The Summer Halfway Point

We have reached the summer halfway point.  Specifically, today is the second day of the second half of The Cub’s summer break.  I lost track of blogging.  So here is an update.

The Cub finished Kindergarten with a very good report card.  The only issue noted was that he had started to act sillier as the year came to a close.  But his reading is now at an L/M level, which is beginning 3rd grade level.  Oof.  We bought two summer workbooks for him, one a 1st grade prep and one a 2nd grade prep.  We aren’t pushing him to work in them, or drilling him on anything, just trying to work pages into a couple of days a week and to continue to work math and reading into everyday life.  He’s almost done with the 1st grade prep one, so we should be working on the 2nd grade prep on for most of August.  And he’ll sit down with the book without us asking him too, at times, as something to do.  We relocated the one bookshelf and he’s made that little nook into a reading spot.

He spent the first full week of his summer break in NC at Camp NanaPa.  They ended their 4 week tour of the upper midwest at our house on the 2nd to last day of school.  We had some family gatherings that week-end, including my youngest cousin’s HS graduation party.  Then they packed up and headed for NC on Monday.  I miss him when he is gone, but it is good for him and for us.

While The Cub was in NC M’Lord and I worked for most of the week.  But we finally took a trip out to Longwood Gardens.  I’ve wanted to go their for many years, but didn’t think that The Cub would enjoy it, especially now that I have my good camera and was stopping to take multiple shots of the same flower with different settings.  He’d like the Children’s Garden and the treehouses.  We had a lovely, though hot, day wandering the gardens and the Conservatory.  I’d love to go back for the Christmas trees.

We also attended the local wedding reception of a wonderful friend who was married in FL in March.  On my niece’s birthday.  Easy to remember.  It was held at the NY Botanical Gardens.  The camera came to that venue, too.  We arrived about 1 hour early as we were concerned about rush hour traffic on a Friday evening.  So I took some time to wander and photograph the flowers, call The Cub to say goodnight, and talk with friends who had also arrived early for the same reason. The food, friends, music, and dancing were wonderful and I got to dance with the Groom.  He’s a competitive West Coast Swing dancer and also an well known DJ for dance competition week-ends.  So getting to do a WCS with him was an honor.

The following Monday, my Aunt and I drove down into VA to meet up with my parents and my mom’s cousin for lunch and to pick up the Cub from them.  I had my boy back.

4th of July was quiet.  We had s’mores and sparklers in the back yard with friends.

The Cub had Space, Infinity and Beyond science camp in the mornings for the next week.  He came home with all sorts of flying things, including a rocket.  He also began his weekly swim lesson.

The last two weeks have been some swimming at the local pool or a friend’s local pool, splashing in his own little pool in the back yard, trips to the library, lots of reading, some bike rides with his Dad, game playing, playing in general, and surviving the heat.

I am not a summer person.  So, while wishing time away is a waste of time, I am ready for October weather and clothing and baking.

The Cub is 6

The Cub is six.  He’s been six since February 20th.

I’ve tried to remember to write about how and what The Cub is doing a few times a year.  During the first two years I would right letters to him.  There were also the two years of calendars that you can set the months and dates from the child’s birth and make little notes about milestones.  Then I moved to typing posts about 4 times a year.  Then it sort of moved to twice.  Now I’m trying to do it at his birthday.  You can see how well I’ve done this year.  Though, I will say, I was waiting until after his Parent Teacher conference so that I could include that information.

So…physically he is healthy, energetic, blue eyed and blonde.  At his well visit he weighed 48 lbs and was 47 inches tall.  A pound an inch.  75th percentile height and 50th weight.  Tall and slender, like his daddy and uncles.  Sight and hearing are great.

As for school…he’s reading at almost a 3rd grade level.  He’s in kindergarten.  His teacher is working with him on comprehension and has him help other kids in his class work on sight words.  “This is my easiest meeting” is a direct quote from his teacher.  We were trying to figure out which piece of artwork might be his and she suggested that we look for the neatest printing and best spelling.  I was happy to hear that they really take time to figure out which teacher in the next grade will be best for each child.  His teacher said that she is going to work on placing him with a teacher that will challenge him.  The Cub is also the one student from her class that she would expect to test into 2nd grade math next year.  She also said that, depending on how many advanced readers there are that they might make a small group of them that move between the teachers together to work on more advanced books.  So we’ll see what happens in the fall.  “He’s a bright kid.  And he’ll always be that way.”  And he gets along with his classmates and has friends that he regularly plays with on the playground.

And at home…he loves to play with Legos and Cars and cars and still likes to play with his Thomas trains.  The Cub loves to climb on his Daddy.  He’s still a hugger and can cry easily when tired.  He’s a mostly good kid.   But he’s six, which means that he doesn’t remember to watch what he might knock over when he’s running or bouncing.

