5/31/13

Joslyn ate all of her prunes and her oatmeal at breakfast.  At lunch she ate all of her mandarin oranges and about half of bother biscuit and her hashbrown casserole.

Joslyn was excitedly telling the other kiddos about visiting preschool and having "stuff just my size".  Kenzie was really listening to every word she said and even asking her questions about friends there and specific toys.  It was cute!  

Kenzie and Joslyn were chasing and "getting" Riley which she LOVED for a while until she got tired of it!  I the had to intervene because they were still having fun with it, regardless of Riley's change of heart!  : )

Joslyn was enjoying looking at books with several other kiddos in the book corner.  All of the other kiddos were primarily just looking at them without paying any attention to anyone else, but she had to peek at what each of their pages was like frequently -- didn't want to miss out on anything probably.

I can't believe it is really Jozzy's last day, or that it has been six years since we first had your family in out program.  It doesn't seem that long ago that Colt was just a tiny baby!  So, our dear Calahan family, here it is -- the end of one chapter and the beginning of another.  We feel Joslyn is well equipped to have a very successful and fun time at preschool.  She has a very solid developmental foundation for not just next week, but next year and the rest of her life.  The time we have been able to spend with not just her, but your family, has been valued by us and I hope proven to be valuable for you as a family and both of your children individually as well.  It will seem very strange to not have you at our door every weekday morning and afternoon, as you have been for the past six years.  We love you guys and hope to see you around on occasion, despite the busy-ness of young family life.  If nothing else, we will be stalking you on Facebook, so keep those pictures uploaded so we can see how you all are doing!  : )

5/30/13

Joslyn ate thirds on French bread and all of her melon at breakfast.  A lunch she ate all of her crescent roll, sliced turkey and dried mango, along with a bite of her squash.  

I am sure Joslyn has been sensing the upcoming transition and/or our anxiety over our possible upcoming transition.  She has been especially testy and fragile, this week.  She mostly wants to either be alone or just with me (with no one else close).  

Other than that, Joslyn spent a little time with a doll and blanket in the box taking care of her baby, but was mostly just hanging out in there watching everyone else and trying to keep them away from her.  

She also did look at some books independently, even singing one of the books' song as she looked.  She let Nora join her without struggles until Nora decided she needed the book she was playing with!  

In the back room, Joslyn built with the Duplos great and didn't want to leave when it was time to switch to the others room, so she stayed in there with Gary's kiddos while I took the rest of mine to the other room.  

5/29/13

Joslyn ate seconds on toast and thirds on blueberries at breakfast.  At lunch she ate seconds on saltines and all of her ham, bean soup and mandarin oranges.  

Joslyn was pretty testy with her friends before breakfast and really didn't play much. She either wanted be right next to me or just sit or lay around, not wanting anyone close either way.  She actually flung Nora to the ground when she was headed over to snuggle with me.  

Joslyn was trying on about all of the dress up shirts, skirts and shorts after breakfast.  Riley was doing it also and Joslyn was helping her if she needed it.  Most of the time Riley didn't want help, and Joslyn listened to her pretty well actually.  

We did both songs and signs this morning and Joslyn remembered quite a few of the signs.  I was impressed because we haven't worked on them them for about a month, except just the integrated daily use.  

We went to the back rooms today because the grass was so wet this
morning. Joslyn immediately started building with the Duplos.  After she had created for a while she brought it over to me and said she had made a "computer".

When we switched to the other back room both Kenzie and Joslyn started holding their nose and asking for spray.  I have to admit it was pretty stinky in there because one of Gary's kiddos had pooped!

5/28/13

Joslyn ate about half of her craisins and bran flakes at breakfast.  At lunch she ate thirds on cheese pizza and all of her tropical fruit and her corn.  

Joslyn didn't see Kenzie right away when she came.  She came over to me and asked, "Where's Kenzie?"  Kenzie heard her and came racing over with her arms wide out to give her a love.  They hugged each other so tight and were both grinning from ear to ear!  It was very sweet!  

Joslyn had Mia in a head lock with her head tipped way back and Gary, kind of shocked, asked her what she was trying to do to her.  Joslyn, very matter of factly, said "I'm trying to take her temperature!"  Now it makes perfect sense!  : )

The wonderful newness of having Kenzie back wore off about 10:00 and they were at each other again.  From there it vacillated in a typical manner from playing great to getting on each others nerves and back again.  

