Million dollar question - have we turned the corner?

Jackson has had a wonderful week! Starting Sunday afternoon, his behavior did a complete turn around and he seems back to 'normal'. Normal for our wonderful son is a typical, ornery 2 year old that has a streak of more ornery! Tomorrow on the way home from school Bill will stop at the store and Jackson gets to pick out a balloon for his good behavior. Jack has actually been looking forward to this all week. Next week, we are going to set shorter term/daily/simple rewards for good behavior and see how that works.

Monday I took Jack to the Pediatrician because his eyes seem irritated and guess what? Pink eye (although past the contagious stage)! Poor little guy, as if he hasn't had enough poking around on his eyes. He is getting antibiotic drops now. Seems pink eye is running rampant in his classroom. He was excellent at the doctor other than some simple anxiety. He is up in weight to 27.5 lbs and even though he has had a runny nose and cough, his lungs were clear and he is healthy as usual. We are thankful he is starting to put on more weight.

My lower right jaw has been bothering me so I finally went to the dentist today. Of course, I have a cracked tooth and had to have a crown. It took 2 doctors to numb me and about 2 hrs of poking with needles. Finally they were able to grind down my tooth and put a temporary crown on. I go back in a few weeks to get a permanent crown. Bla.

Bill is enjoying his job. He actually gets to speak to adults now, and seems to be happy about that. Today he got his first paycheck and I am sure if I sneak up on him right now, he will be holding his paycheck smiling from ear to ear. I think he would like to go spend it on beer and wings, but it all goes to school! Poor Bill...maybe wings next week!

2 full weeks of Bill working and Jackson in school - check!

Well, we continue to struggle a bit on week two as well. But the good news first! NO morning tears at drop off! When we walk into the building, we always put his stuff (backpack/lunch/snack/etc) up on a shelf specific to his class. It seems that was creating some anxiety so now we just carry them all the way down to come and play & put them up on the way out. Not sure if this is the real reason - but I am going with it!

The program Jackson is in is from 9:30am - 1:00pm. Its academic in nature and they actually switch subjects throughout the day. From 7:30am - 9:30am and from 1:00pm - 5:00pm they have 'come and play' and 'stay and play'. We are very pleased with the 9:30am - 1:00pm classes and his teacher Ms. Julie. We would prefer not to leave Jackson in the before/after programs but it is necessary right now given our work schedule.

So this brings us to the 'bad news'. Monday Jackson came home with scratches on the left side of his face. I called Tuesday, and nobody knew where they came from. Stay and play said it happened in class, class said it must have happened in come and play and come and play didn't see anything. Then, on Tuesday he bit a little boy in come and play. He didn't break the skin or leave any marks, but they still had to write up an incident report. They have a 3 times & you are out bite policy.

Friday, I was out in the field and my phone rang, it was his teacher. Apparently, Jackson has been hitting himself in the face and scratching himself too. The Teacher tried to get him to stop and that actually resulted in more scratching. She thinks that the scratches from Monday were self inflicted now. Apparently, he was just sitting there at the table with his peers and he started to hit himself. Again at 1pm nap time, he started to hit himself in the face.

Yesterday morning started off pretty rough, so we had him take an early nap then when to a couple of my work sites out in the field and went to lunch together. I had a crew using a back hoe and digging a hole. Jack was IN LOVE with this process. He thought it was the best thing he had ever seen in his entire life!!!! Then we went to Sams and bought some bulk items we have been low on. J doesn't like being in the cart, he wants to run - run- run like a crazy all over the store.

Today we went to Kohls and it was not a good time. I think he is just testing boundaries and is generally overwhelmed. We are concerned, but hope it will even out. So far school has taught him LOTS of words, how to hit, lick, spit and bite. We are practicing "hands to yourself" with him, and patience for us. Right now, Bill and Jackson took a bike ride. When they get back, we will play in the yard and maybe play some Hockey!

1st full week of school and work - Check!

My boys dressed the same (it was an accident!)

Jackson found Daddy's old Lacrosse helmet

The favorite part of making a special treat, licking the spoon!

Bill started his full time job last Monday, and actually seems to be enjoying work. They are doing lots of testing and he is doing very well. He missed the adult conversation and general camaraderie. His company has a gym, so he also plans to start to hit the gym on a regular basis.

Jackson completed his first full week of school and is EXHAUSTED. Exhausted in an understatement actually. I drop him off in the morning, and Bill picks him up around 5pm. From 5pm - 7pm he just sobs hysterically until we read/rock/go night night. We just feel so sorry for him right now. What an adjustment. We hope this week will be better.

