First day of School

I am back....Yes, it has been a long time since I blogged. So much has happened. But, like the first day of school, today is a new day. It is a new beginning to what will hopefully be a new, incredible year.

As you can tell from this picture, this is a picture of my Oldest and my Youngest. During this picture, my Middle son is trying to convince me to take a picture of just him and make it my wallpaper on my phone. More on the picture of all three of them later.

My Oldest son is starting fifth grade this fall. He'll be doing 'full inclusion', which means that he is spending more time in the fifth grade classroom. The goal is to only pull him out for Reading (which he'll do in the pod area), Math, Social Skills class and OT, all of which he'll do 'downstairs'. I think he can do it. I have confidence in the team and confidence that he'll be able to demonstrate how amazing he is.

My Middle Dude is starting the third grade, which is good because he told me second grade was WAY too easy. He has a great teacher and I am confident that he will be successful.

My Youngest dude is starting Kindergarten with the teacher that the others got. I have confidence that her patience and kindness will help him. He'll have pull out time for OT, since he is on an IEP for fine motor skills. He is already starting to read (not pre-reading, mind you, reading, reading).

Since I have only my Youngest Dude home, I can only comment on his day. I put him on the 'big bus' with my Middle son, which was so cute, although, I do believe my Middle son had an ulterior motive. Youngest waved to me with a huge smile on his face from the window and he looked so small. Too cute. He was sitting next to Middle Dude. He got to school and got to go watch a movie since it was raining. He couldn't remember the name of the movie. He then went to his kindergarten room, where he and a friend went to the office and hung out (I am assuming here that he took the attendance or something because he said he wasn't in trouble, but he didn't know why he was there, this is typical...you gotta understand). He decorated a gingerbread man after hearing the story. He only put on one m and m for an eye because he said he only wanted one eye. He then had recess outside with his new friends and he played on the play structure. He also did art, which to the best I can tell is using markers and a coloring page. He also read a story called, "Kindergarten is...."which he won't read to me until tomorrow, so I still don't know what Kindergarten is. I think that is the cliffhanger.

More later :)

I'm BACK!

Yes, I promise to be a better blogger. So much has gone on and I will try to add some tidbits as something reminds me of it....

Today was the boys' first day of school. My Oldest dude is in the fifth grade (with trying inclusion, nevertheless!), Middle Dude is in the third grade and Youngest is in kindergarten. Yes, as I joke, I have two upstairs and one downstairs at the school.

Well, since only my Youngest is home (and I haven't gotten the 'straight scoop' from him, fully, yet). He did declare that "I love kindergarten!" when he got off the bus, which was 20 minutes late, of course. He said that he and a friend had to go to the office and he hung out front of it (I still don't have the skinny on that). He said he wasn't in trouble, but he doesn't know why he was there. He said he decorated gingerbread men with one m and m eye. He also said he had art (which I think was a coloring page) and then he made a book "Kindergarten Is". He still hasn't read it to me, so I don't know what kindergarten is!

He was so cute this morning sitting on the big bus next to my Middle son, waving to me with a smile on his face. He said he liked the 'big bus' (He is used to the 'little bus'). He said he played with his new friends on the playground, but today, he saw a movie before school because it was raining. I tell you, that has worn me out just thinking of it.

More details to follow....

Bus Day!

Today was Youngest's first day riding the bus. He qualifies for special education because he is a year behind in fine motor skills, so he qualifies for OT, which qualifies him for the bus. I was reluctant to have him ride the bus, but he really wanted to because his best friend, James, a neighbor boy, rides the bus already. So, I worked it out and he'll ride the bus four days a week (the days that special education is offered), but the fifth day, we'll pay (for preschool) and I'll take him in. This will be a nice transition for him for next year, when he'll ride the 'big bus' with Middle boy to school.

For me, I have three different bus times, and two different bus stops. Every morning (that Youngest has a bus), I will put Oldest on the bus first outside my house. Then, ten minutes later, walk Middle boy down the street and come back and put Youngest on the bus at our house. So, I have a busy forty minutes, but then it calms down and I get an extra ten to fifteen minutes on either end (of school) to myself. The problem is that I am so used to taking Youngest with me on errands on the way home, now I have to adjust for that!

February

Yes, once again I lost February, due to illness (I was sick most of February), death (Great Uncle Allan) and drama. Not dwelling on any of those......

Today, we went to see "Walking With the Dinosaurs: the Arena Spectacular" and yes, it didn't disappoint. They had anamatronic dinosaurs, pteradactyls coming from the ceiling and yes, I did learn a little about dinosaurs. Youngest said to me (before the show started as we were just waiting), "This is better than the Wiggles" (I do admit that without Greg, the Wiggles have even lost me). I asked him if it was better than "Go Diego Go: Live on Stage" and he said, 'no, I like that one, too". It didn't disappoint him. All three of them were transfixed on the dinosaurs. We were in row J on the 100 level, and the way the stage was, we basically were looking at the set and only three rows up. AMAZING!

I'll just focus on that, and summarize that my February was amazing!

Perfect Age

I mean this when I say that every age is a perfect age. There is always something at each age that the boys are doing that is 'perfect', but at the moment, they are all at a 'perfect' age. They all can amuse themselves, can be reasoned with and are without 'drama' in the soon to be coming ages. They all have distinctive personalities and are eager learners. Soon, we'll have the 'teenage' drama. So, yes, we are in the 'perfect age'.

OMSI

Yesterday, one of the many (and I do mean MANY) things we did was go to OMSI. The boys had a day off, so we all decided to go to OMSI. I have never taken Oldest, but I have taken the other two. It was a lot of fun. Although, I did lose Youngest (seriously, he was gone for 10 minutes, with three of us searching for him!). Youngest's favorite thing was the rockets. Middle boy loved the vacuum (you use a tv screen to manipulate a vacuum and pick up rubber balls on the other side of the hall). Oldest liked the water area (of course). I am not sure they did a lot of 'learning' but it was great fun.

Youngest's Fifth Birthday

It's so hard to imagine that my little guy is already five. I have been having trouble with my Oldest being in the Fourth Grade (it is after all, UPPER elementary). But, now, it has sunk in that my Littlest Guy is five. Next year, it will be kindergarten and then in one more year, my Oldest will be in Junior High. It's one of those things that you want them to get bigger, but, yet you don't. I still remember Youngest's birthday....Hub had decided he was a girl (we didn't find out). I had no idea.

We had a 'rolling' birthday all weekend long. We took four of his friends to Chuck E. Cheese's for lunch. He had a great time showing his friends around who hadn't been there before. The next day was the 'family party' with Nana, Papa and cousins. Sunday was his actual day and we had our traditional "cupcake' birthday as my other boys like to call it. Finally, the next day, I took in cupcakes for his preschool friends. The theme of this year's festivities was "Spongebob Squarepants". All of the cakes had some form of Spongebob Squarepants.

The theme is intriguing because Youngest doesn't really watch Spongebob (he is afraid of the pirate). So, why he chose Spongebob, I don't know. As you can tell, it went along with his Leapster.

Happy Birthday, Spongebob Stinky Pants and I look forward to many more...