Legos.  There are Legos all over the house.  The Cub is really creative with his random parts and pieces.  He loves to build vehicles that come from shows that he watches or books that he reads.  But he’s also really good with sets.  We can give him a set and the only thing that he’ll need help with is putting on the stickers.  Or finding a piece that might have rolled off.  He follows the directions on his own.

Computer and video games…because he can read he doesn’t need help with directions.   He’ll find a new game and figure it out without much help at all.  Right now he’s really into the Lego site games like Builder’s Island.  And he can drive his own car on Mario Kart now.  I used to steer and he’d fire the stuff and control the gas.  Now he plays on his own.

This week the school district held an art show.  Two of The Cub’s pieces were on display.  We are going to frame the penguins and I’ll “pot” the self portrait “Flower”.

He’s getting more adventurous with eating, which is good, trying more different foods and declaring that he likes them.  Like his mommy, he’s not big on raw tomatoes.  But, like his Daddy, he’s decided that he likes salmon.

Emotionally he is still a bit of a cryer, but not as much as in the past years.  He’s getting better at using his words to tell another kid that he doesn’t want to play something or doesn’t like being hit or tackled, or whatever it is at the time.  Progress.

He’s doing just fine and I’m glad that he’s mine.

Marching Towards 6

About 4 years ago The Cub asked if he could take some toys to bed with him.  We said yes.  He’s been doing that ever since.  Two toys.  One in each hand whose arm is also wrapped around either Puppy or Blue Teddy.  At times he’d coordinate the color of the toy with the animal – blue car in the hand that was holding Blue Teddy sort of thing.  The toys were most often cars, either Matchbox, Hot Wheels, or Cars.  Sometimes it was different toys/cars each night.  Sometimes it was the same two for a few nights in a row.  If there was a new car or toy in the house, that one was chosen for a few nights.  The only rule was that he had to choose toys that wouldn’t come apart, so Lego creations were not on the list.  I was not searching for tiny pieces of anything at 6:30 am.  The little “goodnight poem” that I say to him each night would include those two toys at the end of it, sometimes with a check for the correct name of the car as he would assign them to other toys.  For example – a red car might be Mario’s (From the video games) car that night and a green one would be Luigi’s rather than what types of cars they actually were.  Some nights I couldn’t remember what he had picked up, so I would have to ask before finishing the poem.

This past week he asked if he could go to bed without any toys, just his stuffed animals.  I told him that it was his choice.  He hasn’t taken toys to bed since then.  Is this a sign that he is growing up more?  The poem seems a bit short with no toys listed as the last two items.

To go along with all of that, this morning The Cub announced that he had a loose tooth.  And he does.  His first loose tooth.  ::sigh::

He’ll be 6 in February.

 

A New Pattern

The Cub started Kindergarten four weeks ago tomorrow.  This was just after Irene and Lee visited us and my laptop died.  I have my new toy, finally, so I am getting back into blogging.

Three days after Irene came through we had an Open House and a Wishes and Dreams meeting with his teacher.  During the Open House she read a book called The Kissing Hand.  I sniffled.  How bad was I going to be on the first day?!

We spent part of the week-end getting his backpack (Cars of course), lunchpack (Cars, also), clothes, binder, folder, etc, together and ready.  On Tuesday morning we headed out.

M’Lord can go in a bit later than most, so he walked with us, too.  It’s about .4 miles to the school from our house.  It was rainy and grey out, but the walk was fine.

Once at the school we joined the line of parents taking photos of their child/ren in front of the school sign.

First The Cub.

Then me and The Cub.

Then M’Lord prompted The Cub to give me their surprise.  The Cub pulled a small pouch out of his pocket and handed it to me.

::sniffle::melt::  I sing You Are My Sunshine to him at bedtime almost every night. (This is from http://www.thevintagepearl.com)

I was ok until that.  So I put it on and we walked The Cub to his classroom.  He was a little sad but his teacher whisked him right in and he’s been fine ever since, going straight in after a hug and a kiss.  I’m so glad that I/we get to walk him to school and don’t have to put him on a bus yet.  M’Lord and I walked home and he headed for work.

We are finally, I think, getting into the new pattern of week-day life.  The two days off last week threw it for a small loop, but we are back again.  And I didn’t forget anything that The Cub or I needed to carry to school today.

So far I’ve forgotten to put his library book into his pack once.  And I misinterpreted one form and signed the wrong thing.  But I fixed that with a trip to the school office. Remembering all of his stuff is slightly easier with the folder that stays in his backpack.  Papers go in in the morning and come out after school.  M’Lord takes him to school on the two days that I work, but I’ve adjusted my hours so that I get home in time to pick The Cub up from school and make up the hours doing work from home during the other three days that I am home.

