J-A-C-K

I love the names Jack and Cora - good thing, right?  I love them for how well they suit their owners and what a compliment they are to each other (at least in my opinion).  Both a little old fashioned, short, similar letters, and by coincidence, very much like our names.  (I swear that wasn't planned.)  I actually have a great-uncle Jack and a great grandmother Cora, but that is also a coincidence.  We can't remember why we liked the name Jack, it was just the one we wanted.  And Cora occurred to me after seeing a street sign in New Orleans: Coralie.

This week's musings are on Jack again.  I love that I will have a record one day of what it was like to be his mother at different stages and what he was up to.  I'm so proud that he turned his behavior around this week!  After a rough day at school on Monday, I felt simultaneously like I was out of ideas and also very determined that we were going to SHUT THIS HITTING DOWN!  So Jack went straight to bed after he got home.  On the way home, I said "no books, no fun."  He asked, "Can I still have my bops?"  *DING, DING!*  *LIGHT BULB MOMENT!*  "Yes, Jack, you can have your bops today, but if you hit tomorrow, no bops."

As I tucked him in, I made my case again for why hitting is wrong.  And then I added, "You're a Landry, like Daddy, me, and Cora.  And Landrys don't hit!"  While he was sleeping, I printed up this picture:

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We had already started a positive behavior system of calling out Jack's kind actions with plastic eggs (to be used for a scavenger hunt), so we made use of this on Tuesday morning and then said a prayer and sent him back to school.  Well, all of that, combined, worked!  He had a great day - absolutely no hitting and his teachers gave him lots of opportunities to be the helper, which he thrived on.  He got a big hug from me, praise from Daddy on the phone, and time on the playground after school.  Later that day, I said, "Jack, do Landrys hit?"  to which he responded "Goodness, no!"

I love this little boy :)

The rest of the week went really well and we had a fun NOLA day today as we did our scavenger hunt.  To be able to go to a Pure Barre class, the farmer's market, our church Easter egg hunt, and the local Fete Francaise all before 2pm and most within walking distance - this is an awesome city!

And because I have a penchant for remembering dates, today was extra special to spend with Jack because tomorrow it will be 3 years since his heart surgery.  He had such a good time this morning.  It's so easy to see him only as our willful, energetic 3 year old and forget that he was once our little baby.  3 years ago today was a scary day.  How nice it would have been to have a glimpse of what life would be like on the same day 3 years later!