Z week

This week took two weeks to accomplish. For various reasons: holidaying, half marathon training, job shadowing, job interviewing, Stake Temple daying, Tire troubling and working; I could only salvage one weeks worth of Z time, so I mostly just added those days.

Monday:
I've learned my lesson. If Monday is a holiday, I don't even go see if the library is open, I just assume its closed. I picked up a shift for someone at work - I worked 8 hrs on my President's Day :) AND I ran 4 miles of intervals all by myself - it felt good too! Not much Z stuff happened today

Tuesday:
Library Day! We got our Z books and discussed Z things. Like: Zebra, Zoo and I added in Zero. I taught him how to do a Zero with his hand - so funny watching him try to figure out finger movement and placement.
We read: Zlata, Me and the Letter Z by Cynthia Klingel
My X, Y, Z Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure
It's Z!by Mary Elizabeth Salzmann
The Sound of Z by Celcilia Minden

Wednesday:
I had to pick up extra shifts so that people will pick up mine while we go on vacation soon. I hope we can get to the vacation, we get to fly stand-by, as in you can go if space is available. After work I trained at the gym, showered quickly then headed to the temple with some of the cutest 12 year-olds ever. I managed to squeeze a few books into the day here and there.
We read: Potty Time by David Bedford
On Beyond Zebra! by Dr. Seuss (long)
Z is for Moose by Kelly Bingham
Zara Zebra Draws by Brigitte Weninger
A is for Zebra by Mark Shulman
I Love My Mom by Anna Walker
Do Zebras Have Stripes? by DK Publishing, Inc.

Friday:
More work, running and then more work. No Z, except for the Zzzzzz in bed.

Monday
I ran in the morning, then Javin and I worked on some numbers all day. We focused on Zeros, he calls them Zerrios. Why he makes it MORE difficult to say I'm not quite sure, but we're working on it.
We read: Zero the Hero by Joan Holub (simple adding, we'll keep it for 1 more week)
Zero Is the Leaves on the Tree by Betsy Franco

Wednesday
I had an interview with JetBlue today that I bombed. Not a HUGE deal, its a bit disappointing, but it doesn't jeopardize my current position - so I guess its ok. Javin and I went to the Zoo for a little bit, then we had a late lunch with Mr. Robbins. It was a good end to a depressing morning.
We read: Peek-a-Zoo! by Marie Cimarusti (Great)
At the Zoo by Priddy Books (LOVED)
Two at the Zoo by Danna Smith (LOVED)
1, 2, 3 To The Zoo by Eric Carle (LOVED)
The Zoo by Suzy Lee
Zoo-Looking by Mem Fox (Great)
When No-one's Looking At the Zoo by Zana Fraillon (I LOVED)

Friday
I had the last of the extra shifts today, then my regular shift so my awesome mom came to play with Javin for a bit.
Gram read: Zoom Broom by Margie Palatini
Zoom, Zoom, Zoom by Kirsten Hall (which inspired him to drive his cars around)
Zella, Zack and Zodiac by Bill Peet
Say Hello to Zorro! by Carter Goodrich
Zip It! by Jane Lindaman

Its been super nice having some relaxing days, but I can feel the laziness taking over. I must get a new teaching schedule in place before the lethargy takes over completely. I think I'll do letter combos like: sh, ch, ing, ed, er, th, etc. Also on the list is the silent e. Any other topics or letter combos I should do? Please share, this is my first teaching experience.

Y week

Monday:
Library day! Got a late start, but still had enough time for the library - YAY!

We read: Star Wars ABC by Scholastic (Javin's pic, he LOVED it and Yoda was in it!)
Sometimes Y by Mary Salzmann
Yum! The Sound of Y by Alice Flanagan
Yesterday and the Letter Y by Cynthia Klingel
It's Y! by Oona Gaarder-Juntti
Yana and Yosef by Pam Scheunemann

Tuesday:
We had a doctor's appointment in the morning, by the time it was over we were hungry, sooo hungry we couldn't wait to eat. We stopped at Village Inn and had a wonderful brunch, just Javin and me. We brought some books to read while we waited. **If you have a slow eater or even a non-eater who likes books, bribe them! For every bite, you'll read another page - it works!** Also during brunch, we tried to find things that started with Y. I found the Yoke of my egg and Javin found a Yellow light (that was really orange).

