Andrew is 5 years 1 month!

This feels like a long month for me.  Andrew has been completely and totally exasperating to me when he isn’t being sweet, of course.

Andrew is done with preschool now and home all day and I find that a little overwhelming.  The kid is intense.  We (meaning me) are still working on ways to get Andrew to calm down when he starts going crazy.  He has been really bad with beating up on the littler boys (even Logan!) and throwing things.  It just drives me up the wall.  He will be super sweet and then super naughty, all in the same day or hour.  Like today, Katsu is out of town.  So, Andrew is very helpful at dinner, setting the table, asking everyone what they want to drink and getting it for them (as long as it was water), and making sure we had what we needed.  But then while I was nursing Logan and trying to put him to sleep, Andrew got into his “kill mommy” mode and was throwing balls at me and playing musical instruments.  And when you are in a sub900 ft. sq apt that is just unacceptable.  And I think he made Seth bleed twice yesterday.  I think my new solution (as of yesterday) is working better.  If he can’t get along and hurts someone or is throwing (or usually both), he has to be by himself in the bedroom for 1/2 – 1 hr and he also loses Army toys.  That is a huge punishment for him.  I hope it works.  Or at least, he will get out of this phase or get a change of heart or start behaving or something.

I am super excited for Andrew to go to kindergarten.  He visited this week with a small group of kids – I think mostly to gauge what the kids are like and how best to mix them.  Then, on Thursday, he went for popsicles at the playground to meet his classmates and teacher.  They have 3 kindergarten classes and currently his class has 14 kids enrolled.  Andrew seemed to hit it off with a couple of the boys, which seems promising.  I have met his teacher a few times and she seems really nice.  I am really excited – I think the schools seems amazingly good.  And I think Andrew is really ready.  Funny story – so he goes up to meet his teacher and is a little nervous.  She asks him about his preschool and he says his favorite part was painting or something like that and starts talking about Van Gogh and how we painted like him and visited the art museum.  His teacher said she really liked the sunflowers and Andrew agreed and said his favorite was Starry Night.  So, who knows what kind of impression she has of Andrew now!  Ha ha ha.

Andrew started a gymnastics class.  He has gone twice.  It is pretty cute – it is for 3-5 year old boys but they are doing all the real gymnastics events – parallel bars, rings, floor, pommel horse, etc.  I don’t think Andrew really has the arm strength (or most of the kids) to do most of the things, but it’s cute to see them try.  I think Andrew is kind of like me and has a hard time telling his body to do what the teacher is saying, but he is trying hard and is also definitely the best at following directions and staying on track.  He tells everyone he is taking this class.  This week, though, for some reason he did not want to go to gymnastics.  He was crying/whining about it off and on all Wednesday (his class is around dinner time), but I told him, we paid and you are going until the session is over (like 6 or 7 classes).  Once we got there, he kept being like – can I go out there now and then I think he was pretty excited about it and seemed to enjoy it.  I think he was just nervous.

I feel like it’s always something with kids and medical stuff.  For each kid, there is almost always something that I want to bring up with the doctor.  Or maybe it’s just my kids.  Right now with Andrew, it is these allergic (possibly?) reactions he gets around his mouth.  Like regularly.  And I have no idea what to – all around his mouth just goes red and looks like welts or a rash for quite a while – from 3-12 hours probably.  And then, it goes away.  Anyways, of course, I forgot to bring this up with the doctor at Andrew’s well visit.  He has had this going on occasionally since we visited Japan last time (so two years ago I guess), but it has gotten to where it happens sometimes multiple times a week.  I called the doctor’s office once and they said it was fine, just ignore it.  But it does concern me a bit – I feel like we should probably visit an allergist, but was totally not thrilled when we took Seth in to see one, so I am not sure.

What else – we have been doing learning time most days.  For Andrew, I am teaching him to read with the book Teach Your Kid to read in 100 lessons (or something like that).  He is up to about lesson 30 now and is doing really well.  He has no patience for some of the exercises, but loves to read the letters and words and stories.  He tends to guess what the words are, but I can tell that the book is geared so kids can’t do that.  I tell his to sound it out instead of guess and then he usually gets it right.  He also gets a bit of computer time on starfall and is starting to get excited that he can read some of the words on his own and also is starting to try to read some of the words in other books, too.  We also have been doing some art for learning time and also I would like to do science.  We’ll see if I ever get there.  For art, we like the book Great Artists and also the books about artists by Anholt.  The boys even wanted to go to the art museum this week and enjoyed it!

I can tell Andrew’s vocabulary is really growing.  He is using all kinds of new words that I didn’t even know that he knew (like fragile, for instance).  He is also asking me what words me all the time.  It’s funny how you think most about kids vocabularies growing when they are just starting to talk, but they actually acquire words faster now.

Andrew has really gotten into coloring books.  Never had any interest before, but now he will often spend a good deal of time just coloring.  He always wants the colors to be “right” and spends a good deal of time consulting the front cover or any other models he has to make sure that he colors their skin and hair the right colors.  He is doing really well to color in the lines.  What a difference a year makes, eh?

