Fun Times

School is in full gear now. Luke's doing great at school, according to his teacher. But he is exhausting at home. He and I have both had a little cold for a few days, so I know he's not feeling his best. And now that he's in afternoon preschool he's so much more tired in the evening. I keep reminding myself of these things as he protests everything I ask him to do. And as I have to make him comply for the twentieth time in one day (or maybe in one hour). Exhausting, exhausting.

This morning I was explaining he was going to see Ms. Kristin, come home for lunch, and then going to school. (Which reminds me we hardly ever have to count things out any more, as in #1 Ms. Kristin #2 Lunch. I used to spend my whole day counting. And Lamar mentioned it to Luke's teachers in our IEP meeting and they were SO glad he shared that. Surely some of you remember this post. But he rarely needs the numbered list anymore.) Luke asked me if Brady was going to be at Ms. Kristin's (a friend in a social group we do on Wednesdays.) I explained today was just him and Ms. Kristin and he fell on the floor "crying" though there were no tears. More just wailing. He sees I'm undeterred and eventually gets in the car and does great with Ms. Kristin.

We get home from speech and I fix him lunch. He asks to watch TV. I show him the clock and what time we will be turning the TV off. He is fine with that and complies. He eats a good lunch. I help him get his shoes on and he asks me if he's going to his "new school or school". I answer new school. He falls to the floor and wails again. Grrr. He gets over that and I tell him, ever so nicely, to go potty before we leave. Wailing. He potties. I tell him to wash his hands. You guessed it. Wailing. That's fine, he can use hand gel. Nope, apparently he decided today that he DOES NOT LIKE hand gel. He chooses to wash his hands. As we finally get out the door to car he says, "Mommy, I want you to be happy." Nice.

And as we're driving to school he asks me again if we're going to his new school or school. I answered that he will now always go to his new school. He is too big for his old school (not exactly accurate but it works for him). He asks, "Am I in Ms. Jenny's class or Ms. Becca's class?" I remind him he's in Ms. Jenny's class, which he knows but he loves to ask questions he knows the answers to. And then he says, "Am I too heavy for Ms. Becca's class?" And I laugh and laugh. He does make happy. His crazy little ways, as frustrating as they are, are so very funny.

I'm so proud of him and his great behavior at school. And if there is one person he can relax and let out his frustrations with, I'm very glad it's me. Even if some days are REALLY long and tiring. I love him to pieces.

We've been up to a few other things. My friend Alison gave us a tomato plant a few months ago. And here is the only tomato we've seen all summer. Such the green thumb . . .



Wii, Wii, Wii. I love it. I love that he loves it. But now Luke really wants someone to play with him all the time. And so, alas, I've grown a little tired of Wii, particularly Wii at 7 a.m. And we need a little variety in our day. After Luke vetoed my ideas (play dough or painting) he suggested we bowl. Because when we're not playing Wii, we like to recreate Wii games. Don't you? We often have to pretend we're pressing "A" and make a little "boop" sound.

At least with backyard bowling you get as many throws as you need and can still call it a spare.

And basketball. The new Wii sports has a basketball game, just in case you thought we were branching out to non-Wii sports. Isn't that a classy basketball goal: our new hot water heater box and $5 ball and basket set? (Funny story. We were shopping on Saturday and Luke saw a store that sold college shirts and other fan paraphernalia. There was a football on the sign and Luke begged to go in. I told him they just had clothes and no games. He was adamant. We went in and he found this basketball game in the bargain bin. Mom's wrong again.)

I think Luke looks so tall, thin, and like a big boy in this photo. When did this happen?

The Last First Day of Preschool

I thought I'd coast through this first day of school. We've started preschool twice already. But I had a couple of sleepless nights and butterflies today. Luke is in the afternoon class this year. I think that will be a good fit. Luke's sleeping later and enjoying lazy mornings, and so is his mama! We'll do our private therapies in the morning and school in the afternoon. Good preparation for the long days of kindergarten next year.



Luke picked the clothes he wanted to wear. He really wanted his crocs, but they're not so good on the playground when those little pieces of bark get in his shoes. And that might just ruin his day. He was disappointed, but he'd forgotten about these tennis shoes I got a couple of weeks ago. They're very similar to the "N shoes" (New Balance) that his buddy Cooper wore to school last year and he deemed them acceptable.






After open house yesterday Luke kept asking if he would be going by himself today. I assured him he would not be by himself and named all the teachers and friends that we knew in his class. But he would say, "Mommy, are you going to come?" When I answered that question he would reinterate he would be going by himself. He asked what friends would be loud and quiet. (Real hard for me to say with a new class. I guessed everyone would be "medium.") And we went over the schedule Mrs. Jenny sent home. And we prayed together that he would be brave and have a great day. He was brave at drop-off, but I could tell he was nervous.


When I picked him up today he was just beaming and Mrs. Jenny said he had a great day. He got in the van and as we drove off I was peppering him with questions about his day. He said, "Wait Mommy. Don't talk." I stopped and he said, "Mommy, I did it by myself!" And we cheered. Then he asked me if I was going to hit the other cars and buses. Because all driving is just like MarioKart.

Oh and as he was getting in the car his friend Jolie was getting in her car just in front of us, and her mom had brought their dog. Luke is normally very scared of dogs so when he pointed out the dog, I assumed he was going to be scared. Then he said, "Mom, do I have a dog or not yet?" I asked him if he wanted a dog and he told me yes he did.