This weekend has been tough, Jackson has had poor behavior (again, an understatement). We are hoping that it is due to the adjustment and learning some boundaries. Keep your fingers crossed.

15 shirts and a black eye

We are getting ready for our first hectic week of all 3 of us going somewhere full time. Its Bills first day at work, and Jacks first week on a 5 day a week school program. We decided to eliminate some of the chaos and iron all of our shirts ahead of time. Bill sectioned off some snacks ahead of time too.

This isn't a very good picture, but Jack has his first shiner. When we were dog sitting, Jackson got a little rough with the Puggle. Needless to say "eye hurt", "eye hurt" turned into a black eye the next day.

Tomorrow Jack has a 9am eye appointment (a follow up from the Strabismus surgery, not anything to do with the black eye). I have been spoiled because normally Bill would take him and I could just go to work. I will have to miss a couple meetings but I am also looking forward to spending more time than usual with the little guy.
The adjustments just keep on coming!

"You're doing worse than Jack is"

That is what I was told today by one of Jack's teachers when I dropped him off at school. Each day I have dropped him off, I have asked his teachers how he did the previous day. According to them he does better every day he is there. He has some trouble transitioning from one activity to the next (he has always had an issue with transitions), but he is interacting well and doing great for his first month at pre-school. He hasn't quite figured out naps at school yet, so when he gets home from school he is EXHAUSTED to say the least. Yesterday he was sitting on my lap after school and I was asking him about his day when all of the sudden he stopped answering me. He had fallen asleep in my lap, which is a big deal because he NEVER falls asleep in our laps. That's how tired he was. Anyway, today when I asked his teacher how he did yesterday, she told me, then I proceeded to remind her about his blanket for nap, his hat and gloves for the playground, etc. That's when she told me I had to go because I wasn't handling the morning dropoff as well as Jack was. Apparently I am supposed to drop and dash. I'm not ready to let Jack go that easily yet!

So, I start my new job on Monday. Lately I have been antsy to get back to a "real" job because I find myself getting frustrated with the grind of being a Stay-at-home-Dad. Don't get me wrong, I loved the stay at home gig, but for anyone who has done it, you know how tough it is to have a toddler as your boss. So, Michelle did a great job at finding Jack a great pre-school (aside from the fact that they scolded me today), and I went out and found a job. I am looking forward to us being a 2-income family again, though most of the 2nd income will get eaten up by school costs.

Having said that, I know I am going to miss my days with Jack. Obviously we will have mornings, nights and weekends together, but I know I will miss the days we spent together over the last year+. I get teary eyed now just thinking about him out in the big boy world at school rather than hanging out here with me. I will always cherish the walks we took, playing basketball at the playground, our trips to watch hockey practices, the time we spent at the Aquarium, stumbling across snakes at the beach park, our afternoon drives to see the horses, meeting Mommy for lunch on a whim, raking leaves all afternoon, our epic games of hide and seek, bike rides, playing hockey in the dining room, vacuuming, baking (yeah, I said it, we baked sometimes), etc.

Jack, you're the toughest boss I've ever had, but I've never loved a boss more. You probably wanted to fire me a few times over the last year or so, but I would work for you again any day. I love you buddy, do well in school. I only hope and pray you have benefited as much from our time together as I have.

Valentine's Day 2011

Below is a picture Bill took of Jackson one year ago today. This was my 2010 Valentine's Day present.

This is a picture of Jackson today, the very gift that I wanted! Look at how much he has changed (it isn't just the pancake that is bigger this year)!

Mommy and Jackson making Sponge Bob Valentines for his friends at school.
Jackson helping me make Daddy a Valentine's Day treat.
Jackson and Daddy doing their favorite past time (well, Jackson's favorite past time).

We just colored a fish for Daddy and now it is proudly displayed on the refrigerator door. Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Curran Household In Transition

We are all finally almost over our colds. Jack and Mommy are on antibiotics and Daddy toughed it out. Jackson had an ear infection but is obviously feeling better because he has been CRAZY with energy the last few days. I guess he had some pent up energy from being sick and now it's all coming out at once :)

Bill was offered the job last week, so he will join the ranks of the employed and transition out of his stay at home role. He starts the new job on Feb 28th and he is looking forward to it.

Jackson had a full time opening come available at his school, so he will also start full time on Monday the 28th.

Lots of change is about to happen for our little guy and we pray it won't be too tough on him. We will keep you posted!