Tag: summer

Back to School and Back to the Podcast!

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After a summer hiatus, Just My MomSense is back and I couldn’t be more excited!.

If you’re new here, welcome! I’m Jen, a mom navigating the everyday ups and downs of parenting, sharing stories, resources, and encouragement along the way.

This week’s episode is a solo one, where I’m catching you up on how summer went in our house, how we’re handling the big back-to-school transition, and what’s ahead for the podcast.

🎧You can listen to the full episode, Summer Recap, Back to School and More Episodes Ahead, by clicking here or wherever you listen to podcasts.

I’d love to hear from you too! How was your summer, and how is the back-to-school season going for your family? Share with me in the comments below or come connect on Instagram [@justmymomsense].

Themed Learning Week | Day 3

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My kids went all in on the Descendants movies during the Spring. I tried to make sure the themed days would be something they both enjoy and I knew this would be a winner.

It was indeed! As soon as they saw the sign, they ran to get changed into Descendants costumes for learning time.

I went outside of my comfort zone a bit by making my own themed worksheets. It was my first go at it, and I’ll share them here and on my Pinterest page for those that may be interested!

They did great with the worksheets and loved having the theme tied into them! We did some Descendants dancing afterwards, because, how could you not?

I’ll be posting about our final day tomorrow!

What Happened to Summer?

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I think something is wrong with my calendar. It seems as though we’re in the last week of August, summer is coming to an end and school starts next week.

It went way too fast. I had ideas for the summer, things I would be doing with the extra time we’d have everyday and most of those things didn’t happen. Don’t get me wrong, we had fun, saw friends for playdates, saw immediate family and some of our adult friends. At the same time it seems like we should have done more. But in the paraphrased words of Carrie Bradshaw, we shouldn’t “should” all over ourselves.

Let’s recap what I had hoped for from my pre summer posts.

  • Potty Training
    • Attempted, no success
  • A daily schedule
    • Written out, happened twice
  • A road trip to visit some of our friends
    • I can’t remember if I wrote about this one but regardless, it didn’t happen

Here we are at the end of summer. As I await details of ‘J’s’ class information, I wonder how his adjustment back into the routine will go. Monday and Wednesdays he’ll have Speech and OT again and Tuesday/Thursdays will be school. He went two days a week last year for about 2.5 hours a day. This year, he will be there for 5. I wonder which of his friends will be in his class again and my hope is that he’ll love it as much as he did last year. I know that won’t always be the case so if we cant hang onto it for now, that would be great. As for ‘Baby J,’ we’ll get back into a Mommy and Me class routine and I’m sure she’ll be missing her playmate around the house during the day.

A schedule is great but I want to hang onto these summer days just a bit longer.

Thank You Regal!

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The following blog is not an advertisement, just an honest review of our experience.

Back in October, my husband took ‘J’ to a Disney Jr event at the movie theater. We thought it would be a great way to test out the movie going experience with our then 3.5 year old. The event was showing Halloween episodes of some of his favorite shows and he’d be able to dress in his Woody costume. Sounds like a win right?

Nope.

Once he turned down the dark hallway to the theater, he ran the other way. After attempting to get him back, including FaceTiming with me, we decided he wasn’t ready. We eventually added this to the list of red flags we had when figuring out his Sensory Processing Difficulties.

Regal Cinemas has a fantastic summer event; Summer Movie Express: $1 Movies all summer long! Every Tuesday and Wednesday, Regal will show previously run/older movies. Both days will offer the same two movies but they change weekly.

SMX

We decided to give the movie theater experience another try. I was talking with a friend and we met up on Wednesday to check it out. Between us we have four kids: two are age 4, one is 2 and one is 1.5. So we definitely didn’t know how this would go!

‘J’ was doing great until we entered the theater. The lights were dim, it was a room he had never been in and he froze. Our friends sat down and we were hanging out in the entryway to the theater as he told me that he wanted to go home. After some time, some reminders of the snack stash I had in my bag and emoji games showing up on the big screen, we slowly made our way to our seats. We were there to see Sing, a current favorite. I did not expect to make it through the movie expecting he might get too overwhelmed or his sister would get way too fussy (after missing her morning nap).

I was amazed that we made it to the credits! All four of them did great. There was some fussiness here and there, some switching seats, but overall, it was a success! I still can’t believe it and it’s two days later.

Thank you Regal for creating an experience where parents feel comfortable in the theater (since its a morning movie filled with other kids) and a price point that eases the pain of possibly needing a quick exit at any moment.

I don’t think ‘J’ is all in on movies just yet, but perhaps a few more summer days at Regal and we may be ready for new releases soon!

Back Into the Writing Groove

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After being way behind on blogging I’m back and getting in the writing groove.

We had a rough June with a crazy virus. That virus turned into blood work and some other tests for ‘J’ and we’re still waiting to hear about one. In the meantime, we have an appointment with a GI next week to make sure there’s nothing else going on with ‘J’s’ stomach. I’m personally wondering if we’re on the brink of another food allergy (he already has a dairy intolerance). But more on all of this over the next couple of weeks!

June was the end of school, speech and OT for the summer. With ‘J’ being sick on top of it, any kind of new schedule goal has gone out the window. Luckily July seems to be getting better so hopefully we can enjoy the rest of the summer!

I also have a part time virtual job teaching English to children in China. More hours are available over the summer which is great money wise, but also an adjustment for me to get back to working nights. I love talking to the kids and in terms of flexibility, this job is perfect.

All this to say, thanks for bearing with me and for following this blog! More posts coming soon (maybe as early as tomorrow 😉 ).