We also tried to say, "Yes!", as much as possible all day. It was surprisingly really fun.

We read: Yes by Jez Alborough
Yes, Please! No, Thank you! by Valerie Wheeler
Oh Yeah! by Tom Birdseye (LOVED)
Yes We Can! by Sam McBratney (LOVED)
Yes Day! by Amy Rosenthal
Yes, No, Maybe So by Charise Harper (LOVED)

Wednesday:
We ran a TON of errands all day, while we were out I was hoping to grab Mr. Robbins from work for a lunch appointment at Zupas. But that didn't happen, so Javin and I went anyway (he and I are eating out A LOT). After Zupas I sent Mr. Robbins this pic of what he missed, Javin all sugared up on fruit punch and me out of my pjs, makeup and hair done (hardly happens mid-week).

Javin has called Yellow "Lellow" since he started speaking. Try as I might, I've never been able to convince him that its Yellow, with a Y. During W week I got him to read the word Wall-e and say it right so I had hopes for Y week and Yellow. I had him read it all day and we discussed ANY and EVERYTHING that was Yellow. No luck today, hopefully by the end of the week he'll get it.
We got to hang out with Mr. Robbins a little later anyway. I got some tickets to the Grizzlies HockeY game through my work, Javin's first hockeY game! He loved it, mostly he loved the big foam finger and the bear that was running around.

Now when you say, "Number 1!", he'll  point his index finger skyward, even without the foam finger.

The bear was doing the rounds and didn't quite make it up to us, so Javin Yelled at him for about 5 minutes, something like, "Hey, you, bear! Get over here!". Finally, we had to chase down the bear so Javin could see him and give him a high-five and bones. **Side Note: Its amazing the power of a costume. Javin would NEVER approach a stranger under normal circumstances, but a stranger in a bear costume is TOTALLY fine.

We read: Yellow Bird, Black Spider by Dosh and Mike Archer (LOVED)
The Little Yellow Leaf by Carin Berger
Yellow Blues by Sean L. Moore
Red & Yellow's Noisy Night by Josh Selig

Thursday:
Since it was Valentine's Day and we talked about You a lot, with all the "I love You"s and such. I got Javin his very own heart shaped box of chocolates (mostly because I didn't want to share mine), his own special Valentine.

We read: Yucka Drucka Droni by Eugenia Radunsky (WEIRD)
Why Do You Cry? by Kate Klise
Look at You! by Kathy Henderson
I Love You Dude by V. Radunsky (Also WEIRD)

Friday:
I've mostly decided to do the Thelma & Louise Half Marathon in Moab, this June. I say mostly because I haven't paid for it yet, but I've begun training. I've never even run a 5k in practice or in a real race, so I'm not quite sure how my body will react. Today was the first day of training, and it went pretty well. I didn't get to finish the whole run (another time commitment), but I ran 3.5 miles and I was sweating like a pig.

X Week

Monday:
Library day! The ONLY words I could think of that start with X are X-ray and Xylophone (which doesn't really count because it makes a Z sound). So, I made an eXecutive decision to include words that have X anywhere in them. Best decision of the week! We didn't go straight home after the library, I had to stop off at Walmart to get some stuff, so we ate McD's since we were there. I brought some books in and we read while we ate, it was awesome! And we found an X word at lunch, boX!
We read: Alex and Max by Mary Salzmann
My X Words by Sharon Coan
A Fox: The Sound of X by Alice Flanagan
Alex and the Box Shop by Cecilia Minden
It's X! by Katherine Hengel (LOVED)

Tuesday:
Super eXciting day! We were suppose to have a nice leisurely day talking about foXes and maybe doing some eXploring, but instead we cleaned up the "water" coming back up the sewage drain pipe in our/Tara's backroom. I say "water" because it was MOSTLY water and I don't have any real evidence that there was anything eXcremental in it, but it smelled gross, that's enough for me. I've convinced myself its Poop water. Tara and I spent the morning, well into the afternoon diverting "water" flow, wet-vaccing rising water and cleaning carpets - then I did my side (which was considerably worse, Tara caught the flood early). After the majority of the clean up was done I moved on to the task of finding a local, affordable plumber. Luckily we found Dan the Drain Champ, he was amazing at doing the plumber thing.

