In buying a house or investing in real estate they say the three most important things to look for are Location! Location! Location! Well for Jadon, the three most important things in his life are Family! Family! Family! Three things have really brought this fact home this week.
First, his talk last Sunday was on family. I thought you might like to see what he said:
Heavenly Father knew that we would need people to love and help us. He sent us to live in a family. In my family I have a dad and mom. I have sisters and brothers. I have nieces and nephews. I have a grandpa. All of these people love me and help me to learn and grow. Heavenly Father gave parents the job to teach and care for their children. My dad and mom take care of me. They make sure that I have a home to live in and food to eat. They make sure that my clothes are clean. They help me with my homework. They teach me about the gospel. Heavenly Father gave children the job to obey and honor their parents. I can be happy and do the things I am asked to do. I can be nice to my family. I can play with my nieces and nephewsand help them to be happy. I can help my home be a happy and peaceful place to be. I love my family. I am grateful that Heavenly Father sent me to live in a family.
Second, Wednesday when he came home from school, he was excited to show me something in his backpack. It opened it up and brought out a sheet of green construction paper that was folded in half. He handed it to me with a big smile and "look"! On the front it said: "I have a special place in my own family. I need my family and my family needs me. Open up this page with my family tree to find that important person I call me!" When you open it up there is a square in the center of the page that pops out with a picture of Jadon on it. In the background is a tree. All over the tree are pasted leaves with names on them. I am sure that he wrote all of his family members names (brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews) though not all made it to the tree. I think they stopped him because of the sheer volume (2 brothers, 4 sisters, 2 sister-in laws, 3 brother-in-laws, 3 nephews, and 5 nieces). There was at least one person from each family represented on the tree (there were 15 of the 23 possible). When his dad came home, once again he was anxious to proudly share his creation.
Third, Jadon carries his book(s) of pictures of the family wherever he goes. We've used it to help get more words (especially verbs) out of Jadon and his SLP uses it in therapy. In fact, his speech therapist remarked the other day that she knows every member of our family (as well as who is married to who and which children belong to which brother and sister) without having met any of them. This past week Jadon has repeatedly pointed to the first page in his book that is empty, says, "shopping" and expects more pictures. Unfortunately, he equates going to the store with getting new pictures for his book as I tend to send pictures in for one hour service and then go shopping to pick them up. It's been very difficult to get him to understand that I need to take more pictures before I can have more pictures for his book. In that respect he is like the rest of my kids who thought that we only needed to go to a cash machine when we needed money, not understanding that there first needed to be money in an account before it could be taken out. It's become a daily ritual of him pointing to the empty page and my reminding him that I haven't yet taken any new pictures. Luckily this week is spring break for him and hopefully we will have a couple of days where we can get out and do something noteworthy of taking pictures.
So if you are even in doubt of what to talk to Jadon about. Get him started on his family. It's a subject that he loves!
First, his talk last Sunday was on family. I thought you might like to see what he said:
Heavenly Father knew that we would need people to love and help us. He sent us to live in a family. In my family I have a dad and mom. I have sisters and brothers. I have nieces and nephews. I have a grandpa. All of these people love me and help me to learn and grow. Heavenly Father gave parents the job to teach and care for their children. My dad and mom take care of me. They make sure that I have a home to live in and food to eat. They make sure that my clothes are clean. They help me with my homework. They teach me about the gospel. Heavenly Father gave children the job to obey and honor their parents. I can be happy and do the things I am asked to do. I can be nice to my family. I can play with my nieces and nephewsand help them to be happy. I can help my home be a happy and peaceful place to be. I love my family. I am grateful that Heavenly Father sent me to live in a family.
Second, Wednesday when he came home from school, he was excited to show me something in his backpack. It opened it up and brought out a sheet of green construction paper that was folded in half. He handed it to me with a big smile and "look"! On the front it said: "I have a special place in my own family. I need my family and my family needs me. Open up this page with my family tree to find that important person I call me!" When you open it up there is a square in the center of the page that pops out with a picture of Jadon on it. In the background is a tree. All over the tree are pasted leaves with names on them. I am sure that he wrote all of his family members names (brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews) though not all made it to the tree. I think they stopped him because of the sheer volume (2 brothers, 4 sisters, 2 sister-in laws, 3 brother-in-laws, 3 nephews, and 5 nieces). There was at least one person from each family represented on the tree (there were 15 of the 23 possible). When his dad came home, once again he was anxious to proudly share his creation.
Third, Jadon carries his book(s) of pictures of the family wherever he goes. We've used it to help get more words (especially verbs) out of Jadon and his SLP uses it in therapy. In fact, his speech therapist remarked the other day that she knows every member of our family (as well as who is married to who and which children belong to which brother and sister) without having met any of them. This past week Jadon has repeatedly pointed to the first page in his book that is empty, says, "shopping" and expects more pictures. Unfortunately, he equates going to the store with getting new pictures for his book as I tend to send pictures in for one hour service and then go shopping to pick them up. It's been very difficult to get him to understand that I need to take more pictures before I can have more pictures for his book. In that respect he is like the rest of my kids who thought that we only needed to go to a cash machine when we needed money, not understanding that there first needed to be money in an account before it could be taken out. It's become a daily ritual of him pointing to the empty page and my reminding him that I haven't yet taken any new pictures. Luckily this week is spring break for him and hopefully we will have a couple of days where we can get out and do something noteworthy of taking pictures.
So if you are even in doubt of what to talk to Jadon about. Get him started on his family. It's a subject that he loves!
Jadon's family (minus three new additons)
Writing on his Magna-doodle seems to be a favorite way to pass time. Sometimes he writes names of movie characters or some (seemingly) random words, but most often I see him making lists entitled "Nieces" or "Brothers."
ReplyDeleteHe also likes to "talk" on his cell phone (that he is never without if he can help it) and I like to ask who he is talking to, yesterday his answer was Craig. It is always some family member. He love us all very much.