Andrew is 6 and a half

Boy, am I late again.  Andrew is 6 and a half now.  He has been telling everyone when his half birthday was, when Logan's birthday was, when his real birthday is, and when Logan's half birthday is.  It is pretty cute.

Andrew is doing well in school.  He got his first report card and everything is on target for his grade.  I went to his parent teacher conference (seems very few people actually go here) and there wasn't much to say.  We mostly talked about how he likes to bring home his teacher's trash.  He always sit next to her at lunch and then brings home her trash so he can recycle it.  He is really into recycling and is always going around telling me what we can recycle (like the flyswatter - I keep saying we still need that one).  Otherwise, he is doing great.

I have seen a lot of improvement in Andrew's handwriting.  His d's and a' still look too angular to me and he isn't always super consistent with his n and h's.  But last week, he missed a spelling word because it looked like he wrote shack instead of snack.  So, I think he is learning his lesson.  Before and after that, he always got 100% on his spelling test, so it was a bit of a shock.  He also has started to really write long and elaborate responses to questions in his reading log each night.  He takes a lot of initiative for his homework and always makes sure it gets done.

Andrew gets "dojo" points at school for each 9 weeks - they get points for good behavior, turning in homework, and doing well on spelling tests.  He always keeps careful track of how many he has in comparison to other kids in his class.  At the end of the 9 weeks, you can turn them in for prizes.  Last 9 weeks, he was just one short of the highest number of dojo points, he had like 120 or something.  I hear more about dojo points than probably anything else at school.

Andrew seems to be making friends - he will occasionally talk about his "friend", but honestly, he doesn't share much about that part of his life.  He is always excited to be home and play with Seth and especially play on our new play set.  He also loves playing with Logan and likes to read him books, too.  He also is always hammering for time on the computer.  He wants to play the game they play at school, so he can have as many points as everyone else.  He also is always wanting to send email - I guess they have accounts at school - but I think he is too young.  He must be learning some typing because he keeps telling me about it, but I tell him to improve his handwriting first and then we can think about learning to type.  Andrew also loves playing Lego Star Wars video game with Dad - I do not love it.  He gets annoying and yells at Seth whenever Seth is doing exactly what Andrew thinks he should be doing, but Andrew really really loves it.  He has been getting into Legos some, too.  Most of all, though, he loves to build machines out of Trio blocks and then come and attack me.

Andrew finished up soccer.  He only missed one game, and that was because of his school carnival.  He played hard and made a goal his last game.  He got a trophy  and was super excited about that.  He always told us he only wanted to play for a trophy.  But I think he had a really good experience and I think he wants to play again in the spring.

FUN THINGS THIS MONTH
- Visiting New Bern for Columbus day.  We went to the fire museum and walked around town.  Andrew liked to look for all the bears.  We ate at a cute cow restaurant and had ice cream and then walked around the garden of Tryon Palace.  Andrew had fun and wants to go back, but thought the drive was too long (about an hour).
- Lots of soccer games (weeknights and on weekends)
- Playing too many video games while Katsu and I paint the fence
- Trunk or treat at church.  It went pretty fast, but the boys got loads of candy and had lots of fun.  Andrew dressed up as a dragon again.
- Another day off of school.  We pretty much just played at home.
- Party at school.  "Fall Festival" instead of Halloween - they got snacks and did crafts.  He was sad I wasn't there, but the parties for his class are assigned and I am not until Valentine's Day.
- Playset installed!!!!!  The boys were so excited!  They have loved playing on it so much.
- Watching videos at Dad's work while I had an afternoon meeting.  Andrew thinks it so cool that Katsu has 2 screens and they can watch a movie on one.
- Halloween!  We had chili with friends and then went trick or treating with them.  They have two boys around Andrew's age, so all the boys ran fast from door to door.  It was all Logan and I could do to catch up.  The neighborhood was packed, but the boys all had so much fun.  The weather had really warmed up and Andrew was sweating so much in his fleece costume by the end.  THey got tired, but insisted on doing houses on the way home, too, even though it was winding down.  At one house, apparently they were out of candy, so they gave the kids a handful of candy corn.  And Andrew ate it immediately without asking me!  I guess we will have to go over the rules of trick or treating again.  It was a fun night.
- Last soccer game, eating at Bojangles (Andrew's new favorite place to eat, apparently) and finally getting a trophy.
- Early day off for Parent Teacher Conferences.
- Veteran's Day off - just played with friends
- Dinner with friends for a birthday.
- Getting hand, foot, and mouth disease.  We didn't realize Andrew had until today for sure.  He had a slight fever and got sent home from school, though by the time he got home he didn't have a fever (Katsu had to pick him up because I was teaching).  But it went away and he was being really hyper the two days he was home from school, so i thought he was better.  He started getting a rash on his mouth, but only today with blisters on his lips and spots on his hands and feet did we realize what he had.  Oh, well.
- Football game.  The boys all went to the ECU game and had fun cheering on the pirates for a big win.  A fun day with Dad.