Where Did this Past Week Go?

Wow, time is flying on by! I have been very absorbed in trying to clean and organize my house.. an ongoing project for me. I'm also working hard to finish my oldest son's school year, and have been busy making lessons up for Samuel and his youger brother, who will start kindergarten this fall.

Samuel has been very caught up in a Playstation game, Jack and Daxter. He and his younger brother like to play it. It involves visiting various locations, so Samuel now "plays" this game while he is outside. There are 4 or 5 locations in the backyard he sits and goes through this game in his mind. Each location he plays at represents a particular location in the game. While he is doing this he sifts through the dirt or pine straw or sand that happens to be there. This week I'll be breaking the news to Samuel and his younger brother that starting next week we'll be taking a "break" from this game!

One night last week I had Samuel try something new for dinner, meatloaf. His brothers ate it without a problem. I had to provide soda as a reinforcer for trying it. He has not liked hamburgers lately so I figured he wouldn't be very willing to try meatloaf. As I asked him to eat it I made sure he knew a sip of soda would follow. He was not happy! He leaned over, SMELLED it and said "I don't want to eat STINKYBURGERS!" Now there's a new name for meatloaf!

I have noticed an increased sensitivity to smell with Samuel in the last few months. He smells his food, he smells other people's skin (usually their arms), and he smells his own skin and his armpits! While I was kind of sad he didn't like my cooking (though I didn't care for meatloaf as a child either!), it was enlightening to know WHY he didn't like it and I was glad that he was able to tell me this.

In the last week or so Samuel's interest in watching videos has returned. Watching videos has taken a back seat to playing on the computer for quite some time now. As his interest in videos increased his interest in playing on the computer has decreased. As always, he likes carrying around videos with him. He took quite a selection with him on our vacation. I limited it to what he could carry in a small canvas bag. He likes to carry them with him when we go out at home too. I make sure I specify to him that they STAY IN THE CAR.