Rite of Passage

Andrew started kindergarten yesterday and nothing does a worried mom's heart more good than her son taking an instant liking to his sweet kindergarten teacher. The first thing he did when I introduced him to Mrs. Moffett was hug her, and although he is a friendly child, that is not his typical stranger greeting. Mrs. Moffett seems like such a loving, nurturing person, I just know she will be good for Andrew. And clap for me-I didn't cry! I had butterflies in my stomach and my heart was beating like crazy, but no tears from momma bear.

Andrew had a fun morning in Kindergarten but when I went to peek in on him during my recess (I know don't hover mom!), he was in tears over some kind of bathroom incident, which he is still refusing to talk about. From what I can gather it has something to do with not wanting to go to the bathroom by himself. I don't know...kids! Anyway, according to Andrew, Mrs. Moffett sang songs, read a book about a shark starting school and gave them a snack of goldfish and pretzels (he only ate the pretzels). His favorite part of the day? Typical boy...RECESS! So my boy is on his little way in the world...I'm just glad I'm only across the building in case he "needs" me!

What is the Meaning of This?

I lost 15 pounds this summer resisting all manner of goodies, treats and not so good for me food at home. Start back to school today and can't stop rummaging around for everything fattening! Currently scarfing down a multitude of mini kit-kats which I don't even like that much. What does this mean? Hello again 15 pounds!

Think maybe I'll start updating my blog again but don't dare say so because everytime I do, I lie. Will definitely be blogging about Bubba's first day of kindergarten today as soon as camera is home to upload pics. Come back soon! (ish)

Little Fish

So much for my twice a week blogging resolution eh? No sooner do I set a goal then I lose all motivation and follow through whatsoever. I am really making the most of the LAZY days of summer-emphasis on lazy! Well, here I am blogging about what I meant to blog about two weeks ago, but better late than never is my mantra!
Andrew has been a little fish this summer, showing off his skills at swimming lessons -where he was the smallest and oldest in his class and could barely touch the bottom of the pool, but that didn't slow him down one bit!-to the Plunge and slip n slide at Meemaw's, to Lagoona Beach-wasn't much into the slides but requested at one point to move to "deeper water!" Andrew has always been comfortable in the water and unlike some kids his age, it doesn't bother him to get his face wet. In fact at swimming lessons, he got in trouble (not from the teenage swimming teacher mind you-but his mother on the sidelines) for having his face in the water TOO MUCH. So much that he wasn't hearing anything the teacher had to say. Still having trouble differentiating between water "playtime" and water "learn time", but at least he is having fun, learning a few skills and most importantly becoming comfortable in the water. This is the third year I have enrolled him in swimming lessons and our first at Surf and Swim in Layton.

Last year he had private lessons from one of my student's sisters and one-on-one learning with her has been the most effective by far. His teacher recommended he take Level One again next year, mainly because of his size. We'll keep trying!

One thing he doesn't stand for when it comes to water is being splashed in the face as our friends Carter and Kathryn and our cousin Rylee can tell you. You don't see Andrew mad often, but if you want o see him throw a hissy fit, go ahead and splash him in the face. I wouldn't recommend it.

Happy Birthday America!

This is the first year I think Andrew has begun to understand what the Fourth of July is really about. Of course he has never minded going to parades, partaking of endless candy, barbecuing with family and friends, and strangely has never complained about watching amazing awe-inspiring fireworks displays.

I remember his first fireworks when he was only a couple of months old and although we were very close to the river where they are shot from in my hometown, the kid slept through the whole thing. Now that's talent-have I mentioned his love of sleep? But I digress...

Until this year I don't think he has the slightest idea what all the fuss of the Fourth was really about.This year we discussed the birthday of our country and all the blessings we had to be grateful for because we live here. He sings the most delightful, off-key but precious rendition of ,"The Star Spangled Banner," that begins,"Oh..Grace can you see?" He learned the tune and then made up his own words from going to the assemblies while in daycare at the Northridge High. I can't get enough of it but of course he will very rarely sing it for me because I think maybe I request it too much. But on our country's Independence Day, he sang it loud and proud and pretty much all day long (while waving his requisite free-at-the parade flag). That was a nice touch.

Normally, we head down to the river to watch,"The biggest fireworks display west of the Mississippi," but this year we mellowed out at home and did our own little street display. Since I have an unreasonable fear of fireworks (stemming from an incident with a sparkler down my shirt in Jr. high), Andrew probably wouldn't have had the chance to hold the sparkly stick of pain had it not been for my mom and sister's insistence. All was well, no burns or traumatic incidents thank goodness.

So, we still had parades, lots of food, family and fireworks, but this year the holiday was made a little sweeter knowing that my son is beginning to understand the importance of patriotism and what it means to be a citizen of this great country of ours. How was your Fourth of July? What tradition does your family have for the holiday?

Ahhh Naptime...My Daily Respite!

I am setting a goal to rededicate my blogging efforts. Originally, the purpose of this blog was to closely document the happenings in the life of my little guy, Andrew, "Before I Forgot," which I tend to do so easily. I have gotten distracted lately and am finding that those little things he says and does which are so precious at the time, are once again becoming lost to me forever because I am forgetting to document them. So, this is my renewed pledge, to blog about Andrew at least twice a week for the rest of the year. I can do it! Let's start with the wonder of naps, shall we?

