What a difference a month makes. I feel like Andrew has really grown leaps and bounds from being in preschool for a month. It’s funny, because it’s a play based preschool. They do have a letter of the week that they use for arts and crafts and also for show and tell every week. And they also write their name every day and do a little practice each week writing the letter (as far as I can tell, mostly just on the bag they bring home for show and tell). But otherwise, they don’t focus on academics – mostly playing and learning through play, following directions, that sort of thing. Which I love.
Anyways, things are really starting to click for Andrew. First of all, our Andrew has never shown much interest in coloring, drawing, writing, etc. Anytime I tried to get him to do it, he would instead glue or cut or paint, which he loves to do (anything messy, pretty much). Now, he LOVES to draw and write. His pictures actually are starting to resemble things! He can write his name pretty well and other letters, too. He even colors pictures inside the lines (more or less). Massive improvement. I was worried how he would do in kindergarten next year before because he showed zero interest in writing or drawing, but now I am not worried at all. He is totally ready. One sunday morning while I was getting ready for 9 am church, he even glued together pages and wrote and drew on them to make himself a couple books. I was pretty impressed!
Besides this, Andrew is really starting to go further with the letters. He can identify the first letter of words and comes up with his own ideas for show and tell each week. Funny story – for B week, he told me he wanted to bring his bobblehead – it is of Matt Holiday from the Cardinals baseball team. I was surprised that he even knew it was called a bobblehead and that he knew it started with b, but thought it was a great idea. So, he brings it in. That night, I am looking through his class list and realize that Matt Holiday’s kid is in his class … ha ha ha. And get this – two other professional athletes (a pitcher from the Cardinals and also a tennis player) also have kids in the class. We are a little out of our league, here, I guess, but now I certainly feel obligated to be a Cardinals fan (unless they play the Red Sox, of course).
Andrew is also starting to rhyme. So, I would say preschool is going really well. He has expanded his friend (stalkee) circle to include another girl (yay!) and basically only likes to play with girls. I am trying to convince him to play with boys, too, but he is not so convinced. He does play with a couple kids from his class last year on the playground each day (and one is a boy), so maybe he will change his mind. And his favorite color – pink.
Andrew remembers things so well and is always saying such interesting things. We went to the zoo this month and it is all torn up while they are constructing a new sea lion exhibit. We were talking about when it will be done and Andrew says “It better be done on time or else the tax payers will be angry!”. I guess they talked about it in a construction movie we watched once, appeasing those tax payers. Ha ha ha. He still talks constantly, to everyone he meets, and in the loudest voice ever. However, he can whisper. He went to a baptism with Katsu on Saturday (which Katsu conducted) and sat next to his old nursery teacher. She said that he talked to him the entire time, but in a good whisper.
I don’t know if Andrew is particularly excited about the baby – he is still upset that it’s not a girl. We’ll see how that goes. I am sure he will be helpful, though. He is pretty good about helping out around home and doing his chore (putting away the utensils). He also loves helping out with dinner. I am thinking of getting him some of his own kitchen tools for Christmas.
Andrew was in the primary program last month. He did a good job with his line, especially since we weren’t great at practicing with him since we were all sick that week (Katsu and Seth didn’t get to see it since Seth had croup). Andrew enjoys parts of Primary, but still complains about going to church. He really dislikes singing time and sharing time – I hope that will improve since they were practicing program songs SO intently until now. His sunbeam teacher has snacks and toys, so sunbeams is a very fun class. He loves reading our Book of Mormon books and spiritual things and is a huge fan of Family Home Evening and doing board sets. He also likes learning primary songs at home and is a huge fan of “Follow the Prophet” and “Nephi’s Courage” which they unfortunately never sing in our Primary.
Fun Things This Month:
- Flu shots! Andrew refused to do it and it took holding him down (while he kicked the door and me and anything he could). I knew he would be a pain, though. He really hates shots. As soon as it’s August, he starts talking about how much he hates flu shots. Too bad that kid won’t be able to have the Flumist because of his allergies.
- Forest Park Balloon Race. Andrew played ball/frisbee with Katsu while Seth slept in the car and then we went and watched the balloons come in. Andrew loves watching the balloons and tried to spot every one before Seth could. He loves to make everything a contest with Seth now (more, better, faster, winner, etc.)
- Apple picking. We were going to go to a place close to the airport when we picked Katsu up, but they were all out of u-pick, so we came home. But Seth was INSISTENT. So, we looked up directions to Eckerts and after some interesting directions from Katsu (who is still convinced if we somehow even drive through East St. Louis we will promptly be shot and die), we finally arrived. Andrew loved picking out the apples himself, although he is not a huge apple fan. I think he did eat one or two, though.
- Primary program. Andrew also got a little bag of candy for participating and a jar of cookie mix. He had fun making the cookies with me, but in my opinion they turned out pretty awful. Creaming butter with sugar without adding other ingredients really makes a big difference, in my opinion.
- Trip to the zoo. We saw everything, at the boys insistence. Andrew was running down a hill and tripped and fell and so we had to take him to First Aid to get a band-aid. He thought that was pretty eventful.
- General conference. Andrew was SO excited when he heard it was coming on the next Sunday. We usually eat the food (and try to rotate it) from our 72 hr kits … but the kits had already been raided, so we had to purchase some fun snacks for the kids. The kids did watch all the sessions with us (more or less) and Andrew LOVED watching for President Monson. The best part, of course, was playing outside with Katsu between sessions. But he did tell me today that he is glad that General Conference is all over. That’s a lot of church for one boy.
- Halloween party at the library. So early, huh? But the boys were SUPER excited to wear their costumes (they love being dragons!). Andrew got really into bingo (his first time to play) and wouldn’t stop playing until he finally won (a Tootsie pop, yay!). He has diligently squirrled away his candy and finally finished it today, much to Seth’s chagrin who ate his right away.
- A day at Grant’s Farm (yay for Groupon!). Andrew was SUPER excited and it was fun because there are spooky Halloween decorations everywhere. The boys were a little scared feeding the goats – those goats are all over you – from milk bottles, but really enjoyed the carousel and their first snow cone. Andrew also really liked the animal show and was upset we didn’t have a seat for the elephant show. He even remember that last time we went (over a year ago) we saw zebras on the tram and this time we didn’t.
- Hiking at Emmennger Nature Park and Powder Valley Conservation Center with the whole family for Columbus Day.
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