A Night of Victories! Our BYU Men’s Volleyball Outing!

A Night Of Little Victories!  It was at 5:30 that I realized my plan to stay home, run on the treadmill (well, speed walk would probably be a better term) and watch the BYU Men’s Volleyball Game  wasn’t going to happen since the BYU Basketball game would be on TV.

So, in twenty minutes the kids were dressed, out the door, and on our way to our first BYU Men’s Vball Game as a family.  Little Victory #1: propose something new to the kids at the last minute and we were able to shift gears and go!

Go Cougars! Mom and Boys watching the game.

There was a special for the Cosmo Kids Club that was on a local retail channel in the Fall.  We bought the package thinking we’d get to maybe half of what was offered (which would’ve still more than paid for the package) and that this year would be a good time to try a public outing that was noisier . .  . louder . . . . and more unpredictable.  Since there are so many couple with children attending BYU, the campus events and activities are VERY kid friendly – a definite plus over some of the other sporting venues I’ve taken my daughter to in the past.

I’ll be honest, the boys have been doing a TON better at shifting gears. I think it’s been a thing we constantly work on but I know that one lesson the teachers at school use is to not acknowledge that the change is a “big thing.”  They go with the attitude that hey, this is going to happen so let’s do it together. . . . . seems to be working.  I do think it helps that my daughter and I go to a couple of games a year and the boys knew their 3-yr old cousin would be at the game.

 

Go Cougars! Cheering the team on!

Since most of BYU was at the basketball game,  the attendance was half of what it was the night  before when #2 BYU played THEN #1 UC-Irvine.  I think that really made a difference – with half of the gym empty, the boys could play, walk around, and it was easy to maneuver getting to the concession stand.  My biggest concern was the noise level and abrupt cheering that would happen after points or a rally.  However, the boys handled all of that well.  We’ve done some outings previously that the boys were covering their ears and complaining about the noise.  I think that they are sensitive to noise and have some sensory issues, but not overly sensitive and Little Victory #2 was that they managed the noise and crowd level well.

The boys asked a ton of questions and, for the first 15 minutes at least, were genuinely interested in the game.  They talk about how fast someone would hit it, or how high the ball went on a toss for a jump serve.  Little Victory #3 – they were observant and were trying to learn something new

Courtside! Thanks for a fun night kids!

Most insignificant victory of the night was that BYU won in three  (Little Victory #4) ~ a quick game which was good. . . . . the boys got out of the gym before they got tired and we had a breakdown.  They cheered. . . .they tried to clap the fight song (much to my wife’s dismay) . . . . . they played well for the most part. Unfortunately, Cosmo the Cougar was at the basketball game but it didn’t matter, the boys still had a blast!

Final Victory: A really nice family outing and an opportunity I had to share with my boys something that I really enjoy.  Thanks boys for making it a special night!

Hau’oli Makahiki Hou! (Happy New Year!)

I learned in college about Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions and how different cultures have different views on time, collective versus individual group dynamics, etc. Even though I’m Japanese Hawaiian and Japanese are very punctual, it seems the Hawaiian / Polynesian in me writes this blog since I’m always running behind! Anyway, Happy New Year to you and yours and the best for a great 2013.

All decked out to hit the hills at school

One of my goals with this blog was to post material that I found helpful or insightful with our children. Here’s a recent powerpoint onToilet Training / Eating Issues that was presented at one of our recent parent trainings.

I’m going to put in a DISCLAIMER here that this is material presented to me by educators who work with my twins. If anyone wants me to take it down, please let me know. Also, these methods and techniques may or may not work for every little one.

OK, honestly, I was gone much during the potty training phase so it isn’t something I remember but my wife will tell you that NOT having a bathroom on our main floor gave her great exercise lugging one or both of the twins up and down a flight of stairs each time they had to go to the bathroom.

A few thoughts from the presentation and the training in general:

1) Consistency is always the key. I mentioned in past posts that when I’m lazy and let the boys get away with things (too much tv, too much wii, etc) then it’s harder for me to break that habit later. This happened with our afternoon time and trying to get them to do an ‘assignment’ before they ran off to play Mario Kart.

2) Use of a Timer: We have a couple around our house and I remember my wife setting them and when it went off, she would march the boys to the bathroom . . . . .even if they didn’t have to go. This was a great start and got them in the habit of going every so often.

3) Remain Neutral When Accidents Occur: OK – so this is a problem for me. We fought the stomach flu a couple of weeks back and what I hadn’t realized was that both of the boys had probably gone 2-3 years without throwing up. When the first one happened, I freaked out more than I should’ve which didn’t help the situation. . . . . I was better the second (and third) times around. Fortunately, both boys now recognize the symptoms and look for ‘the bucket’ when they feel a wave of nausea coming.

4) Visual Schedule: These can be a pain to make, but it helps quite a bit. My boys still refer to their after school schedule and it’s helped alleviate a ton of headache and bad expectations

The last few slides are on eating plans and how the classes work with ‘different’ foods at the cafeteria. I was pretty intrigued.

All the boyz hanging out during our NY Party

One of our focuses this next year is to have more friends over. We had a few chances during the holidays and for the most part, things went well! It helped that we had a foot of snow outside so we could build snowmen, go sledding, etc. The boys are getting better at remembering names and also, associating friends with the ‘activities’ they come over for. For example, they have “piano friends” who come over for piano. They had a bday party they attended last week and are heading to another one this weekend so that’s awesome to see.

Wishing the best to you and yours in 2013!