Joslyn put on one of the sports shirts and stuck one of the dolls inside of the front of it.  She then came over and asked me, "Can you take a picture of me and my baby in my back pack?"  It was a great BACKpack in the FRONT!  

5/24/13

Joslyn ate all of her malt-o-meal and raisins at breakfast.  At lunch she ate a bite of her mixed fruit and all of her spaghetti with meaty sauce and her salad with ranch.  

Joslyn was cracking me up today making funny faces.  Se was pulling her eyes back like her pony tails were too tight and sticking her tongue out while making a funny face.  I could just see Colt making a face like that.  

Joslyn asked where Kenzie was again today several times.  She is the only one who has asked about her and she has done it several times each day, sometimes asking "Is Kenzie still at the farm?"

Joslyn was jumping off of the climber-balance beam announcing loudly, "Cannonball!"  It was really no different of a jump than usual, so I'm not sure what made it a "cannonball"!  : )

Joslyn went over to Gary and said "Hey Gary!  My dad was teaching my mommy how to putt!" He
didn't hear her at first, so she went right over to his ear to make sure he heard her this time, which he did.  It was really cute!  

A song came on that was giving different instructions of things to do for a kids dance.  Without any prompting, Joslyn started following the directions great.  Soon Emily, Aaron and Thomas were trying to do it too. It was pretty cute.  

As soon as we went outside, Thomas and Joslyn set up their balls to do soccer across the wide part of the yard to make "GOAL!"s onto the patio.  

5/23/13

Joslyn ate seconds on blueberries and all of her blueberry English muffin at breakfast.  At lunch she ate thirds on saltines (one of which had chicken on it--the other two were plain) and all of her canned cherries and sweet potatoes.  

Joslyn was fine this morning after we had cuddled on the couch for a while, fixed her hair and then she had come out with me to watch while I toasted the blueberry English muffins.  

Joslyn especially likes the Winnie the Pooh and MInnie Mouse stuffed animals that are out with this set and has been frequently holding them or carrying them around when she is on the rowdy side of the big room.  Joslyn shared her Pooh after Nora came over to the rowdy side, which I thought was very sweet.  

Joslyn decided she wanted to stack the stacking blocks in the back room today, but didn't have the concept of putting them in order from biggest to smallest.  I was trying to help her by giving I her some prompting questions to get her to look at their sizes closer.  When that didn't work, I just started telling her which color to look for next.  Aaron was intently watching and listening to the whole thing and as soon as I said a color, he was right there with the correct one, helping her out. 

5/22/23

Joslyn ate all of her biscuit  and about half of her peaches at breakfast.  At lunch she ate all of her baked beans, roll and pineapple, most of her peas.  

Joslyn was having Thomas lie on the climber-balance beam like it was a hospital gurney.  As she was holding his wrist, she asked "Is your ankle better?" It was so funny!  After she had him all "fixed" she was following him around trying to give him something, finally kind of pressing on his back.  When we asked what she was doing she said,  "He was getting away from me, so I put the sticker on the back of him!"  He must have done a good job at Doctor Joslyn's office.  

Kenzie and Riley went to the farm with grandma this morning.  Joslyn was definitely taking advantage of the opportunity and taking over the 'bossing Thomas' role!  He tried to move away from her several times to do something else.  She immediately piped up with "Hey!  Come back here!" which he dutifully complied to.  

Joslyn and Thomas (and Emily briefly) made a "jumping line" (Joslyn's terminology) with all of the stuffed animals around the end and open side of the mattress.  It was like it was their border.  

Joslyn spent time talking to and trying to "help" baby Cooper.  Of course, Cooper didn't know that he needed help, but hey!  She sat in front of him rolling and leaning on one of the big red balls for about five minutes.  Some of the time he paid attention to her and others, he just did his own thing.  It didn't seem to matter to Joslyn.  

5/21/13

Joslyn ate thirds on waffles and all of her hashbrowns at breakfast.  At lunch she ate all f her oranges and her red pepper, most of her rice and a bite of her shrimp.  

Joslyn was very testy until breakfast--crying over nothing and working hard not to cooperate and growling, whiling or yelling at her friends rather than playing with them or by herself.  

We were waiting for Gary to set up breakfast this morning and the kiddos were a little antsy so I started playing "busy bee" with them.  They all really liked it when I had the "bee" tickle-get them.  After they tired of that (about 12-15 times) I moved onto the "Theres a spider on my..." song and had the spider be on different spot on each of the kiddos.  Again they loved it!  

Kenzie and Joslyn were playing "bakery".  When they street sweeper came by all of the kiddos were excited and stopped what they we doing to head over to the window and watch it.  After it had moved on, Kenzie announced to Joslyn, "OK, Jozzy, let's get back to up our bakery!"

Joslyn and Kenzie were pretending that the box was their bedrooms, each had a side.  They were each laying in their respective sides, covered with a blanket, and reading a book.  It was very cute. I would have taken a picture, but I was helping Nora calm down after falling down.  They actually played together great all of inside time.  

Outside Joslyn wasn't going along with what Kenzie wanted to do and was actually trying to do a little bossing herself, which didn't go over well with Kenzie so they parted ways for a while!

5/20/13

Joslyn ate all of her banana and Cheerios at breakfast.  At lunch she ate thirds on grilled cheese sandwich and all of her tomato soup and apples. 

Joslyn showed me that she had on her "go Griz" shirt on.  She then said, "it's not my 'stinkin' bobcat' one this time!"  Obviously her cognitive processes are improving impressively!  : )

Joslyn was talking on one of the echo-phones this morning, when she held it away from her ear and said, "I woke Grandma Honey up!  She was still sleeping!"  She was kind of chuckling...  It was very cute!  

Joslyn and Emily were sitting on the step going into the dining room.  Every once in a while they would randomly jump up and cheer like crazy. Gary asked what they were cheering about and Joslyn told him, "for soft ball."  

Joslyn put on a pair of the dress-up soccer shoes, a sports tank top, shorts, baseball cap and sweat band then said, "OK, I'm ready now!"

In the back room the Sesame Street musical pop up toys are out with this set.  Each character sings a different song.   Aaron was playing with the other one.  Joslyn was watching and listening to his and which ever one he did, she would immediately do that one to, so we had kind of a Sesame Street round going on, with one about two beats behind the other.  

5/17/13

Joslyn ate all of her oatmeal and a bite of craisins at breakfast.  At lunch she ate seconds on peas and pasta with shredded cheese and all of her applesauce and her lean ground beef.  

Kenzie, Joslyn and Riley all came out to watch me fix the oatmeal today (although Riley abandoned us to go do some puzzles after a minute or so).  Of course, the main reason they want to watch is to be the lucky recipients of a little bit of brown sugar after I add some to the oatmeal.  They also were very impressed when I refilled our brown sugar container with a bag from CostCo.  I'm sure they were thinking how wonderful to have all of that sweet stuff in one place!  Both Kenzie and Joslyn were smacking their lips and saying, "That's a LOT of brown sugar!"  

I decided to forego kids music today and put on some good old wholesome country tunes.  I played some of my favorites and was dancing with them, which isn't a very pretty sight, I'm sure.  When a slower song came on I got down on my knees and did some slow dancing with any of the kiddos who wanted to.  Joslyn didn't want to do it, but did watch with a pretty dreamy look and big smile on her face, enjoying it from a distance!


Due to the rain at outside time we decided to get down the tunnels for a change of pace.  The kiddos had a blast with it and did it over and over.  We had to remind the older ones to slow down a little to give the younger ones a chance for their turns because they were so excited.

My kiddos were thrilled to be back in the block room again when we went back after the Tunnel craze.  They immediately started rebuilding the partially dismantled train, playing on it only briefly before moving on to create with duplos again.

5/15&16/13

Joslyn ate all of her blueberries and most of her cinnamon raisin English muffin at breakfast.  A lunch she ate thirds on ground turkey sandwich and all of her green beans and kiwi.  

Joslyn, Kenzie and Riley wanted to come "watch" me cut up some stuff for dinner last night.  I was cutting peppers and onions for fajitas.  Kenzie asked for bites of both and Joslyn followed suit.  They both ate several slivers of peppers.

Yesterday we did sidewalk chalk for art outside for the first time this spring.  The first time they are always so excited about it and engaged with it for long time (about 20-25 minutes this time). 

Joslyn was using one of the little stuffed bunnies as her baby again today.  She, Kenzie and Riley (and Joslyns bunny) were pretending to be a family.  They were going "to bed", to the store, to work, to play, to eat...

Joslyn and Emily were riding on the "hang-a-vator" (maybe a cross between a hang glider and an elevator?).  Kenzie was operating it, whatever it was.  They had piled up all of the stuffed bunnies on the black chair then were sitting on it.  They played on it for about half an hour.  It always amazes me to watch what really holds their attention.  

Joslyn and Kenzie made amazing buildings with the Duplo blocks.  They worked at it for most of the time we were in that room.  We haven't gone back to the block room as much lately because of going outside in the morning instead, so they were even no excited and engaged to be back there!

5/14/13

Joslyn ate seconds on jelly toast and all of her dried mangoes at breakfast.  At lunch she ate all of her beef and bean burrito and her tropical fruit, along with about half of her sweet potatoes.  

Joslyn spent the first part of the morning joining Thomas, Aaron and and Emily in some crazy play on the rowdy side.  They were just racing around, then stacking and knocking over the pile of stuffed rabbits.   

After breakfast Joslyn loaded her doll, some doll accessories and a few play food items into the box and played for about 30 minutes straight independently (not wanting anyone else even in the box, actually, let alone playing WITH her).  

When we went outside, Joslyn wandered around briefly then invited Thomas to "do soccer" with her again.  They didn't do it nearly as long as they did the other day, but still had fun with it.  

Joslyn was trying to teach Riley how the tricycle worked.  She had Riley sit on the patio beside it and her while she showed her different parts and chattered about whatever she deemed important.  Riley wasn't as interested as Joslyn thought she should be so she told her, "Riley, I'm trying to show you something!"  : )

5/13/13

Joslyn ate a bite of her mixed fruit and most of her Kix cereal at breakfast.  At lunch she ate seconds on peas, thirds on ham sandwich and all of her mandarin oranges.  

Joslyn had a mood transition almost immediately, which was awesome!  Riley, Kenzie and Joslyn came out with me to "help" me remember whose nap mat covers, pillows and blankets were whose. It always amazes me how fast they can come up with the right name for each item.  

They were looking for dandelions, picking up blossoms from the neighbors apple tree that had blown off into our yard and putting them in dump trucks and playing on the climbers most of outside time.  

Joslyn was in a good mood all morning after her entry.  She was her usual sweet self to the babies and mobile babies -- giving them loves or talking to them very sweetly.  She even shared several of her toys without needing assistance.  Mia was one of the lucky recipients and he loved it!  

5/10/13

Joslyn ate most of her raisins and rice at breakfast.  At lunch she ate all of her French bread and about half of her meatloaf and dried apricots and a bite of cooked carrots.  

Yesterday afternoon when it started thundering, Joslyn looked at me kind of startled and said, "Somebody dropped something loud!  I think it was your neighbors!"  That just cracked me up, but it helped her not be scared so I just went with it.  I also commented that it kind of sounded like bowling, which distracted her further.  She then had to tell me about when she "went bowling with momma" and got "one left up and the rest all down".  

Joslyn and Kenzie frequently talk about buying each other things.  Sometimes it is a food we are having that the other one says they don't have at home.  Others it is a piece of clothing or a toy.  Today Joslyn was in bathroom going potty and I had gone to make sure she didn't have an accident.  While she was in there she told me she was going to "buy Kenzie some Minnie flip flops!"  They are so cute!  

Joslyn and Kenzie were teeter tottering outside but not together on the same teeter totter.  One was riding on the dolphin one and the other on the regular one, but were side by side and really going.  They were said, "on your marks, get set, go" then rocking back and forth like they were really going somewhere. It was pretty cute.  

5/9/13

Joslyn ate all of her toast and grapes at breakfast.  At lunch she ate all of her chicken, dinner roll and cherries and about half of her potatoes.  

Joslyn was looking for Nora and Gary showed her where she was.  Joslyn then went over to her and sweetly said, "hi Nora!"  Nora responded by slapping her in the face.  : (  Poor  Jozzy!  Joslyn was so sweet about it and didn't even yell at her.  Gary then walked Nora through the "gentle touches routine while Joslyn cooperated and let him help Nora give her gentle touches and a hug.  

Joslyn was sitting on the couch by me and suddenly leaned against my shoulder and said so sweetly, "Gramma Honey took me to church!"  She was grinning all over!  She said she liked that when I asked her.  You could tell she did just by the look on her face.  

Joslyn was playing in the igloo with one of the stuffed rabbits and pretending it was her baby.  She was just visiting with her and playing with her like she was a real baby.  It was super cute!  

Joslyn was rolling her body over the big red ball today and laughing when she would fall off. It reminded me of when Colt was here and would race over to the ball, dive onto it and roll over it in a heap on the ground.  She wasn't quite as boisterous about it, but same idea!  

She and Thomas were also having "soccer practice", initiated by Joslyn.    They each put a ball on the grass in front of them, then were having me say, "ready-set-go!"  They dribbled (kicked) the ball across the yard to the patio, which Joslyn deemed as the "GOAL!"  They did it for at least half of outside time this morning!  

   

5/7&8/13

Joslyn ate all of her bagel and peaches at breakfast.  At lunch she ate seconds on macaroni and cheese, all of her ham, corn and salad with ranch.  

Joslyn was playing with Riley very sweetly after breakfast.  She invited her to "go to work with me", which made Riley smile and follow her.  

Kenzie and Joslyn were doing some pretty advanced dramatic play this morning.  They were pretending to sleep and put each other to bed, complete with turning off and on the lights, telling every one to 

Kenzie was using the sash on one of the dress up clothes to measure things.  She was measuring Riley's baby, the gate and various other things.  

"You wanna ride on the back of my bike?" to Thomas.  They did and then she and Kenzie had to take turns driving each other double.  

Most of the above was from yesterday.  Today Joslyn didn't play much.  At first I thought it was because we had two different visitors this morning.  One was Aaron's CDC worker and the other was his speech therapist.  Both stayed about 45 minutes, with a little bit of overlap.  Even before they came and after they left she mostly wanted to cuddle or just sit or lay and watch.  She also was asleep within just a few minutes, which is very unusual for her.  

5/3/13

Joslyn ate all of her oatmeal and a bite of her prunes at breakfast. At lunch she ate everything -- biscuit, mandarin oranges and hashbrown casserole.

This morning Thomas was working and working to try to get one of the skirts on over his head. Joslyn watched him for a while with a slightly puzzled and slightly amused look on her face. She then started chuckling and said, "That's not something that goes over your head!"

Later he was trying to get on one of the dresses and Joslyn spent about 5 minutes trying to help him. She first of all worked to get the inside out dress right side out. After she had fixed that she then was trying to help him get it over his head and his arms in it. During the process he managed to get it twisted and she just started laughing. I was glad she found it entertaining rather than frustrating!

Joslyn and Kenzie played in the igloo for about 10 minutes together. They were mostly pretending to sleep and wake up -- a favorite role play of all of the bigger kiddos.

After interacting with others for quite a while, she came over and told me, "I want to be by myself", then went over to the yellowish chair and spent about 15 minutes looking at books. That is great self-regulating!

5/2/13

Joslyn ate all of her French bread and cantaloupe at breakfast. At lunch she ate everything also -- turkey slice, crescent roll, dried mango and fresh pineapple substituted for the squash).

Joslyn was very proud of her braid today and talked about it or brought our attention to it repeatedly. It was an excellent job! Way to go mom!

Emily spotted two spiders on the wall after breakfast. Thankfully Joslyn was on the other side of room when Emily announced her amazing find. She still was very nervous about the whole thing, even with Kenzie standing guard right in front of her to protect her. After Gary had successfully "got" both of them, Kenzie told Joslyn, "it's okay now, Jozzy, Gary took care of it!" Joslyn heaved a big sigh and said, "Yeah, I'm freakin' out here!" : )

Joslyn was obviously watching Mia and noticed that she was looking kind of sad because she went over to her and gave her such a sweet hug. Mia loved it and ran after her to get another one when she was done.

Joslyn and Kenzie asked me to make them a "counter" today with the big interlocking blocks in the back room. I called it "McDonalds". Joslyn went right along with that by Kenzie insisted it was "Wendy's 'cuz i want a frosty!"

While we were in the back rooms the created play "flashlights" with a Duplo flower on the end of a Duplo fence. The flashlights eventually evolved into spy glasses and cameras. She and Kenzie were obviously spying on me, but not being very sneaky about it.

5/1/13

Joslyn ate everything at breakfast -- toast and mixed berries. At lunch she ate all of her bean soup, saltines, ham and kiwi.

Kenzie came over to Joslyn right after she first came and asked if she could see what shirt she had one. Joslyn told her "yeah", and unzipped her jacket, throwing it open and announcing energetically "taa-daa"! It cracked both me and Kenzie up!

Joslyn played with the dolls and accessories a lot today. She was also just holding her baby and talking to her a lot. It looked like how we hold the real babies and talk to them. She was asking the doll how her day was going and if she had slept good last night, as well as other questions. It was very sweet!

Kenzie, Joslyn, Riley and Aaron were playing their own form of musical chairs without the music with the "train" they made out of the big interlocking blocks. One of them would get up for some reason and they all would shift seats.

Joslyn talked about being bigger and bigger many times today. Every time she had to go potty she mentioned it for sure, but there were several other times too.

4/26&30/13

Joslyn ate all of her bagel and a bite of dried apricots at breakfast. At lunch she ate all of her tilapia, applesauce and peas and pasta with shredded cheese on top.

When we went outside Friday morning Joslyn's coat cracked me up. Both the sleeves and the length of the coat a very short. It was especially apparent when she was bent over pushing the dump trucks.

When Joslyn sat by me first thing this morning she announced, "I'm going to use my big girl words today!" About five minutes later she practiced it very well when Emily was trying to push her out of the way at the little kitchen sink.

Joslyn was having Thomas and Riley fetch her some "dummin' gum" and Riley was just loving that. She raced across the rowdy side of the room to the corner, pulled it from the wall, raced over to the igloo where Joslyn was behind and handed her nothing with a huge grin.

Joslyn came up to me and said, "hey Lauralea, hear this... Who, who, who let the dogs out?!" over and over. It cracked me up and she loved making me laugh!

Today Joslyn got one of the purses caught on her pony tail when she was trying to put it over her head. She obviously knew I would think it was funny because she came over and said, "Hey Lauralea, look at this!" She let it just hang there from her pony for several minutes -- goofy girl!

4/25/13

Joslyn ate all of her blueberries and about half her cinnamon raisin English muffin at breakfast. At lunch she ate everything -- canned chicken on saltines, canned cherries and sweet potatoes.

Joslyn enjoyed being queen of the castle (or at least my group of kiddos) today with Kenzie gone. Kenzie stayed with her grandma Annabelle today.

Joslyn built a "wall from Helena" with the Duplo blocks in the back room before we moved outside. It was about 6 wide and 12 high. She was then trying to smash down Aaron and Riley's towers with hers.

Joslyn had to have a new bandaid put on her owie after breakfast because she got it wet and it slipped right off.

Joslyn was funny trying to lure Noah into both of the little houses to play with her. She told him she would "fix some food" for him one of the times and he actually crawled right in!

4/24/13

Joslyn at all of her peaches and biscuit at breakfast. At lunch she ate most of her baked beans and all of her dinner roll, peas and pineapple.

Joslyn spent time talking with each of the three babies this morning. Noah is mobile enough now that he moves away from her when he is done, but that doesn't deter her -- she just lays down in front of him to roadblock him! He actually likes her a lot so doesn't try to escape very hard!

I had started a peanut better pie this morning for dinner with Kate, Christina and Matt tonight. The filling had to chill for a while before finishing it after breakfast. Joslyn, Kenzie and Riley all wanted to come out with me and watch the project. They were even more glad they did when they got a few chocolate chips at the end when I was done sprinkling them on the top of the pie!

Joslyn and Kenzie were dancing like crazy when I put on the new kids' cd that Pat gave us yesterday. A friend of his is in the band. Some of the songs are very peppy and Joslyn loved that! They would dance for a while, then race over to the mirror, saying "I gotta fix my hair!" How funny is that?!

4/23/13

Joslyn ate all of her waffles and hashbrowns at breakfast. At lunch she ate all of her shrimp and colored peppers, most of her rice and a couple pieces of orange.

The whole group of kiddos (except Nora and the babies) were piling all of the stuffed animals up on the black chair in the big room. It was stacked so high some kept tumbling off. That made it even more fun for them because they were falling off as fast as they stacked them up.

Joslyn was taking to one or another of the three babies multiple times today. They all love the attention she gives them and respond so positively that it is very reinforcing for Jozzy!

Kenzie and Joslyn got into it twice today. The first one was definitely Kenzie initiated and ended very badly with Kenzie biting Joslyn on the back of her arm right at her elbow. That one was over them both wanting the same stuffed animal. The second one Joslyn initiated and pushed Kenzie so she fell over and smacked her head against the wall in the back room. I couldn't even figure out what that one was about -- nothing apparent. Both times I was trying to intervene and the girls didn't listen! (Sigh!) I hate it when they get hurt!

Joslyn was really enjoying playing with the cars and other vehicles in the back rooms today. She and Aaron interacted some and played alongside each other even more in both back rooms.

4/22/13

Joslyn ate about half of her Cheerios and all of her banana at breakfast. At lunch she ate thirds on cheese sandwich and all of her tomato soup and apple slices.

Joslyn and Aaron each had cell phone and were talking to each other. Joslyn decided that she needed to put on a vest so she asked Aaron very nicely if he would hold it for her "for a minute".

Joslyn kept putting vests on until she had four. It was so funny because it got so bulky that she couldn't put her arms all the way down. It looked kind of like the little boy all bundled in his snow stuff in that one Christmas movie!

Joslyn had a pig mask on and Emily had on the wolf mask they they were chasing. What made it really funny was that the pig was chasing the wolf instead of the typical. They were having a blast. Aaron wasn't even involved, just watching them and was laughing so hard!

4/19/13

Joslyn ate all of her oatmeal and craisins at breakfast. A lunch she ate everything also -- lean ground beef, applesauce and peas and pasta with shredded cheese on top.

I hadn't done a developmental checklist on RaeAhnna before when we did everyone else because she had just started and we dent know how long she would be around. The caseworker was wanting some extra observation information her from us and what we saw so I decided the easiest way to accomplish that was to do the actual assessment on her. Today I spent a lot of the morning focussing on that!

At art time we just did free draw so I could watch her hand usage, how she held the markers and what she could and couldn't do. All of the rest of the kiddos had a blast drawing too and Joslyn said, "I drew a bathtub and it was HUGE!"

When we first went to the back room Kenzie and Joslyn announce "This room is too messy!" They then proceeded to clean up literally the whole room. The put all of the Duplos in the Duplo table drawer, the cars on the shelf and piled all of the it interlocking blocks in a pile in one corner. When they were done they looked around with their hands on their hips with great satisfaction.

Obviously, after everything was picked up it was a little boring without anything out to play with. they then asked if i would help them build something. i asked them if they wanted me to make them throne chairs, which they decided was okay. Joslyn kept calling them "tantrum chairs", maybe because of the term 'throwing a tantrum' ??? At first i made them just big enough for one child to fit, but there were only enough blocks for two chairs. Having only two chairs with four children didn't work well after the newness of sitting on each others laps wore off so i had to enlarge them to fit two each.

After the chairs were completed, Joslyn decided that one of them should get up and sing for the spectators. She was encouraging Riley to take turns singing too. She would jump up say a couple words and get all shy and go sit back down again.

Yesterday afternoon, out of the blue Joslyn decided that Cooper (who was in the saucer right outside of the gate needed a story read to him. Gary got a pretty good picture of it!

4/18/13

Joslyn ate all of her blueberries and blueberry English muffin at breakfast. At lunch she ate seconds on turkey burger and all of her kiwi and green beans.

Joslyn was being very grabby with the mobile babies yesterday afternoon and this morning. They weren't really enjoying having their progress and movement restricted, which she couldn't seem to understand. This morning we finally had her go to one side and the mobile babies on the other to eliminate the problem without having to repeatedly get after her.

Joslyn was again stacking the stuffed animals up between the chair and couch out in the big room. At first they kept falling over, but she kept working at it until she found a spot and combination that worked.

We have noticed that she has been very quick to screech at us when we have to redirect or correct her! We have also been very quick to tell her "that will not get you what you want" and remove her from the situation or room. It is probably related to her not sleeping well lately, I don't know.

The kiddos all love Joslyn's "cat in the hat" socks. Kenzie and Emily both always notice when she wears them. Kenzie also adds that she wishes she had some too.

Today Joslyn was watching as RaeAnna was harassing Gary. Every time Rae would do something to him, Joslyn chuckled hard.