And now a look back and first days of school past:



August 2008.


January 2008. Just days after his third birthday. He wouldn't hold his bag or stand alone for the picture. Today he had several suggestions for where to pose for a photo. My how things have changed. So proud of him and so very thankful.

Maddie's Visit and Getting Ready for Back to School

The poor neglected blog. I need to record some memories from the last couple of weeks before they all leave my brain. I'm sure I've lost a bunch already. Things are good. We've been busy soaking up the last few days of summer staying up too late and having lazy mornings. But that ends tomorrow.

So when I left you last we were visiting Lynchburg. Two of our nieces and one nephew were staying a few weeks with Grandma and Grandpa. They had one more week left in their visit before heading home. Since our house is the half-way meeting point where the grandparents would be bringing them back to their parents, I suggested that Maddie come spend the week with us. She jumped at the chance and we were thrilled to have her.

And what did we do while she was here? We went to the zoo of course.





I think that's a cool photo of Luke and lizard.



It is so obvious how much he adores her. And that's a very large yellow snake behind them. Maybe a python. I've been to the zoo how many times and had never seen this snake down the hallway just past the restrooms in reptile world.

Luke has always been frightened to ride the carousel at the zoo. He's curious, but too scared to try. Maddie wanted to ride and Luke said he would go too. So I bought their tokens but Luke freaked out at the last minute. Maddie didn't want to ride alone and Luke wanted me to stay with him, so Lamar rode with her. I so wish the camera had been with me and not Lamar so I'd have a photo of Lamar on the carousel.

After watching Maddie and Daddy's fabulous time on the carousel Luke was ready to try it. Look at the joy on his face:




I'm so glad he loved it even if the whole ordeal cost me eight dollars.

I took Maddie and Luke to the mall one evening and Maddie introduced Luke the fun of the photo booth. This one only set me back three dollars.




She also taught Luke that you can put money in those little rides at the mall and they move, light up, and do all sorts of cool things. We were at the mall again just the other day and he asked to ride again. Great job Maddie.

On the same trip to the mall with Maddie we discovered the new Wii Sports was now available for purchase. This was a HUGE moment for Luke. Here he is playing it one of the first times:



Pure joy.

Oh and Maddie found a great deal on some moon sand at Target. She's quite the shopper. Here they are with their moon sand creations.

And enjoying some dessert Maddie helped me make. Maddie and I also made some banana bread while she was here. It was the first time I'd tried the recipe and I suppose I seemed less than confident. About half way through the process she said, "Is this the first time you've ever made anything?" Yep, even an eight year old can see my incompetence.

Very typical scene while Maddie was visiting us. It was such a joy watching them play together. At times it made me sad that Luke wasn't born into a family with older siblings, or that we hadn't had another child years ago so he'd have a playmate now. But it was also funny to see how the newness wore off a little towards the end of the week and the bickering began. On the way home from church Wednesday night there was much "discussion" about what they would play when they got home. Finally Luke said in an exacerbated voice, "Maddie, when we get home you play Old McDonald by yourself and I'll play the new Wii Sports by myself!"

Maddie's been gone for over a week now and Luke still brings her up often and asks when we'll see her again. It's a sweet relationship.

This is Luke ready to go to Mimi's house earlier this week. Can you guess what he wanted to do there? He took everyone single Wii Game we own. His eyes look a little tired in the photo huh?

And here he is when we arrived at Mimi's. Still protecting those games, or at least most of them.



And today was open house at preschool. Tomorrow is Luke's first day. Where did the summer go? I just feel like time if slipping by so quickly and I just want to scoop Luke up and not miss a moment. Tonight I prayed I would savor each moment of this last year of preschool, that I wouldn't waste time worrying about things that don't matter, that I would push him when he needs pushing, but that I would let him be himself and be a child this year.

Open house went well. It was a packed house. With the move to the new school this year, I think even all the veteran parents came to check out the new setup. Luke was a little apprehensive about coming into a bustling room of parents and preschoolers, but he warmed up and did great. In the above photo he's busy decorating his take home folder. I'm so impressed with Mrs. Jenny's organized classroom. I'm optimistic this will be a good year.

Luke and his great teacher, Mrs. Jenny. Luke's really into closing his eyes when smiling for pictures. And he was a little nervous, but being brave.

And with his awesome speech therapist, Mrs. Jodie. Again with the closed eyes. Oh well. Mrs. Jodie's been his speech therapist at school since he was three. She excellent and I'm so glad she'll have him again this year. When we decided to move to Mrs. Jenny's room I knew Mrs. Jodie would remain his speech therapist, but I thought he would have a new OT. And I was disappointed that we'd loose Mrs. Sarah who was a super OT and Luke loved her. Today I saw Mrs. Sarah at open house and asked if she'd be in Mrs. Jenny's room. They've made some changes and she will. Yeah! Icing on the cake.

So I pray tomorrow is a good day for Luke. He enjoyed Mrs. Jenny's open house scavenger hunt today, checking off each thing we found in the classroom. He told me when we left he wanted to come back tomorrow. He made a few comments this afternoon that made me think he was rethinking that statement, but I'm optimistic he'll love it when he gets there.