Keeping It Real: We're in a Rough Patch

So, in the spirit of honesty and making sure you all don't think we have this idyllic life, filled with nothing but roses and fairies, I'm here to tell you that we're in a really rough season with Jacoby right now (and I'm sure he'll be delighted to read about this in ten years (: ).  Back around the holidays, we started having major emotional control issues.  And this month, behavioral issues have cropped up at school.  I've gotten numerous notes from the teacher and a phone call from the principal (on my birthday, no less).  And the kind of things being reported from school are completely uncharacteristic of Jacoby and have really made us wonder what in the world is going on in his little head.  So, I finally convinced myself this weekend that this isn't just a "little phase".  I dusted off some books, checked out what has worked well for other parents, and swept away cob webs in my brain where the play therapist part of me used to be active and got busy with a few things.  We now have Calm Down Corner, a place where the boys go when they are super frustrated and angry.  It's a place to focus on sensory things that help us calm down so we can come back and figure out a solution to our problem.  The boys totally dig this spot, and have even claimed to be sad just so they can sit and spend time with some of the sensory things.  Time outs were doing us no favors in terms of actually trying to deal with anger in a productive way.  We also started gem jars to reward positive behavior.  The boys are working toward small rewards (when their jars are half filled) and big rewards (when the jars are full). These have been a big hit, and we've already noticed a shift in everyone's attitudes since we're focusing more on what's going well instead of what our problems are. Tomorrow I have a parent-teacher conference, so I'm hoping to get a system worked out with our teacher so that we're on the same page both at home and at school.  Next on the list will be our doctors if these things don't help.  Whew!  Ok, confession complete.  (:

In other news, we took a less than fun trip to the mountains on Saturday.  We had hoped to find some snow, but instead got gale-force winds and only a smidgen of the white stuff.  Bummer.  We really miss winter.  The boys and I finished James and the Giant Peach a couple of weeks ago and have now started Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (sort of on a Roald Dahl kick, he's such a good story teller).  We watched the James and the Giant Peach movie, but Jacoby was not impressed with the screen writer's interpretation of the story.  He felt like they left out some of the good parts of the story.  We were really busy with our Valentines this weekend.  We have nearly four dozen to complete, thanks to the numbers in both of their classes!  We found something easy and fun, so they've been a good project.

 The boys making a birthday treat with Justin

 We are cold and miserable in this picture and are making our way back to the car after trying to be outside for a whole seven minutes

Calm Down Corner: books, therapy putty, sensory balloons filled with various things like rice, play dough, etc.  I also now have a pinwheel to encourage belly breathing and am adding a wave jar.

 Jamming on the piano...here for the moment to make room for Calm Down Corner

Gem Jars

 Jacoby's 100th Day of School Project all finished

We made it to the 100th Day of School!  There were no less than three major food activities last week, and we made it!  Can I get a Hallelujah please!?  (:

Jacoby has learned how to take pictures on my phone.  Here are a few from his portfolio: