Andrew is 5 years 5 months old!

Another busy month with Andrew, although he is at school so long, it feels like he is gone most of the time.  We sure miss him.

School is going well, or at least mostly.  Andrew enjoys going to school and is already ready to go back on Monday.  He usually has good days.  He had a few grumpy days last week – he told us that he wasn’t playing with anyone at school or recess and would just go sit by himself in a quiet place.  It seemed kind of sad, but now I think he is back to playing with the other kids and having friends.  My hypothesis is that Andrew is having a tough time dealing with not being the center of attention at school.  They are having volunteers at school each day to talk to the kids during Writer’s Workshop.  Andrew gets really jealous when other kids get talked to more or first.  He is like this at home, too, though he has gotten gradually better as he has gotten older.  Sometimes, I think he feels like it isn’t fair and then he is in a bad mood the rest of the day.  I am coming to volunteer today, so he is really really excited.  We have to drop Katsu off at the airport right after that, but I think next time I will stay for recess and lunch because I think Andrew would really enjoy that.  He must like school because he has already told me that when we move, he still wants to go to the same school through elementary.  Unlikely, but we’ll see.  I like the school too.

Andrew is learning quite a bit at school.  They are taking it slowly with reading.  They did a unit on wordless books and are spending a lot of time talking about books – what you can discover from the pictures, themes, stuff like that.  They have learned about vowels and are learning to recognize them in the names in their class.  I think they also have talked about syllables and starting / ending letters and things like that.

They are starting their writing workshop up now, so I will get to see that, today.  I know they have sketchbooks that they draw stories in and then throughout the year, they gradually improve in writing the stories to go along with the pictures. 

I hear the most about math.  Andrew really enjoys math a lot and tells me about it all the time.  They did a number walk at school to see what numbers are around and copied them.  They learned to write all their numerals and are working on numbers up to 100 (I think).  They are also doing addition and subtraction (Minus Mouse and something Plus).  Andrew likes to do adding at home a lot now.

They have started checking books out at the library and the school bought them all personalized library bags!  I think it’s kind of crazy.  Andrew always brings home non-fiction books, about animals and planets, so far.  He is enjoying PE.  He is starting to have school pride and likes to tell me all about his school (although he doesn’t seem too interested in going to school events).  He is singing all the songs from music.  They have a song about a Witches’ Brew that he sings all the time and this weekend he decided to make an elaborate picture with construction paper cut outs of everything that is in the brew.  They will have a performance for Halloween in the evening that I am excited to see.  He doesn’t seem too impressed with art (considering that he lives in craft center), but brings home interesting pictures where he is learning to use his “illustrator eyes”.  We recently sent in paint smocks, so I know they are painting now.

Andrew loves to run around with the boys at school after we pick him up.  He is especially enamored with their younger siblings, too.  Andrew just really has a talent with young children and loves to tell me about it.  Then he usually comes home and plays with Seth and Logan – building big train tracks, playing army, reading books or chasing or rolling balls with Logan.  He did tell me earlier that he is too old for playing, but now he is back in the thick of things.  He has a lot of restless energy at home – especially on days we don’t play at the playground afterwards.  There is a lot more noise, jumping off the couch, and wrestling.  Lots of wrestling.  I almost go into shock after we pick Andrew up because it is so loud and busy again, but I need to get used to it, because we only get a few hours of him everyday.

Andrew wasn’t too into soccer, but I think he is enjoying it now.  He is probably one of the oldest kids and so he pays 100% more attention than most of the kids.  He is really good at sticking on task.  He is getting better at kicking and dribbling – the main thing is getting him to run or at least jog.  He tends to just walk and slowly kick the ball.  He has one last class this Saturday and then the next week he will start swim classes again.

Andrew still spends a lot of time at home doing crafts and is really into markers.  I bought him a huge set because he already used up all the ones I got at back-to-school.  He is already upset because the black is all used up and is always sneaking my permenant markers.  Next time, he’ll have to use allowance.  He did use his allowance to buy a coloring book, but otherwise is not interested in money. 

We are still doing reading lessons off and on.  I am less pleased with Teach Your Children to Read in 100 lessons when they switch to normal writing and so I am thinking of going to Phonics Pathways instead because it gives so much more practice with words and phonics.  I think it is a lot clearer on figuring out vowel sounds, too.  Andrew enjoys doing the lessons, but sometimes it is hard to find time.

Fun Things This Month

• Continuing soccer
• Forest Park Balloon Race - is always a favorite, but this year it was fabulous! We got there early to get parking and then parked ourselves on Art Hill and the boys chased and wrestled and kicked around a soccer ball. We were so excited when the Energizer Bunny went right behind the Art Museum and we waited around till we saw at least 40 balloons chasing it. Because of all the wind, they went far away and we could see them going over our home in Clayton when we got home.  Andrew really enjoyed kicking the ball around with Katsu and wrestling while we waited for the balloons.
• Disney on Ice – Katsu’s dream, but the boys got to come along, too (ha ha ha). Andrew really liked Peter Pan and the Lion King.  Surprisingly, he wasn’t so interested in the Princesses (I am surprised because just as of this week, Andrew picked out a Cinderella cupcake at school instead of a Spiderman one).
• Father/Son Campout – Katsu, Andrew and Seth went for the night. Andrew loved the campfire and eating. But they were excited to have a tent close by to friends from church.  I think they would like to go again soon.
• Flu shots – always a joy.  Andrew was screaming and trying to hide again and this time it was just me with all 3 boys.  We finally managed it.
• Pizza nights continue to be fun every Friday.  Andrew wanted to stay home for our movie night instead of go to the school one with his friends.  I was surprised.
• David and Goliath lesson for FHE where we threw marshmallows at Goliath’s head after answering correctly questions from the story was a big hit.  Literally.
• Friends over for dinner and the park.
• Clayton Vehicle Fair – the boys always love seeing all the trucks, but they missed the fire truck this time.  Today is fire truck day for the kindergarteners so hopefully that makes up for it.
• General Conference – for some reason the kids LOVE it.  We had pigs in a blanket on Saturday and played bingo with candy corn.  Andrew took it pretty seriously and even seemed to listen to some of the talks, especially the one about missionaries (probably because he is not so sure about being a missionary himself).  On Sunday, we had cinnamon rolls which the boys were VERY excited about.  We did the yearly walk around the neighborhood to look at Halloween decorations.