Can you believe my darling five year old child still takes naps? He not only takes naps but:

1) Lots of times, when feeling sleepy, he'll tell ME that he would like to go to sleep, rather than the other way around. This is not a forced nap, believe me!

2) He sleeps for between 1 1/2-3 hours, STILL!

3) This gives me a nice little "me time" every day where I can tend to "mommy" business, such as, blogging, reading e-mail, facebooking, scrapbooking, chatting on the phone, or heaven forbid, have a little nappie time myself. (Any guesses as to what my little guy is doing RIGHT NOW?)

4) He wakes up cheerful and refreshed, not grumpy as I am told some children do, ready for whatever the rest of the day might bring.

5) He still goes to bed between 8:30-9:00 every night, no arguing. He likes his sleep. He does wake up rather early though, between 6:30-7:00, so there's the trade-off.

6) He's a non-discriminatory napper. The nap does not have to take place in a bed, wherever he is, he's going to have his nap. The car, friend' houses, heck, The San Diego Zoo(see picture above-sorry not very good I had to scan it). If he's tired, he will NAP!

I really am such a lucky mom in many ways, but today I wanted to pay special homage to the beauty of the daily nap. How is the poor child going to make it through kindergarten in the fall without his daily sleepy time? Do any of you still indulge in daily naps on occasion? If so when and how often?

Busy Time with Meemaw

My mom (Andrew's Meemaw) came for a visit this week. I spent the several days prior to her arrival running around the house frantically, trying to unpack the last of the boxes from the move and be sure every room would pass the infamous one-handed white glove test (which is actually a figment of my imagination, but I always think she might just surprise me one time and whip a white glove out). Like I have said before, I am not a complete pig, but my mother is an immaculate housekeeper, so I am always a little intimidated when she comes to visit. Not to mention the fact that we just moved and I was still working up to the week before she arrived, so it was all I could do to get everything done! (Excuses, excuses!) Anyway, after staying up several nights in a row I began to realize there was no possible way I could get every room ready in time. I gave up and made the best of it by shoving what I could in closets and making sure the front rooms were presentable. My mom could not have been sweeter! She complimented me on what I had been able to get done in the house so far, and spent every other second of her time with us being totally about Andrew and me and making sure we were well settled in our new place. She and I stayed up together every night (it's much more fun staying up late when someone else is staying up WITH you!), cleaning, reorganizing, washing, folding, decorating, and matching three boxes of unmated socks!!

It rained pretty much the whole 4 days she was here so we took Andrew to a place in Bountiful called Kangaroo Zoo. It's full of all kinds of bouncy toys and slides and he really liked it. Unfortunately, scatterbrained me forgot the camera for that particular outing so you don't get to see how cute he looked on the bouncy toys.

The next day we lucked out and it was clear outside, so we headed to Wheeler Farm in Murray. I liked it because it was free, the boy liked it because tractors are involved (and he made me promise in advance to steer clear of the geese), and my mom had never been so it was perfect. We lucked out again because it started raining just as we left. Then we headed to Kohl's and mom bought Andrew some new church clothes.

Due to the fact the Andrew's OPU (Other Parental Unit-Thanks for the perfect terminology Emma!) had visitation Wednesday evening and Fri-Sun., mom and I even managed to sneak in a couple of movies. It has been months since I have seen a "grown-up" movie, so I took full advantage. We saw Terminator, starring my angst ridden boyfriend, Christian Bale, and another movie that shall not be named due to the R-rating (we didn't realize until after we bought tickets or my mom would not have gone), and very inappropriate content. I have to admit I did laugh in the second movie a couple of times between wincing and cringing.

I will not lie-I am EXHAUSTED, but the house looks AWESOME! I could not have accomplished so much so quickly without my mom's help and encouragement. It was fun having time just the two of us to bond and have girl talk. It's too bad that sometimes you have to go through a lot of trials and unpleasant changes in life to come to a realization about how much people mean to you. I don't think I have given my mom enough credit for everything she has done and continues to do for me. Thanks for everything mom-I love you!

Pink USED to be my favorite color

until it showed up in BOTH Bubba's eyes this morning. Yes, the wonders of the bacterial infection known as PINK EYE (aka conjunctivitis)! Supposedly only dirty people, "white trash" and those who don't wash after using the potty (which I suppose would actually fall into one category since dirty people generally are trashy and don't wash their potty hands) are cursed with this affliction and this is our third battle with the beast in the last two years. I am designating a new category of people whose kids get pink eye-the working mothers whose kids have to go to daycare (if they want a place to live and food to eat) and whose kid went to a birthday party with a bunch of kids Saturday and who maybe got it from some potty handed kid at church on Sunday group. How's that for a category? Totally not what I need right now! I am taking a day without pay today to be able to stay home with him since I am fresh out of leave at work. Gee, I wonder why I would be out of leave with only 9 school days left? Sigh...when it rains it pours! I was rushing around the house this morning saying, "We're late Andrew, gotta hurry!" and then I looked over at his crusted over little eyes and said,"Nevermind, we're staying home," which of course thrilled him. He's a trooper-hasn't complained one bit from being poked and prodded by the doctor to having cold and slightly stingy liquid repeatedly squirted into his eyes. He's such a good boy and I am so lucky to have him-pink eyes and all! (Now watch my cats will get it and I'll spend twice as much on them getting it cleared up as I did on my human child.) Pray for me please!