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Donna's Diary Entries Diary Navigation: Choose A Diary Entry -------------------- Latest Entry: 5/19/07 -------------------- 4/21/07 3/11/07 2/9/07 1/9/07, Entry 2 12/22/06 12/11/06 11/28/06 11/20/06 11/15/06 11/10/06 11/1/06 10/24/06 10/17/06 10/11/06 10/3/06 9/25/06 9/17/06 9/11/06 9/6/06 8/27/06 8/20/06 8/13/06 8/6/06 7/30/06 7/23/06 7/16/06 7/9/06 7/4/06 6/25/06 6/19/06 6/11/06 6/4/06 -------------------- Donna's Introduction

07/04/06 - Birthday party, Independence weekend, and our day at the beach

July 4, 2006

We went to a birthday party Thursday evening for a 5-year-old boy.  It was at one of those indoor playgrounds.  This is the third birthday party we have been to so far this year.  I never would have imagined the invites started so young!  Anyway Justin really had a great time.  It was his second time at this particular place, and last time it took him about a half hour to get comfortable before he would play at all.  This time it was like he owned the place, running and jumping and playing.  It made me really happy to see him having so much fun.  He even ate all of his pizza and cake, a sure sign he was comfortable.  So I ended up getting a brochure from this place.  We are considering having a birthday party for Justin there in October.  I haven't decided for sure yet, but if we have one at all, it will most likely be there.  My original idea was to wait until he was old enough to ask for a party before we start having them, so we'll see.  I know it sounds like the easy way to have it at this place, but as long as the kids have fun, that is the most important thing to me.  And they will surely have more fun there than in my little house.

Justin had been singing Happy Birthday to this boy ever since I told him we were going to the party a few weeks ago.  He sounds so cute, this little 2-year-old guy singing songs!  He also likes to sing Itsy Bitsy Spider, and he tries to sing the Alphabet Song.  He is 2 years and 9 months old as of yesterday, and I can't believe how much he is learning this year.  He loves to tell stories about places we have been and adventures we have had, and it amazes me that he can remember details from weeks ago.  He has been trying to dress himself lately, and doing pretty well although he still needs help.  He wants to do everything himself, which is both wonderful and difficult at the same time.  I decided to make a couple of poster board charts with pictures for each step of his morning and bedtime routine.  I had read about this idea as a way to help kids follow their routines with less fuss.  I'm not sure if it is working yet in the short-term, but even if not, I am hoping that it will get him used to the idea for long-term ease of getting ready for school and bedtime.  When he first saw the charts and I explained what they were for, his reaction was "No, No" shaking his head and running the other way.  It was like he knew I was trying to get him to behave and would have no part of it.  Today though he was able to look at them, and got a star sticker for each step this morning except for breakfast, which he refused to sit for.

Happy Fourth of July!  I usually have this week off for vacation.  However, last year I ended up running out of personal and vacation days because I had to take off whenever the school was closed, and when Justin was sick (which was only once, but it lasted a week).  Thank goodness he is pretty healthy, otherwise my days would be used up before summer even started.  Anyway, so this year I decided to just be happy with my 3-day weekend for Memorial Day, 4-day weekend for Fourth of July, and 5-day weekend for Labor Day (school is closed for two days to get ready for the new school year).  The school is closed for a week in December, so that will be my vacation time.

My long weekend has been nice.  Friday, I got off early from work and did grocery shopping and went to Walmart, and then we ordered pizza.  We went swimming in the pool several times this weekend and went out for Italian ices.  I may get the ices again today – they are yummy!  Yesterday, we went to the beach for the first time this summer.  Justin had so much fun playing in the sand and he even enjoyed the water this year.  He got such a kick out of the waves coming toward him, and we were on each side of him holding his hands so he wouldn't get knocked over – he totally loved it!  He kept shouting, "Look the water's coming!"  I love the ocean and I loved sharing it with Justin this year.  There is something so peaceful about it.  Last year, we took him once, but he got really tired and cranky from missing his nap and we couldn't stay long.  This year, he was having such a good time he didn't seem to notice the missing nap, but he fell asleep on the way home and continued his nap when we got back to the house.

Have I mentioned how excited I am to be here?  I tried to get a diary here almost a year ago, in August I think.  I thought I was getting one and then the diaries were not updated for a while and I stopped checking them.  Meanwhile, I had found the community boards, and met some wonderful ladies there.  It was sure a pleasant surprise when I saw the announcement that the diaries were functioning again, and an even greater surprise when I found there was a quick way to get one of my very own.  Anyway, I wanted to welcome you all to come by my feedback forum and say hello if you like.  I think it would be nice to know who my readers are!  I will provide a link directly to my forum.  I'll try to remember to include this with each entry until the Talk to Me button below is fixed (right now it goes to the main forums/boards page and you would need to scroll all the way down).

Talk to Me
http://www.interact.iparenting.com/boards/forumdisplay.php?f=6597

Donna and Justin