We read: Dinosaurs by Simms Taback (there is a T-ReX)

Wednesday:
I meet my friend at my gym and we did a free spinning class while Javin eXercised in the kid's club. After I picked him up I had him fleX his strong muscles for me. On our way home we talked about muscles and bones and how a picture of  bones is called an X-ray. We even made our own 'X-ray' (skeleton), don't judge my artistic ability - I know the arms are attached to the rib cage and the legs are shorter than the arms.

We read: Hospital by Jess Stockham
and I tried to read: A if for Musk Ox by Erin Cabatingan (I thought it was good, but Javin wasn't in a patient mood).

Thursday:
Javin's friends, Luke and Stanley, came over and played for hours - its SO nice to have Javin play in his room and not have to worry because he's being too quiet. After they left we have some lunch, PB and Js with celery and carrots in the shape of X's.

Mr. Robbins had to take over for bedtime because I had to complete 3 hours of mandatory overtime at work. They read: Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss
My Six Book by Jame Moncure
Fox Tale Soup by Tony Bonning
Aesop's Fox by Aki Sogabe
Little Fox Goes to the End of the World by Ann Tompert

Friday:
I woke up at 4:30 am to go sit by the Porcelain God for about a hour. Being ill is eXhausting: chills, dry heaving, doubled over in pain, fever. Not sure if it was something I ate or something someone breathed on me. Regardless, it was a couch day. Until Javin and I made Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies for the YW Girls Camp fundraiser (I didn't breathe on them, just in case). Javin actually did most of it. He poured the boX of cake miX into the miXer, I put the can of pumpkin in and he poured in the chocolate chips. Then I had to go to work AND do the rest of my overtime :)

Javin has started sounding out words on his own, he sounded out Fff Ooo Xxx all by himself today!

We read:
Thesaurus Rex by Laya Steinberg
Outfoxing the Fox by Friederike Rave
Fox by Kate Banks
Hello, Red Fox by Eric Carle

W Week

Monday:
Fail. We didn't even venture out of the house. Last snow storm I got my car stuck 3 times getting in and out of my driveway, no way was I trying to leave by myself. On Sunday evening I knew Monday was going to be an inside day. We did talk about the new letter of the Week, W! Gram came over for a minute (while I went to work and Mr. Robbins was on his way home), they Watched Wall-e. He LOVES that movie, his favorite undies are Wall-e. Javin has always called it "lolly", but since it was W Week and we were focusing on the sound, he recognized the W at the beginning of the word and he realized he wasn't saying it right. I was amazed! I've been telling him its Wwwwaaall-e for years, he just needed to read it for himself.

After work I found it appropriate to discuss Winter with Javin, since we've been sledding and playing in the snow so much. As homeowners we get to shovel our sidewalk within a few hours after each storm or run the risk of being ticketed. And since the city blessed us with not only a front sidewalk, but a side sidewalk too its twice three times the work (the side sidewalk is LONG). If I shovel it myself, I'm wiped for the rest of the day, luckily I've only had to shovel it alone once. This week has been great though. We all donned our layers and trudged out into the quiet night and got to work, even Javin. Mr. Robbins gave him a hoe (the lightest semi-shovel we have) and he 'shoveled' away.

After all the shoveling Mr. Robbins still wasn't done with the elements, so we had a mini snowball fight, made several snow angels and a My Sized Snowman for Javin.

Tuesday:
We made it out of the driveway and got to the library, YAY! On our way to the library it was snowing and Javin said, "Mom! It's snowing, it's a White Christmas!". So random, but it made me laugh. I made some lunches and after we got books we sat by the big Windows at the library and Watched the Windy Winter Weather. While reading: Stormy Weather by Debi Gliori
Winter Is by Ann Dixon
My "W" Sound Box by Jane Moncure (great)
Snowy, Blowy Winter by Bob Raczka.
Next we went to Walmart, got the essentials (Tuesday afternoon at Walmart wasn't too bad) and headed home.

