In one of my recent posts, I said that we were having some behavior issues with Caleb. I'm glad to announce that Caleb's behavior has leveled off. He's still 3 - don't get me wrong. He's certainly no angel, but most of the time, he's close to it. The complete meltdowns have diminished to one or two a week and the yelling at us has all but stopped. Looking back, I attribute the whole situation to a few factors (in addition to the fact that he's three):
1. Routine, Routine, Routine: It's summer. We don't really have a routine in the summer. He was going to daycare 2 days a week to stay in the swing of things, but it really wasn't enough. One day on, one day off, one day on, 4 days off - that's not routine to a 3-year-old. We've increased him to 3 days a week (Tues, Wed, Thurs) and that has helped. I'm considering 4 days this week and 5 next week just to ease on back into the full-time schedule. Oh...and a lot of his friends moved up to an older class and some younger kids moved into his class. Caleb is (temporarily) the oldest in his class and is learning some not-so-lovely behaviors from the younger kids. He moves up to the older class in a few weeks - something that I'm happy about...but sad to move on from Mrs. Natalie and Ms. Lindsay, who we adore!
2. Sleep: We relaxed Caleb's bedtime for the summer. C'mon...it's hard to go to bed when it's still light outside! I think that plan backfired on us. He just wasn't getting enough rest. He hardly ever takes a nap at home (almost always does at daycare) and always gets up between 6:30 and 7:30 - no matter what time he goes to bed. So, basically on the days that he wasn't going to daycare, he was losing 2-3 hours of sleep a day. That does not make for a well-rested child...and a well-rested child is a much better behaved child.
3. Travel: This sort of goes with the other two. Since we've been out of school this summer, we've spent a lot of time traveling. Our trip to Florida, plus our trip to St. Louis, plus a week-long trip to LR and Hot Springs added up and took its toll on all of us. Rudy and I were tired and Caleb was extra-tired.
4. Grandparent Time: We LOVE our parents and Caleb LOVES his grandparents, but we all know that the rules are more lax and the little man runs the show when he's with his grandparents. Grandparent detox is completely worth it for Caleb to make the memories that he makes with his Grandma, LaLa, Pops, Pepapa, Mamaw, Memmie, Poppie, Nana, Grandma Morris and Grandpa Morris. We're certainly not complaining about that part...but it was a factor that can't be ignored.
Happily, things have smoothed out around here. Caleb is back to being funny and lovable for the most part. He's only going to time out about 2-3 times a week instead of 4-5 times a day, and I haven't even threatened to spank him in over a week. That's a huge improvement! His meltdowns these days are typically related to being tired, coming inside and cleaning up. That's totally to be expected.
Here are a few Calebisms just to prove that he's back to normal...
Random things he says for no particular reason - and directed to nobody in particular:
Float like a Cadillac, sting like a Beemer (this is from Cars)
Oklahoma! (this one worries us a little)
Go, Cardinals!
I big. I so tall now!
What's the big idea? (this is from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse)
A recent speech lesson gone awry -
Caleb: I want one piece of poilet paper.
Me: TOIlet paper.
Caleb: Terlet paper.
Me: laughing hysterically at my ghetto child
Fascination with HotShot -
My baby is HotShot. He growing bigger and bigger!
HotShot in Mama's belly.
HotShot growing in MY belly?
HotShot eating your food, Mama?
Me: "What will we call HotShot if it ends up being a girl?"
Caleb: (complete with look of exasperation) "Haley"
Me: "That won't work. My name is Haley and we can't have 2 Haleys."
Caleb: "Yes we can, Mama. HotShot is Haley AND you are Haley. It's okay."
He's pretty fascinated with names right now. He knows that my "other" name is Haley and his Daddy's "other" name is Rudy. He's a little confused that Daddy has 2 "other" names, but so is everyone else. :) He wants to know everything's "other" name - even if we have no idea what he's talking about!
Aside from Calebisms, he's completely smitten with baseball. Rudy bought him a t-ball and t-ball glove at WalMart yesterday and he loves it! He is getting pretty good at hitting the ball off of the tee and we'll probably sign him up for tee ball next spring. He still loves movies and has recently discovered The Incredibles. It scared the pants off of him the first couple of times, but now he watches it repeatedly. Mealtimes are getting a little better. We've started practically ignoring him when he doesn't eat or says he doesn't like what he has. We tell him he doesn't have to eat it, but he has to sit with us while we eat. Lo and behold...he usually cleans his plate. Caleb LOVES the swimming pool. Rudy got him a life vest that has floatie arms and a band around his chest and he can really get around the pool with it on. It keeps his face out of the water and he's all about it! (I'm signing him up for swimming lessons next summer.)
Oh...and my greatest accomplishment for the summer has been teaching Caleb to hold up the right amount of fingers to go with 1-2-3-4-5. He still struggles with the fine motor part of it, but he usually gets it right. I didn't think he would ever learn that!
Okay, enough of all that for now. Keep in mind - I just document to remember. You choose how much you want to read. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment