Ch Ch Ch changes

Wow, so much has changed in the 5 years since I have blogged. As always when you experience any great change there are gains and losses. In 5 years, we have moved cities, changed schools and lost old friends. Gained new friends and gained a stronger community, lost his love for Santa--and other childhood guardians, but gained an appreciation for what mommy and daddy do each holiday, suffered the loss of our adored pets and lost a grandparent, but added two new additions to our family, his new siblings: Jackson Lee and Cora Jean.
Our Andrew is now nearing the end of his third grade year--his first in the gifted program. Though he sometimes has difficulty adjusting to change, I'd say he has weathered the storm well so far and rolled with the punches that life has thrown him so far.
Tonight as we were cleaning up from dinner I kidded with my husband to not be anti-social with the other dads at baseball practice tonight. Andrew cut into the conversation and said, "Mom, dad has lots of friends now that we have moved here." He continued to name all of the friends we have made in our year and a half of living here. He stopped himself and said, "Wow, we have a better community here than we ever had in Gainesville!" As I sit and reflect on the last five years and tonight's dinner revelation, I have come to realize that everything happens for a reason. Though difficult, these past five years have really resulted in so many positive gains for our family. The most significant gain to me, is that Andrew has now gained the realization of the importance of friends, family and a sense of community.

First week of pre-k

Andrew had a great first week at pre-k in his new school! Though he's excited to go to school every morning, he struggles to leave mommy and cries every time I have to leave him in the gym. It's absolutely heart wrenching--and a tough way of starting my own day. 

However, one of his favorite moments in the day is stopping and seeing Cody's mentee in the hall each afternoon. 

One of his teachers, Mrs. Hernandez has already observed how much our little man LOVES to lead. She said she likes to give him jobs so that he feels like he has something to do. 

I think his teachers were prepared to teach the kids school procedures this week such as how to sit during circle time, how to work in centers and walk in line. I don't think they were ready for a four year old to get them in line...literally. This week, one of Andrew's jobs was to be the caboose. The caboose is responsible for ensuring all of their classmates are walking in line the way the should be. One of his teachers said he was tapping everyone on the shoulder telling them to get in line and to be quiet. He would tell them, "On your feet, you do not speak!" At one point, he even tapped his teacher and told her to get in line! I am not sure if they are ready for Andrew! Welcome to school, sweetheart!! I can't believe how much you are growing. I love how smart you are and how much you love to learn. 

Close call regarding Santa...standing FIRM!

Seeing as how it is July 25 (Christmas in July), today's occurrence was very time appropriate.
While I was putting my classroom together for the new year,  Andrew had quite a debate with a colleague's child who will be six this week. It all began when Andrew suggested to the child that Santa may bring him some kind of gift. This was the dialogue of the debate:
Andrew: Maybe Santa will bring it to you for Christmas!
Friend's Child: Uhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmm...(looks at me with an 'I know there's no such thing as Santa' look in his eye and I began to get a sinking feeling).
Andrew (continuing): Because Santa brings everything that you ask for, he brings me bicycles and games and...
Friend's Child: (interrupts Andrew) There's no such thing as Santa.
Andrew: What? Mommy there is such a thing as Santa, huh?
Me: Yep, there sure is (looks at friend's child with big eyes)!
Friend's child: No there isn't, my mommy told me.
Andrew: (points finger in friend's face) yes there is and if you keep saying that you are going to make Santa really sad and you are going to be on the naughty list!!!!!!!
Friend's child: No I won't because there's no such thing as Santa, it's your parents.
Andrew: oooooh, you are going to be on the naughty list and you aren't going to get presents. Santa IS for real. He had reindeer and and sled and he flies and brings me presents and my dog Kate some presents.
Friend's Child: I am going to ask my mommy because she told me that he was pretend.
Andrew: Well the Santa at the stores are pretend and the Santa in the movies are pretend, but he's real.
Friend's Child: Well my mommy told me that Santa is not real.
Andrew: (points finger in friend's face for a second time) YES THERE IS AND IF YOU KEEP SAYING THAT YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE SANTA REALLY SAD AND YOU ARE GOING TO BE ONTHE NAUGHTY LIST!!!!!!!!
He began singing, "You better watch out. You better not cry. You better not pout I'm telling you why, Santa Claus is coming to town. He sees you when you're sleeping. He knows when you're awake. He knows when you've been bad or good so be good for goodness sake!"
You gotta love a child who stands by his beliefs no matter what someone tells him. He really made me proud today with his ability to stand firm. I hope he continues to have this same firm belief in his faith and our LORD. "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong." 1 Corinthians 16:13

Ready to pack his things...

I never thought it would happen this early, but Cody and I are officially the meanest parents...EBER (according to Andrew). In the past couple of weeks, Andrew has been telling me that I am the meanest mommy eber for making him do things like: clean his room, put away his things, turning off the TV, making him go to bed...you know...such horrible demands, right? Well, tonight while I was in the kitchen, I heard Cody tell Andrew that it was time to go to bed. Andrew's response? "You are the meanest daddy...eber! If you don't let me do fun things, I am leaving!"
Well, of course I did what any parent would do. I rushed into his room, grabbed a very small bag and told him to go ahead and pack his things...he could leave. Then, as he began to look for stuff, I said,  "Make sure you don't take any toys because I bought those and they belong here. Oh, and your clothes are mine too." He jumped up into his bed and said, "You guys are the meanest parents eber! I am leaving. I said, "Okay, let me help you to the door" and picked him up. He got the saddest look in his eyes and poked out his little lip and completely melted in my arms as he hugged my neck and started sobbing. I told him I didn't want him to ever leave. Cody hugged the two of us and we told him how much it hurt our feelings to hear that he wanted to leave us. When I went to check on him, he said, Mommy, I won't leave...eber! I said, "Good...because I won't let you."

Low Blood Sugar

I really should update this more often since Andrew is learning, growing and changing every day. I read some of these posts tonight and it almost made me cry thinking about how much he's grown in the past year. He's really growing into his personality and it's so awesome watching him become his own person.

I don't think I have ever mentioned Andrew's blood sugar problem on this blog before. However, since pretty much birth Andrew has had an issue with his blood sugar. Because he was nearly 10 pounds at birth, he had to be kept in the nursery a little while longer because they were trying to stabilize his blood sugar. As a newborn, he was always eating...and as his many teachers have suggested, Andrew has a very healthy appetite. He's always hungry and will eat seconds, thirds, fourth...and so on if you allow him. However, if you don't have a snack on hand or if he gets off schedule, you can have a very upset, naughty little boy on your hand when he gets hungry. I believe he gets that from my mother who has been known to enter kitchens at a restaurant because her food was not out in the time she needed it to be because of her hunger.
Speaking of his mild hypoglycemia..  We traveled this summer to the midwest to see our family. He was getting a little hungry and he had been off his schedule due to the time change and family visits. At one point while we were in Sioux Falls, visiting Cody's grandparents, Andrew had grown increasingly hungry...and thus, very naughty. Cody brought him up to our room to stay with me for a bit and I asked Andrew why he was being so naughty when he knew better. Andrew looked at me and put the back of his hand on his forehead and stated, "I just can't control myself." I said, "Andrew, what's really going on. Why can't you control yourself?" He flung himself backwards, onto the bed, placed the back of his hand to his forehead and said, "okay, okay, I'll tell you the troof this time. I miss Sara, I miss Kate Jackson, I miss my toys and I want to be an evil scientist!" I sat on the bed dumbstruck at the last bit and it was all I could do to keep my composure. He really is something else and I absolutely love him to pieces.
Lord, what am I going to do with this boy?

Andrew sentiments

Wow, I haven't posted in forever! So much has been going on. I got to spend my first summer at home with my little guy and absolutely loved every minute with him. He loves to tell jokes and make people laugh. He's happiest when those around him are at their happiest.

A few cute things he's done lately include:

• His newest joke to date is "What do you call cheese that's not yours?" He responds in his cutest little voice, "Cause why, it nacho cheese!"
• He's back at Brenau this Fall and absolutely loves his class. He comes home telling us all about his letter sounds and about the songs/games they play in class. His favorite game goes: "Doggy Doggy where's your bone, someone took it from your home!" We have to search for a "bone" that he has hidden.
• He loves biking into work with Daddy. Today he decided to take his "tennis shoe bike" to school. Cody asked him what his tennis shoe bike was. Andrew brought out his hot wheel (yes, he carried it up from the basement), and said it was his tennis shoe bike because he has to stop it with his tennis shoes.
• The other day he came to us and said, Mommy, Daddy, you want to see cat? We thought he was talking about our cat, naturally. Well he came back into our room and said, "Come see cat, Mommy Daddy!" We went to his room and he had written the word CAT on his board.

He is such a remarkable, brilliant, sweet boy. We absolutely love him!

New School!

So, as many of you know, Andrew has terrible separation anxiety and spent the past two years screaming when we would drop him off at school. This progressed this past fall when he entered the three year old room. Everyday we felt guilty. Guilty that we had to leave him at school and guilty that we left his teachers to deal with a screaming child. He has spent the past four months on a "summer" vacation and he started a new school this past week...Mommy's school!

We are hoping being at Mommy's school will help him with his separation anxiety when leaving Mommy and Daddy. So far, so good!

While a little hesitant on Monday, he went into his classroom just fine. He even got up on Tuesday and waited for the bus to arrive...but of course, he doesn't get to ride a bus to daycare! By Wednesday, he was telling me, "Mommy, I have too much fun at school!"

The best part about him going to school again? He is worn out by 8:30 again! We get home and he is ready to go to sleep. He can hardly hold his eyes open at dinner time.

His new teacher, Ms. Darlene is amazing and has 23 years of teaching experience. He loves his new friends too, especially the children in Mommy's class: Gabe, Brock, Hunter and Justin. His new school is across the street from the Chateau Elan Country Club, and is a private daycare. Mommy teaches right next door to Andrew and he gets to see her through two huge plate glass windows.

I am enjoying watching our little guy begin new friendships...while cherishing the old ones. He still talks about all of his old teachers and friends. Each day he amazes me!!!!