After YW we got ready for bed and read: Smash Trash! by Laura Driscoll (WALL-E)
There's a Wocket in my Pocket! by Dr. Seuss
Where's Walrus by Stephen Savage
The Wind Blew by Pat Hutchins
Wormy Worm by Chris Raschka
Worm Gets a Job by Kathy Caple
Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin

Wednesday:
We talked about the days of the Week, I don't think he gets it yet, but maybe soon.

We read: What Happens on Wednesdays by Emily Jenkins
The Wednesday Surprise by Eve Bunting
One Windy Wednesday by Phyllis Root

Thursday:
Zoo day! Even though we've been to the zoo weekly since the Summer, Javin was really surprised and upset when we didn't see a Walrus. I can't ever remember a Walrus being at the Hogle Zoo.

Javin was scared of the Wolf, he was just staring at us. While we ate our lunch at home we watched an episode of Wild Kratts, they were teaching about Wolves! He felt more comfortable about the cartoon Wolf pup on the tv than he did the real one at the zoo.

Creepy peacock, giving us the stink-eye.

After the zoo we ate some lunch, read our books and hit the gym. Javin really enjoys his time at the gym, I'm all about the dual functional activities. He plays while I do something for me, in this case, work-it-out. The 'Body Pump' class at the Trolley 24 Hour Fitness was awesome, until I got paged into the kid's club. Javin peed himself, GRRR...second time today. When we got home I had had enough of everything, the attitude, the accidents, the whining, the crying, everything. I bathed him, put him in a diaper and pjs, shoved some food in him and sent him to bed. Very, Very Long day.

**As a side note. Javin has had a dry fake-sounding cough since the beginning of the month. In the beginning I wasn't too worried, as time progressed I set up an appt. with the Pediatrician. She gave us a prescription for Amoxicillin, since I was up at the U already (for the appt) I just drove down the road to the Walmart on Parleys Way. Oh My! The nicest, calmest, cleanest Walmart I've ever been to. The pharmacist was very pleasant and helpful, great experience. Javin has been taking his meds for a week, cough is reducing and life is good. The pharmacy called me today, I thought it was to advise me of a problem with Javin's medication. But, no. They just called to see how Javin was feeling and see if the Amoxicillin was working on his cough. I almost dropped the phone, Walmart called ME to see how my son's cough was! Pleasantly SHOCKED**

We read: The Runaway Whale by Keith Faulkner
Wolf Won't Bite! by Emily Gravett
Woof! Woof! by David Carter
Little Wolf's Song by Britta Teckentrup (Great)
Wiener Wolf by Jeff Crosby
Red Wolf Country by Jonathan London

Friday:
We went to Jump Around Utah, ever since I bought a punch card its been more of a temptation. I love that  Javin gets to run and jump and exhaust himself, while I get a break (or catch up on my blog).

This is kind of a weird, gross question for the parents of potty training/trained kids: Do you ever look at the #2 that just came out of your child and wonder if there is anything left in them? Seriously, I don't think Javin eats THAT much, but the poops this kid leaves in the toilet are, in one word, amazing. Javin isn't pushing really hard, so I'm not worried about his health, I just wonder if any other kids have adult sized excrement? I warned, "weird, gross question".

We read: Wiggle by Doreen Cronin
When You Wish Upon a Star by Ned Washington (with DVD)
The Elephant Wish by Lou Berger
A Wish for You by Matt Novak
The Big Wish by Carolyn Conahan

V week

Monday:
No library today, it was Martin Luther King Jr. Day and I think the library was closed. Plus, one of my Young Women needed some help getting an outfit ready for a job interview, they grow up so fast. So, we made it a family outing, we all (Jaron, Javin, YW and I) went to DI and had a blast!

We did talk about the letter V and put a Violet V on a Vertical Violet piece of paper.

Tuesday:
We went to the library and then mostly hung out at home. We ate some Veggies and Javin argued with me about how lettuce isn't a Vegetable. This kid! He argues with me about EVERYTHING. Most days I have the patience to set him straight nicely, but sometimes I just want him to accept what I say as truth. I can't help but think this shouldn't be happening until he's at least a teenager.

