Happy Presidents Day?

Yikes!!! What's happened to me? My commitment to blogging has tapered off, but not on purpose! I'll fill you in after I give you a little eliot fix. After all, isn't that what this is for?

*I think I've begun to see the start of the little monster that I've created. On a regular basis, I put things in E's pockets or his hood to see what he'll do. He typically just pulls them out or ignores them completely. The other night I was on the floor of his room cleaning up before bed and he was making his "tickle tickle" sound while tickling my neck. Then he stopped and came around to see my face, while grinning quite mischeiviously. It took me a minute but I figured out that he'd hid a puzzle piece in my hoodie. Little turkey.

*We have a Memory game that features pics of his favorite cartoon characters, the Backyardigans. Just to see what would happen I pulled out one of each card and set it in front of him. Then I gave him one that matched them. He studied it carefully and then grabbed the match and handed it to me! Brilliance!!! We repeated the same thing and he correctly matched the cards 8 times!!

*Eliot has decided that walking on your tip-toes is a better way of getting from point a to point b. We're hoping it's just a stage.

*We've been trying to catch a picture of it, but Eliot has started standing like Russ on purpose. Every once in awhile, probably more often than he realized, Russ will stand with his arms crossed leaning against the pillar that separates our living room from our dining room. Typically it's when he's in the middle of a task but takes a second to watch something on the television. Three times now, Eliot has gotten up from his chair to lean against the pillar with his little arms crossed while watching cartoons. It kills us.

*Eliot has a new job around the house and he loves it!!! See below:

I read this idea in a magazine and loved it! You remove the middle sections from the swiffer pole and put them to work! Eliot absolutely loves it!


Speaking of new jobs, that's where I've been. A week and a half ago, I started subbing full-time at a school I used to work at years ago. They were in need of a permanent sub and we could use a boost in our finances while things gear back up to where they were pre-guate. It's a blessing in terms of providing for our finances but it's been really hard for me. I hate leaving Eliot (who's at home with Russ since he also works from home) each day and I'm not ready to go back to teaching. I will go back someday when all our children are in school but it's not for me right now. It's only until June so I'm just hunkering down and doing it. It's definitely an adventure so far! My list of experiences over the last 7 school days include second grade, fourth grade, fifth and sixth grade, 7/8 self-contained special edu, and music for grades 5-8. Um...yikes. If I ever was needing a practice on any behavior management skills, this is it!