Andrew is afraid of everything lately.  Specifically, I am not really sure what he is afraid of – more a generalized fear.  He will use the bathroom and then run to me that he is afraid and can I come with him to the bathroom so he can wash his hands.  He hates being in his room by himself for long because he is afraid.  I am not quite sure where these new fears came from.  I think he might be waking up more often at night, but Katsu usually deals with that end.  Surprisingly, Andrew didn’t wake up at all last night and then played quietly outside my door this morning until I came out.  Yay!

Andrew works hard on riding his bike and will now ride uphill.  It’s hard because we live at the bottom of quite a hill and it is quite an effort to get up.  I dread riding bikes because it involves carrying them each down the stairs, carrying Logan in the carrier, and then, more often than not, carrying the tricycle to the park as well because Seth won’t push it.  And then doing the same thing in reverse when we are done.  Anyways,  Andrew gets nervous going too fast down the hill.  I taught him to use his brakes, but he often forgets.  Anyways, last time, I was in front with Seth trying to keep him from going too fast and going straight into the busy street in front of our house (a somewhat major thoroughfare with 2 lanes each way, with a 35 mph speed limit and no shoulder and lots of traffic).  Andrew was scared to go fast and was going very slowly behind us.  Well, he finally marches up to me, yelling that he is mad at me and hates me (I hear this many many many times a day) and then tells me his car is the street.  I think he got scared and jumped off and it ran into the street.  Poor kid.

Andrew is really in a threatening sort of stage lately.  I remember him being like this when he was Seth’s age, as well.  He always tells me what he will do if I don’t let him have his way (which never works, because I tell him you don’t get to threaten your mother).  But, of course, he still tries his threats anyways.  Today, at the zoo, he threatened that if I didn’t buy him the treat he wanted, he would stop walking.  To which I responded that if he threatened me, he wouldn’t get any … by the time he got there, his threat had changed to, he would eat animal crackers and like it, but he wouldn’t be happy.  The funny thing about his threats is that they very often hurt no one but himself.  I think he feels a lot of power in threating even if it accomplishes nothing.  Usually, he threatens lots of destruction, hatred, and non-compliance.

Andrew is also going through a non-church liking phase.  Actually, Andrew has never much enjoyed church.  On the other hand, he loves religious things – reading scriptures, saying very long prayers, having family home evening.  He talks about religious things very often and is very serious about it.  Today, on the way home from the zoo, he was talking about how you will only go to heaven if you keep the commandments and postulating on whether he or Seth would get to go.  Anyways, last week, he refused to go to Primary.  Of course, Logan was home sick with Katsu and we got to church late (because both boys were kicking and screaming as I carried them to the car) and then Seth feel asleep on my lap.  I had to go because I was teaching the Young Women’s lesson.  Andrew was either scared or hated it or both.  Anyways, I had a sleeping Seth with me and Andrew both for Sunday School after which Seth finally woke up and I dropped him off at nursery.  I hope this is a phase, but I have an inkling a very similar thing will happen tomorrow …

Andrew also threw a fit both at the doctor’s and the dentist’s this month.  We had to hold him down to get his shots, and he was clinging and crying for a good several minutes at the dentist before I could finally get him to sit in his chair.  Thankfully, he had no cavities or I think I would have just sat there and cried.

Anyways, hoping for a better month next month.

Fun Things This Month:

• Hiking a mountain (Taum Sauk) with Dad!  This was a huge adventure and a right of passage.  Andrew did a really great job hiking the highest point of Missouri (though you really mostly hike down from the highest point to a waterfall).  The big thrill was seeing a huge snake right next to Andrew.  He was pretty freaked out and still likes to talk about it.
• A soccer party at a friend’s house.
• Botanical Garden’s visit – we saw all the Chinese lanterns and were pretty impressed with them.  Andrew had a fun time running around, but kept getting in trouble for running because apparently that is against the rules in a playground!
• Trip to the Art Museum.  Andrew could identify Van Gogh and also Monet paintings and was also super excited to see Egyptian art, for some reason, after we wandered the whole museum to find it.  Also very impressed with their weapons collection.
• Trip to the Zoo.  Very very interested in looking at the sharks and sting rays (he is very curious with sharks lately) but refused to touch them.
• Playing at the parks and splash parks.
• Signed up for two summer reading programs.
• Dentist visit.
• Visiting kindergarten twice.
• Magic House with the preschool.  Andrew had SO much fun being with his friends.
• Lots of babysitting lately and Andrew really really loves our babysitter.
• Memorial Day picnic – Andrew had fun doing the kids activities and also eating lots of food.  He also liked swimming at a friend’s house afterwards, although his face got completely broken out with the rash.
• Bowling – Andrew was really upset after he lost the second game to Seth (among the boys), but he really did have a lot of fun.  We’ll have to go back soon.