We were going to do some Veggie painting, but I couldn't in good conscience buy Vegetables just to paint with them. I guess, we could of just used potatoes, they're cheap.

We read: Night of the Veggie Monster by George McClements
The Ugly Vegetables by Grace Lin
June 29, 1999 by David Wiesner
When Vegetables Go Bad! by Don Gillmor

Wednesday:
We took advantage of the Winter Wednesdays at the Tracy Aviary. What is that? You ask. Well, each Wednesday until March-ish the admission fee is $1 per person. Hooray! Also, at 11:00 they do a reading time and the book was The Sulky Vulture by Sally Grindley, it was pretty good and the reader did a surprisingly good job. After he was done they brought out Chewy, the Vulture, for an up close encounter. He was REALLY excited for something (either the food, being out of his cage or the captive audience), but he kept squawking and running, which mostly scared the little kids.

Later that night my mom came over (on her birthday) to watch Javin so that Jaron and I could go out. Its a very long story, but she really wanted to and to make up for it being her birthday I made her birthday dinner and lemon bars. They watched Jungle Book and sang the Vulture song, "...we're your friends to the bitter end...".

We read: Zagazoo by Quentin Blake
Veronica by Roger Duvoisin

Thursday:
The inversion was so bad that we just stayed inside and talked about Violins.

We read: Zin! Zin! Zin! a Violin by Lloyd Moss
When Uncle Took the Fiddle by Libba Gray
Valentine and His Violin by Philip Hopman (OMG, Hilarious)

Friday:
We were going to make a Volcano, but that didn't happen on the account that my house was a mess from being inside the day before. Since we didn't do the Volcano I was going to get Javin to make a Valentine for Mr. Robbins, but I couldn't find my heart punch or my contact paper to do this (that's the whole project). I really need a craft room.

We read: Uncle Blubbafink's Seriously Ridiculous Stories by Keith Graves
An Island Grows by Lola Schaefer
Dear Katie, The Volcano Is a Girl by Jean George

U Week

Monday:

Library day AND free quarterly Utah Museum of Natural History day! We took full advantage of both. We grabbed our U books and then some food and hit Up the "Nuseum".

Apparently my superstar can't be seen in public :)

"Mom, don't take picture of me - I'm just relaxing."

We saw the Utahceratops :)

Mom:"If you don't smile we'll go home right now." and this is the cheeser I got.

We had a great time, as usual. The museum never disappoints. When we got home 'we' (he) put on some Undies and took a nap (hardly ever happens)! When he woke Up he was still dry and went pee pee on the potty the rest of the night!

We read: Let's Have Fun With Alphabet Riddles by Caolan Madden
Bear in Pink Underwear by Todd H. Doodler
Charlie's Superhero Underpants by Lee Wildish

Tuesday:
We went to the store and cleaned a bit, but mostly I tried to keep my foot Up - I was being not so smart the other day and fell off my rocking ottoman, legs flew Up in the air and back fell down on the floor. I'm not sure what gouged the soft, tender Underbelly of my foot, but it HURTS (especially after a full day of walking the day before).

Javin was in Undies all day and watched Up.

We read: The Midnight Unicorn by Neil Reed
An Undone Fairy Tale by Ian Lendler (good)
The Fish Who Cried Wolf  by Julia Donaldson

Wednesday:
We talked about Umbrellas and that they can be used for rain and sun. He wasn't really interested so we just hung out, U week is difficult.

While getting ready for Relief Society Javin told me he wanted to wear his Undies, so we went for it. First time out of the house in Undies and no accident! Thanks mostly to the wonderful gentlemen that were in the nursery watching the "kids" (just Javin).

We read: The Umbrella by Ingrid & Dieter Schubert (cute)
Rain Song by Lezlie Evans
Never Give a Fish an Umbrella by Mike Thaler (LOVED)
Yellow Umbrella by Jae Soo Liu

Thursday:
We stopped by Jump Around Utah so Javin could 'jump Up, jump Up and get down' (or Under).

