New or Noteworthy: John

A few things new or noteworthy for John:

1) Money - He has started spending his own money on buying legos. I have always told him that his money is for him to spend any way he wants. He is about to run out though, so I think he will learn a lesson pretty soon about how fast money can go and the long process of earning/saving it back.

2) Sleeping - he falls asleep within minutes at night, but is almost always in our bed by 5:00 or so in the morning (a habit that we start breaking....tonight). Or at the very latest he is up by 6:30 every morning. He knows that he can play with whatever he chooses (quietly) until 7:00, which gives me time to either finish biblestudy, clean up a bit, prepare for the day, etc. It works out nicely and I think I will like the early riser when Kindergarten starts.

3) Potty talk - He thinks tooting and pooping and bathroom stuff is hilarious... does that ever really end?

4) Consequences - We have started a consequence jar for him and although we have not had to use it too often lately, I really like it. There are yucky consequences (clean a room, alone time, early bed time, no TV, no ipad, etc.) but there are also some silly ones (jumping jacks, make a card, sing a song while balancing on one foot, etc.) This is to keep him going back without a fight. It is nice for us because in the heat of the moment, we do not have to think of a fitting consequence and the situation descalates pretty quickly.

5) Bike - Carl has tried several times to get him to ride his bike. He even took off the training wheels and pedals so that he can just ride it and learn to balance as he picks up his legs and scoot along. He tries it, but still shows very little interest in actually learning to ride.

6) Summer - We have not done too much in the way of summer camps, but we have stayed busy this summer. We did our vacation to the Florida Keys and then John had VBS. We have sprinkled some art camps in there, and Tae Kwon Do twice a week. We have filled the other time with playdates and down days at home and trips to Oklahoma. The summer had flown by and it is hard to believe Kindergarten is around the corner.