Andrew is growing bigger and older. He is still eating quite a bit, though the last couple of days, he has seemed kind of sick. But otherwise, it’s been a big change. He is starting to eat everything I send for lunch, which is a first. Usually, Andrew takes his own time to do everything – use the bathroom (he can be in there 30 minutes easy, singing away), eating food, working on books at school. And he still does. But I think he must be hungry because today he told me that he usually focuses on eating at school so he can eat enough fast enough, but he hasn’t been able to since he has felt sick. So, he must be growing!
Andrew seemed to enjoy having relatives here for Christmas. He really liked “playing” video games (he still just holds a controller and thinks he’s playing) and playing Angry Birds on his uncle’s phone. I think he spent a lot of the time plugged into a screen, but he seemed to enjoy it.
One fall-out from the relatives is Andrew now likes to call us “Amanda” and “Katsu”. I guess Danny and Daddy sound too much alike, so he decided to just call Katsu by his name. It has been driving Katsu nuts since he got home and Andrew is trying to change back, but I think his default is our given names now. I think the whole thing is funny.
Andrew told everyone that his break was 11 days long and when it started and ended, but I think he was ready to go back to school. Every now and then, in the morning, he will say that he doesn’t want to go, but he usually enjoys school. He seems happy to go and happy to come home. I asked him if he missed us or felt like he didn’t get to spend enough time with us since he is in school all the time. He just kind of looked at me like I was crazy and said, “I never think about you when I am in school”, so I think that was a good sign. He likes to write little notes to his teacher and is always writing “Mis is Kay” everywhere. I tried to explain to him about Mrs. but he is very suspicious of that.
Andrew is starting to become quite a reader and writer. As I said, Andrew is very methodical, so he works slowly at his pictures and words. The other kids have written tons of stories, but they are kind of slap-dash. Andrew puts in lots of details and has a goal (according to his teacher) to finish one page a day. At Writer’s Workshop today, the other kids were asking him how to spell things. He loves to add on silent e’s to the end of things, even when they don’t belong. I tell him about those when we are doing reading at home and he actually has become really good at reading words with that pattern. His fluency is getting better when he reads at home. I know his teacher is testing everyone’s reading, so they will probably start more formal reading instruction soon.
Andrew pretends that he doesn’t want to be read to at home, but he loves to crowd around while I read to Seth. Andrew’s favorite is to hear chapter books. He really likes ABC Mysteries, especially the special editions because they have hidden letters in each picture. He loves books that have finding things. He loves doing puzzles, especially word finds.
Andrew is learning addition and subtraction at school and he seems to enjoy math. He loves to talk about big numbers and count high. When he is going to bed right before he goes to sleep, he is usually muttering some math facts and doing numbers. His school asked them to play a math computer game at home and I can’t believe how hard it is! But he works hard at it and seems to enjoy it. I swear, you can put almost anything on a computer screen, and the boys will love it.
Andrew is starting a new unit in Science studying animals. Previously, they were studying wood and trees and I love listening to all the facts that he has been learning. They are studying Chinese New Year at school and it sounds like they are going to have a parade soon. Andrew is excited and wants to wear his new robe thing that he got when Katsu was in Japan.
Andrew finished up a session of swimming lessons – this time twice a week for the last four weeks. I feel like his progress is slow. He can float well and move around on his back, but he has a hard time keeping his face in the water during freestyle and ends up more vertical instead of horizontal. There was just one other girl in his class, a girl he knows from kindergarten, and she was gone half the time and so it was almost like private lessons. Anyways, I told Andrew we can take a break for awhile if he wants. And he told me that he really thinks that if he has one, maybe two, more sessions of swim lessons he can pass Level one. I am so glad that he wants to keep working at it. I told him that when he finally passes Level 1 he will be so proud because he has worked so hard and consistently at it. I have a feeling that gross motor things will always be quite a bit of work for him, but I am so happy that he works hard.
Speaking of which, Andrew’s new thing to say is “Why does everyone always say that I am smart?”. I am not actually convinced that so many people say this, but Andrew assures me that they do. I am trying to explain to him that what matters is working hard. I hope he doesn’t get cocky at such a young age – I am also not yet convinced that he is super smart – too early to tell. Silly boy.
Andrew is full of school pride. It is so cute to see him repeat the Meramec pledge and talk about Meramec this and that. Both the boys only want to eat or drink out of dark blue and orange cups and plates because those are Meramec colors. I think Andrew will be very very sad to leave this school. I love it, too.
Fun Things This Month
- Advent – each Sunday before Christmas, we lit one candle per week and read scriptures and ate a special Christmas treat. The boys loved learning about Christ and the Nephites, especially Samuel the Lamanite.
- Advent Calendar – getting the candy each day was a highlight of the day!
- Going out for frozen custard and seeing Christmas lights.
- Dentist – Andrew is a real champ at the dentist now and does the entire thing by himself. Which is great because I am always watching the other two boys. His teeth looked good – no cavities!
- Lots of swim lessons.
- A couple birthday parties – one at the bowling alley and one at a soccer arena with soccer and inflatables. Andrew seems to have a lot of fun and especially enjoys having just me along with him.
- Making sugar cookies with the special cookie cutters from our neighbor Martha.
- Watching Christmas with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on the TV.
- School Christmas sing-a-long. Andrew was excited that we were there – we sat with him on the front row and sang along to all the songs. The kindergartens especially sang “Here Comes Suzy Snowflake”.
- Going to Magic House with Danny and Dad.
- Going to Zoo with Danny, Sarah, and the family.
- Chinese buffet with Danny, Grandpa, Andrew, and Dad. This week Andrew was walking with me and said – I can spell buffet “B-U-F-A-Y” – so cute.
- Going up the big mount at Cahokia and seeing the lights in Belleveille with Grandma and Grandpa, Michael, Meghan, Sarah, and Danny.
- St. Charles – it was cold, but it was fun to collect all the Santa Character cards (Andrew loved sorting them afterwards and was sad he didn’t get all 30 some odd cards) and watching the Santa send off parade.
- Christmas with the whole family. Andrew got alphabet letter stamps from Santa, plus new underwear, socks, craft supplies, and candy in his stocking. He also got new books from Mike and Meghan and Tomo and Masami and his brothers. From Mom and Dad, he got Legos. From Grandma and Grandpa, he got a remote control car. From Grandpa Dick and Grandma Clo, he got Book of Mormon action figures. From Kiyo and Hiroko, he got a new race track (along with Seth). From Sarah and Danny, he got an army notebook. The boys spent most of the holiday racing cards down their new racetrack, playing remote control cars, wrestling with Grandpa, playing Angry Birds on Danny’s phone and playing video games with Dad, Danny, and Michael. It was a fun holiday.
- McDonalds, Applebees, and delivery pizza with Sara and Danny.
- Babaloo Concert at the History Museum. Andrew didn’t want to go, but he ended up having lots of fun. I think the holidays were a little stressful for him, but he mostly showed it as obstinance.
- Science Center with Sarah and Danny. A little too crowded, but the boys had fun. They especially enjoyed building the arch together a couple times.
- Making a special huge heart cookie for Katsu when he got back from Japan. The boys were very excited for him to be home again.
- Snow ball fights and building a snowman with Katsu after he got back from Japan. I was lazy while he was gone and limited snow play to snow ball fights at school after the school day.
- A date with Mom to the mall for an ice cream shake at Johnny Rockets. Andrew had a lot of fun and we even sat up at the counter which he loved.
No comments:
Post a Comment