We read: Up! Tall! and High! by Ethan Long (LOVED because he read all the "up"'s)
Great Day for UP by Dr. Seuss (great)
Up Above & Down Below by Sue Redding

Friday:
We talked about the only other U word I could think of Uncle. I told him that he has two Uncles; Briggy (brought Javin the Horseshoe for H week) and Scotty.

Then Uncle Scotty came over with his girlie friend, Amanda, right before bed time. YAY! It was a perfect surprise on the last day of U week!
Then we read: Willie and Uncle Bill by Amy Schwartz
Uncle Wally's Old Brown Shoe by Wallace Edwards (LOVED).

T week

I get SO frustrated when I've saved my blog work daily on the same tab, then I close it and (of course) it didn't save. RRRrrr! Anyway...

Monday:
We made it to the library, YAY! Since work starts at 4:30 now it makes Mondays a little more relaxed - I'm not in such a rush to get everything done. Being a mom is stressful.

Because I'm cheap and don't want to pay to park, we park on the South-East corner of the library, so each trip we get a little bit of a walk. On the way to the library we decided that Tree starts with T. On the way back to the car we looked at what was around and I suggested Toes and Teeth start with T and Javin shouted "Tongue!".

On the way home from the library we made our first trip to the new Trader Joe's, we got Grape Tomatoes, Blue Tortilla Chips and a Turkey Wrap (unfortunately it was unappetizing).

Mr. Robbins and Javin read: Dear Tyrannosaurus Rex by Lisa McClatchy
The Tortoise and the Hare by Janet Stevens
DC Super Friends: T. Rex Trouble! by Dennis Shealy

Tuesday:
We made and ate Dino Muffins for breakfast, they were delicious and way too many calories. Javin ate the Triceratops. We went to the gym next and both LOVED it. He gets to play in the kids club while I sweat it up - its a win for both of us! We we got home he ate the T-Rex muffin. Javin watched Land Before Time and drew a couple pictures of dinosaurs while I did laundry and then we got ready for Young Womens (it feels still pluralizing 'women', oh well).

We read: It's T! by Kelly Doudna
Ten Apples Up On Top! by Dr. Seuss
I'm a T. Rex! by Dennis Shealy
The Voyage of Turtle Rex by Kurt Cyrus
Tadpole Rex by Kurt Cyrus
No T. Rex in the Library by Toni Buzzeo

Wednesday:
We went to the gym again (the Sugarhouse 24 hour Fitness), and I did my first Spinning class. It mostly feels like my inner butt cheeks are on fire and there is NO way that I can go again on Friday. The leg workout was great though, I just need a squishier seat :)  then we had lunch at Chick-fil-A. And I ate all the calories I had just burned. Hooray! On our way home Javin was complaining that his Tummy hurt (for my son that means he has to poop) so we went home and I stripped him down and sat him on his potty. Six hours and two pees later we had a POOP in the POTTY! I'm pretty sure I heard the angels singing 'Hallelujah' with me. For more on the Potty Training experience go here (yes, there are details).

We read: I Love Tools! by Philemon Sturges
Tired Trucks by Melinda Crow
Freight Train by Donald Crews (LOVED)
Prairie Train by Marsha Chall
Whoo! Whoo! Goes the Train by Anne Rockwell
Busy Busy Train by Melinda Crow
Shark vs. Train by Chris Barton
Thomas the Tank Engine: Stop, Train, Stop! by Rev. W. Awdry

Thursday:
It was such a lovely warm-er morning, so we went to the zoo. It was so nice. We walked the whole zoo and talked about the difference between Tortoises and Turtles. And we stopped by the Tigers too.

We read: Riding The Tiger by Eve Bunting (weird)
The Dancing Tiger by Malachy Doyle
Tiger and Turtle by James Rumford
Read to Tiger by SJ Fore
Tiger Can't Sleep by SJ Fore
Raj the Bookstore Tiger by Kathleen Pelley

Friday:
Javin is in LOVE with his 'shooters' (I don't like calling them guns), you know, those Nerf guns that shoot suction cup darts. So I  thought we'd make him a Target. I put tape on some paper I had and poured some red pant on it and told him to go to town. He liked his 'hexagon Target' - the darts wouldn't stick to it though :(  I was hoping they would so I could stop having to pull darts off my ceiling for him to reload.