Saturday
October 31

Something about being the den leader ... I can assign various things easy as pie, but for some reason keep forgetting to get them done at home with Joshua!

Today we took Joshua to a 1-mile race, so I used this opportunity of us leaving the house to do Achievement 4d. This talked about making sure you do various things before leaving home. Some you should do almost any time you leave, like turn off the lights and close and lock all the doors and windows, making sure you have your key with you. But a couple we didn't do today - things that would only be done for a longer trip, like turning off the water and making sure your pets will be alright.

And then tonight Joshua completed his 2-week health habits chart for Achievement 3a. There wasn't any stated goal for doing this. The lessons I take from it are to see how well you are doing at taking care of yourself, and to see the areas where you might need to make some improvements. So we talked about what changes he could make in his daily routine.

Monday
November 2

This afternoon, I took advantage of a tiny amount of free time before going to the meeting to go over three more achievements.

4a - Make a list of phone numbers to post by the phone. Our area uses 911 for all emergencies, so it was easy to combine Fire, Police, Sheriff and Ambulance all together. We then added (actually I made Joshua do all the writing) my sister's home and work numbers (the only family here in town), my work number, and my parents' and grandmother's home numbers. When this was done Joshua posted it by the phone. Then I reminded him about proper phone usage and manners.

4b - Talk about what to do if somebody comes to the door of your house. I hardly ever leave Joshua home alone, and have only recently started doing so. But we have already talked about this issue. My rule to him is just to ignore the doorbell or somebody knocking. I've told him that if it's me coming back to the house I will be able to let myself in. Anybody else that might come to the door, there is no reason for him to open it.

4c - Talk about what to do if somebody calls on the phone. This is another topic we've already discussed. My rule for Joshua right now is to simply ignore the phone if he is home alone, and let the answer machine pick up. However I did remind him of what to say and not say, in the event that I do tell him it's okay to answer the phone in the future.

So that's our catch-up routine for the past few days! Having completed the health habit chart now means that Joshua has completed 3 whole units and has therefore earned his first bead. They get one for each 3 units completed - no particular order. He finished two at day camp, and we've started several others, but now finally finished a third. I'll award him his bead and the totem it goes on at the meeting tonight. I have no idea how close the other boys are, because they have yet to mark off anything in their handbooks! I keep reminding them ...