4/17/13

Joslyn ate all of her whole wheat jelly toast and thirds on dried mangos at breakfast. At lunch she ate all of her beef and bean burrito and her tropical fruit, along with about half of her sweet potatoes.

Cooper was fussing while waiting for Gary to get his bottle fixed. Joslyn was talking to him (on my lap) and even got him to laugh right in the middle of his crying. She hasn't lost her knack with the babies!

Joslyn, Thomas, Emily and Kenzie were all having a blast racing around the rowdy side of the room playing chase. No one was really "it" and no one was really being "got", they were just chasing and laughing, falling down and laughing some more.

Joslyn had made a big pile with all of the stuffed steady bears at the end of the mattress for the kiddos to jump off of the mattress and into. They actually spent more time rebuilding the pile than they did jumping into it, but they all were having a great time.

Joslyn kept adding to her truck in the back room until it was so top heavy that it kept tipping over. It didn't frustrate her at all. She just kept rebuilding it and playing some more!

My kiddos did "Doodle Buddy" art on my iPad today and had a blast. Kenzie usually asks to do it every day, but today it was calm enough at the right time to make it happen!

4/15 & 4/16/13

Joslyn ate seconds on cinnamon roll and all of her prunes at breakfast. At lunch she ate all of her cantaloupe and her scrambled eggs and bites of both hashbrowns and waffles.

Joslyn has spent most of the big room play time both yesterday and today taking care of her doll baby and cooking with the new toy exchange stuff. When she gets engaged, she can spend a long time doing something. It makes it challenging sometimes to have enough to write in her journal. : ) Actually, those are the kind of challenges I love to have. Having the children engaged is one of our goals!

Joslyn and Emily were looking at books side by side today. It was funny to listen to because they were each talking about their own books so the conversation made NO sense. Every once in a while they would also ask the other one a question about the book they were looking at, and for a brief period both focus on the same book.

Joslyn decided that the teddy bears all needed to go between the igloo and the chair and had them stacked up in a tower at was about as tall as she is.

In the back room she and Kenzie were rolling one of the Duplo trucks back and forth between them, or that's what they said, at least. They ended up crashing into the wall more often than not, with both of them cracking up.

4/12/13

Joslyn ate all of her raisins and rice at breakfast. At lunch she ate all of her meatloaf, French bread and dried apricots, along with a couple bites of cooked carrots.

Joslyn really didn't engage with anything for very long out in the big room today. She did look at books for a few minutes, but no doll or doctor play, which she has done a lot with this toy exchange. It is probably a good thing that it is toy exchange again this weekend -- new and exciting things on Monday!

Joslyn has kind of taken Morgan's place as Kenzie's 'friendemy'. They vacillate drastically between playing together great and then switching to even physically fighting like cats and dogs.

When we went to the back room, Kenzie and Joslyn immediately asked if I would help them make a train. I told them I would, then noticed that the floor where it would fit best was literally full of Duplos. I facilitated Duplo pick up time first before we started building. She, Kenzie and Riley all picked up the Duplos, then brought the big blocks and helped build it like troopers. After the train was completed she didn't have anything to do with it -- could have had something to do with the fact that Kenzie beat her to the engineer spot.

Joslyn was really enjoying playing with the cars and car garage in the back room this morning and did engage great with that. That is where she went after the train was built and played with it throughout back room play time.

4/11/13

Joslyn ate seconds on cinnamon toast and all of her grapes at breakfast. At lunch Joslyn ate all of her chicken, about half of her dinner roll and hashbrowns and a bite of cherries.

Joslyn has been telling the kiddos "Shhhh..." when they fuss or start to tell on her after she does something they don't like or hurts them. I am thinking maybe Colt has been doing that at home and she decided to play the card here to see if it works in her favor.

Today, at our typical art time we decided to try something different. I got out some craft sticks, cut some of them into either halves or thirds and left others whole. I then showed them how they could make them into different letters with the pieces. Joslyn's favorite was H and she did it over and over. She also tried Emily's E, Kenzie's K, Thomas's T and Aaron's A, but kept going back to the H.

Kenzie has taught Aaron, Joslyn and Riley how to "take a shower" in this specific spot in the back room (edge of the old closet). They are so funny scrubbing their hair, arm pits, legs and arms.