Brad Paisley Concert

Tuesday night HMS celebrated our 200th win with a private Brad Paisley concert.  It was a fun event and even though I'm not a big country music fan, I did get to meet him and his wife - Kimberly Williams Paisley from the Father of the Bride remakes in the 90s.  Here's a couple of pictures from the event.

First Communion

This past weekend Grace made her first communion.  We were happy to have a nice group of family and friends there to share her special day.  She was very excited.  Not only was she receiving communion for the first time but she got to participate in the ceremony by taking the gifts to the altar.  Here are a few pictures from the day.  Unfortunately my computer is down at home so I can only share the pictures from my phone.  But you can visit the church website to look at the ones taken at church. Go to www.sainttherese.net select the ecommunity tab and go to photo albums then choose 9:00 communion.  Grace is in several photos on page 2 and 3.

Positivity!

Last Friday we had a conference with Adam's teacher and the director of his preschool.  It was an opportunity for us to learn first hand what is really going on with him at school.

As we somewhat suspected, Adam likes to do his own thing.  He does not care for people to be in his space however it's ok for him to be in someone else's.  Of course we are still trying to understand what has triggered this behavior but for now we are taking a new approach with him - POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT.

This approach is so he hears the right things rather than the bad stuff.  So instead of saying "Adam don't run" we say "Adam walking feet"; or rather than tell him "don't hit" we say "soft touches".  It was also suggested that we not punish him for things that happen at school; we leave that for his teacher to do and we deal with the stuff at home.  Of course we don't have these issues at home so that's a moot point.

Well yesterday was the first day of this approach and he had a good day.  He got two stickers for following directions and cleaning up and he got to enjoy the whole soccer practice.  Now I'm not going to shoot off fireworks and strike up the band after one day, but I will try to focus on the positive a little longer.

The "Kingpin" of Preschool

So we now have a little more insight into Adam's behavior at school, it's all about the girls!  Remember what they told us girls when we were little, the boys only pick on the girls they like.  Well apparently my son likes them all.  You see the spitting - which is really raspberries- the hair-pulling and the shoving is only done to the girls. 

This all became clear to me the other day when I got yet another note in Adam's cubbie.  So I asked his afternoon teacher about it to find out what they do when he behaves in this manner.  She told me they remove him from the situation by walking him away and telling him what he is doing is wrong.  I can live with that course of action.

So the next day, this same teacher said she paid a little more attention to Adam to really see what's going on and that's how I learned about the girls.  She said that he chases them and does the aforementioned things and all the while the girls are saying "Oh Adam Buckelew, stop that" but they keep running to him.  AND they take care of him.

What do I mean by that - according to his teacher, they clean up his toys, they share snacks with him, they help him with his shoes and jacket.  So it seems that he is of the 1950's mentality that the women take care of the men which is more obvious when you ask him why he does these things and he says "Because I want to".  Guess I need to work on that!

Mr. Nocturnal

Have you met this character?  The one who stalks the depths of the night; lurking on the streets or in alleyways.  Or in this case - his sister's bedroom!

We have discovered that at times, Adam is nocturnal - meaning he's up at the wee hours of the night.  Now how long this has been going on is unknown to us but recently we learned of his antics.

David awoke around two in the morning to see the light on in Grace's bedroom.  "That's odd," he thought and got out of bed to check it out.  Thinking she woke up and turned on the light to read and then fell back to sleep, he walked down the hall to turn it off.  To his surprise, there sat Adam, playing with her toys while she slept.  Adam's response when David walked up to him, "Hi Daddy". 

David rounded him up and brought him to our room to go back to sleep.  Of course, that's not new, he's been creeping down the hall into our bed off and on for the past few weeks.  And he's equally good at that because neither of us know he's there until the morning when we wake up to a small foot or hand in an odd place.

We hope this is just a phase that he will grow out of.

What's Been Happening These Past Two Weeks

Adam, Adam, Adam - that's all I can say.  He is 180 degrees different than Grace was at this age.  Where she was sweet and caring, he's calculating and devious - at 3!  Two weeks ago he pulled a chunk of hair out of a little girl's head and then last week he spit at his teacher - an action that resulted in him being sent home for the day!  He really tries our patience sometimes.  We've had numerous talks with him to explain what is right and wrong and hope that it will sink in one of these days.  In fact every morning we recite the same thing - pee in the potty not in our pants; if we have to spit, spit in the potty; don't spit at people; don't pull hair; don't hit friends and be nice to everybody!

Grace on the other hand is doing wonderful.  She scored a perfect 100 on her Spellabration test and raised $150 for her school.  She's scored a perfect score on her spelling test each week since the start of the school year and tonight she scored a perfect score on her karate test and will advance to her camo belt - yeah I know when did they add that one?

All in all they are both good kids, we just have to work on a few things here and there!

Oh and if you haven't heard - I'm a Mary Kay consultant so if you or anyone you know needs some products send them my way www.marykay.com/hbuckelew

Grace's First Reconciliation

Last night, Grace checked off a major item in her First Communion preparation by participating in her first reconciliation.  The kids met in the church where the Faith Formation (that's what they call it here) Director began with a prayer, a reading and a lesson.  The nervous kids listened intently hoping for some clue as to what lie ahead for them.  It was at that point that he illustrated to them what they will feel like after they confess their sins.  He pulled out a box wrapped in dingy, torn newspaper.  He told them this is what your heart looks like when you sin.  But through the act of reconciliation you cleanse your heart and it feels like a shiny gift from God.  It was at that point that he pulled out a box wrapped in silver, heart paper.  The kids were amazed and excited to know that they were going to feel shiny and new after they talked to the priest.

With that the children were dismissed to get in line with one of the four priests,  As expected, the line for Fr. Don, the priest who helps out with Faith Formation, was extremely long.  Of course that is who Grace wanted to see but I encouraged her to visit another priest, using the best tactic I had in my arsenal, because it would be faster!  So we went over to the line for our pastor, Fr. Vince.  After all of 20 minutes it was her turn.

We walked up to him where I introduced her and left her to do her thing.  I looked back at her a couple of times and she seemed to be fine.  She was nodding and listening.  And then I saw her do the sign of the cross so I knew it was over.  She came to me and told me she was done.  I asked what he penance was and she said "he didn't give me one".  Yeah right!  I told her to hit her knees and say a prayer.

After she was done, she got to put a bow on the shiny. box.  That was a little extra thing that the Faith Formation leaders told them to do after their penance as a thank you to God for cleansing them.  Now just 15 more weeks until First Communion.