Tackle it Tuesday - Halloween costume

This week has been busy, to say the least, with looking for a job, I'm really trying to organize around here, but this week has been spent making Kid Jedi's costume. For Halloween, he'll be...a Jedi, Luke Skywalker to be specific. We went and looked at the costumes they were selling, and I didn't like them. I couldn't justify spending $40 for a costume made of cheap polyester when I could make it myself. So for $14, including the pattern, I made this.



The belt is a regular belt, it's a Pirates of the Caribbean Disney belt, but it's what he wanted to wear (and we already had it). This is Kid Jedi after Trick or Treating at Adventure Aquarium, they do a free trick or treat night (2 actually) each year for passholders.




This is what I've been tackling, let us know what you are tackling and check out 5MFM to see what others are tackling.

Tackle It Tuesday - Tackling Everything.

Well, Kid Jedi seems to be adjusting ok to school. We still don't have enough information on what we need to do, but that's coming. In the mean time, we, like everyone else are facing tough financial times and I need to go back to work. I signed up to substitute, I think I'm going to go to a temp agency too to put my name in. It's tough here because I still need to make myself available for Kid Jedi so he doesn't get worse and since we don't know everything we need to look into appointments, and we also have the issue of his anxiety and a major change like this could spiral that out of control, but well, this isn't really about that, though I am tackling deciding how to bring in more $$ (any advice is welcome).

Anyway, this week, with looking at going back to work soon, I will be tackling some organization around this house. I have no pictures because I don't really have the time to take them. The plan is to get the kitchen and dining room cleaned up, the tables are magnets for clutter, and get caught up on laundry this week. I will take pictures today and post all my progress next week.

We also had a wonderful celebration this weekend, my nephew made Eagle Scout this weekend. He got lots of great letters, though he got one from Shane Victorino from the Phillies which looked more like a response to a general fan letter than for an Eagle Scout, and more importantly he became one of a few Eagle Scouts, about 1% of all scouts become Eagle Scout, it's a lot of work and I'm very proud of my nephew.

This is what I'm tackling, check out 5MFM and see what other Moms are tackling.

Good first week back at school

Kid Jedi's first week, well 4 days, back at school were a success! The first day was the only day he had a meltdown, which is pretty good seeing as he went from no school for 2 weeks to being in school from 8:20-3:15. The second day he threw something, again, didn't happen again. Third day, he was under the table several times and took his shoes off, he said they felt tight - he doesn't really like to wear shoes. Forth day, he says he took his shoes off but the Aide didn't say he did and he played with playdoh when he wasn't supposed to, but whoever thought that leaving playdoh at the Kindergartner's table where they have to sit all day was a good idea?

Thursday the behavioral therapist came in and put Kid Jedi on a behavior plan, they divide the day into 14 segments, he starts on blue, one warning gets him green, two yellow and three red. If he gets green or yellow he gets a sticker. He needs to earn 11 stickers and he gets a reward when he comes home. Thursday he got 11 stickers, Friday 12.

The happiest part of the week for me, other than the smile on his face at pick up, was on Friday he told me how much he liked school. That's a big thing since last year he kept telling me that he wanted to stay home on the days he had PreK, he only went for 2-1/2 hours 3 days per week.

I'm waiting on my DH to decide what time of day is good for appointments so we can start counselling and for a call back from CHOP to get an appointment regarding medication (we still aren't sure what we are going to do, but figured going to the professionals would give us more and better information than we can get researching it on our own).

Kid Jedi's 1:1 shadow told me on Wednesday that she's already in love with him, he's such a great kid, his teacher gave me a lot of credit for being able to keep up with him. Oh, and Kid Jedi told me on Thursday that there's a little girl in his class at Table 1 and they are in love with each other.

We went to a birthday party for one of the little girls in his class on Friday night, everyone said hi to him and seemed excited to see him. And the birthday girl apparently always talks about him. I'm glad he's made a positive impression on the kids especially with as bad of a start to the school year as he had.

I'm not too happy that they don't seem to be incorporating what the doctor from CHOP had recommended for him in reference to keeping him challenged, especially since he thinks math is boring (they were drawing three of things one day). Of course, this is the first week and he has to walk before he can run and he needs to stay focused on what the whole class is assigned before he can get more challenging work.

On the down side, we had to pull him from karate. He wasn't improving his behavior there and we got a call on Wednesday from his instructor about doing individual lessons, but there was no way we could afford that, and I don't think that's the best thing for him right now anyway.

Here's hoping to an even better week next week.