and I caught one little vine sneaking along the backside of the garden trying to reach my fantastically big basil plants.  While I was trying to do some weeding and maintenance in the garden along with trying to talk some discipline into my out of control plants, I found these huge cucumbers hiding under the leaves.  I’m going to have to go back and check my seed packets to see what I am actually growing here, but these things are ginormous!  And the sad thing is they are super delish, and I know this is going to make me sound old, but cucumbers give me the worst heart burn.  Cucumbers of all things!  Aren’t they mostly water???  It totally depresses me that I can’t eat something that I grew from a tiny little seed, so lucky for my friends and neighbors they are going to get to eat these fat suckers!

And just so you have an idea of the size of these things, here’s one next to my key!

We left a hot, hot, Wichita in hopes of getting to have some cooler weather for a couple weeks, and now we are down in Kelso and it is sooooo hot.  I watched the weather report last night and it is suppose to be in the upper 90’s, low 100’s up until Wednesday where it is going to cool off to 78.  Of course, Wednesday is when we are flying out of here and back to Kansas…..

We’ve hit up the local sprinkle park and we set up a slip’n’slide for the kids along side the house, so we don’t have to stay inside all day.

We left my parents house on the lake on Wednesday and headed down towards Longbeach to meet up with Royal’s family.  We left lovely, sunny weather and headed into cloudy, rainy weather.  What a bummer!  But it didn’t stop us from playing on the beach, but wouldn’t you know that 2 days after we left they had a sunny 90 degree day there!

The cold weather and water didn’t stop Jayden from getting in it!  He did take a long hot shower back at our cabin when we were done though!  :)

Walking around we kept noticing clam holes showing, so Royal thought he’d dig one up real quick to show to the kiddos.

Royal was obviously a little rusty (he blamed it on the flimsy plastic shovel he had), because it took a couple tries before he actually caught up with the digger.  The first 3 holes we got nothing, then Royal chased down this…

…a lovely sand worm!

And then the next 2 holes he managed to dig up a couple baby razor clams, which we quickly put back in their holes because it’s illegal to dig them up and there was a ranger who kept driving by.  :)

Royal and I got up yesterday morning and left the kids with the rest of my family, and went and hiked Mt Ellinor.  We hiked from the Upper Trail where we started at 3500 feet and hiked up 1.6 miles to the top where it is 5944 feet.  Usually this time of year, right near the top there is a big field of wild flowers that you walk through, but since it has been such a cold and late summer here, there weren’t any flowers because there was still a bunch of snow at the top.

Here are Royal and I at the base.

And here is where we were going to be hiking to.  The summit is the peak right above the line of snow.

The beginning of the hike.  Hello Trees!!!  I love Washington!

Starting to get above the tree line.

We hit the snow and found out from a couple we met at the top, that just 3 weeks ago there had been 3 feet of snow up there.

Lake Cushman down below

There is the parking lot way down there to the right.  If Jayden had been with us, I’m pretty sure he would of said, “Look, those cars are so puny!”

We got to the top and had this view…

…and this mountain goat waiting for us!

It took us about an hour and a half to get to the top and about an hour to get down.  You can’t hike anything like this in Kansas!  :)