Jack Recap

There have been so many things going on lately that I have not written about. I decided to post them categorized by individual children. This time the first shall be first....

Jack has been a busy kid this spring. He was able to participate in his first ever Pinewood Derby. He totally designed the car and Byron helped him cut and sand and install weights and paint. His car did really well the first few rounds, including beating car designed by the Ford Engineer Dad. After winning twice they decided Jack's car might be not within regulation. They said it was too long with the weights sticking out the back. Hmmm. Thought the cars were inspected BEFORE the race, but whatever. Jack and Byron took the weights off the back and stuck them on the sides. The car won it's next race, but fell off the track on the next one and it was down hill from there. Unfortunately our boy got the sweet taste of victory in his mouth early on, only to have it turn a bit sour. We were proud of him, though. He kept a good attitude, and really only complained a little bit on the way home. Leave it to scouts to teach boys the hard lessons of life and how to deal with them. Jack also had his piano recital a while back. He had practiced and practiced his songs for weeks, and was so bored of it he raced through the songs. His teacher was really concerned that he would not be able to keep the right tempo and recommended Byron sitting with him to count with him. Jack really thought he could do it on his own, (and we did too...his teacher is a little over zealous!) The recital was on a Sunday immediately after our church, so he hadn't practiced that day, and heaven forbid he ever practice on Saturday, so I was a bit nervous for him. He was calm as can be and performed wonderfully! He was proud to be a part of the recital, and was even talking about next year's performance, which is a huge thing considering he regularly goes through phases of refusing to play after this year! All in all, it was victorious!A few months ago we discovered that Jack really gets a bum deal around our house. He happens to be home only during the really chaotic times of the day. In the morning before school when it is rush, rush, rush. After school when it is homework, piano, scouts, sports. Dinner time: eat, sit down, eat, sit down, sit down, sit down. Bedtime for the little ones occupies all our focus, then it's nearly time for Jack to shower and go to bed. We don't think he really realized this, nor did we for a while, but after many struggles of behavioral issues, we took a different look at things. We decided he needed some Mommy Time. Once a week we have scheduled a time for he and I to spend some alone time together. It has made such a HUGE difference. It doesn't even matter what we do. He just knows that on such and such a day, at this time, he will get his special time and it somehow makes everything else okay. He gets to pick (within reason) what we do, and it usually isn't very long, but it is enough. We have worked on his pinewood derby car, gone to a book store, shopped for shoes at Meijer (that was random), played the Easter Bunny, and played catch with the football. I have found that it is harder to be frustrated with him when I have more positive experiences with him. For a while the only interactions we were having together were nagging and negative. After having good moments together, I feel like he knows I really care, and I can see him in a different light too. Plus, it has truly been fun to just hang out with my boy! Hooray for Mommy Time and hooray for Jack!