But it’s odd to be home alone all day.  Just remembering lunch and figuring out what to eat is odd, as I’m not working around what The Cub wants for lunch.  But I’m getting some projects done, and thinking up more, along with work from home, which are all much easier to do when there isn’t a small child asking for help, snacks, a playmate, or attention in general.

A new pattern. We are working on it.

Zinnias and a Sprinkler

Irene is on her way.  The track keeps shifting from east to west to east, so we keep moving in and out of the second band of wind speeds.  So…I moved everything in the yard into the sheds or the house this afternoon.  The Cub wanted me to set the pool up.  I was not doing this for one afternoon and then taking it down again, so I told him that he could play in the sprinkler.  We haven’t ever done this with him.  He jumped at the chance.

And through the sprinkler

Lots of times.

With his goggles on so that he could see better.

Then we moved the sprinkler closer to the swingset so that he could slide down the wet slide.

Then closer so he could swing in and out of the water as it moved.   He had a blast while I moved everything and locked it all up.

Then I cut the only blooming zinnias before they get beaten to a pulp.  The garden didn’t yield much this year because of the late start, but we are still getting string beans and I have some pretty flowers.

Can you see the top of the stem in this shot? (If you click on the photo you should get a jumbo sized one.)

It’s curled.  The flower is on the other side at a right angle to the plant.

How odd.

I love the candy cane colored ones.

My backyard looks like it is ready for winter.  We’ll see what survives Irene other than the zinnias.

Mommy and the Legos

Aha!  I knew that there was a shot of me and the Cub working on the Hogwarts Castle build.  Though Pa and Daddy did most of the bags/sets with him, I did do one of them.  I like playing with Legos and remember having a space rocket set, a hospital set, and various other pieces when I was a girl, along with Bristle Blocks, Lincoln Logs, wood blocks, and Tinker Toys.  That might be part of why I ended up in the construction industry, hmmm.  There are times when Liam will want to create something and all three of us end up on the floor, going through the bins looking for pieces, and creating the whatever it is together.

He has quite a collection, including Fire and Police sets.  He likes to make Wall-Es and Eves in all colors, and vehicles of all shapes and sizes.  The cocktail umbrellas are beach umbrellas for the various figures.  The existence of a Lego Store in the mall near M’Lord’s office does not help to keep the quantity down at all.  It’s a dangerous store.  Yes, it is.  My sister found 4 gallon bags of miscellaneous pieces at a yard sale for 50 cents each and sent them up to add to the collection, too.  Most of what is in the bins is a random collection of odd parts and pieces.  All the more interesting to use and create with.

About once a week we get all of the pieces that aren’t parts of some construction into their bins so that I can vacuum without sucking up any Legos.  Today was not that day. The table top on the trunk was originally for Thomas tracks.  It’s become the Lego table and is at the perfect height for The Cub to work at while playing on the floor.

Anyway, here we are finishing up whichever tower it was that we worked on together.

On to the next project/build we go.

Water Fun

The Cub, for a couple of years, didn’t like spraying water – showers, spray parks, sprinklers, etc.  So when the MOMs held playdates at the local spray park we skipped it.

This year, though, I gave it a shot again.  And The Cub loved it.  He spent the better part of 2 hours in and out of the sprays, with a couple of trips over to the playground for breaks.  These two are from my cell phone as I forgot my camera.

He stood under the dumping buckets…

And controlled the spray guns…

…and ran through all of the ground fountains.

Yesterday we went up to a friend’s house for a babysitting/play date.  Once my friend and her oldest returned home the Slip and Slide was set up on the slope in their back yard.  At the bottom they placed a partially filled inflatable round pool to create a bigger landing zone because it’s running down the hill in their back yard.  After the first slide down, through the sprinkling water that wets the slide, The Cub just kept running up the slope and sliding down.

He came down on his tush…

…his stomach…

…backwards on his stomach…

…many times around…

They even added a small child slide to the top for a little while, adding to the length and speed.  He loved that too.

My boy who disliked spraying water has become a spray water lover.  Yay!

More Legos – for the Man and the Boy

Thursday night M’Lord and I were going out for dinner as The Cub was still away.  After hearing our destination, a friend suggested that we go early and stop at the nearby Borders to see what was left.  We took her suggestion.  What an expensive suggestion it was.  While wandering around the games area M’Lord found the Lego Harry Potter Hogwarts set sitting on the floor.  It still had the theft binding on it, and it could be had for 25% off the original price.  M’Lord couldn’t leave it there.  Nope.  Not my geek.  After picking up two Cars 2 Lego sets for The Cub (that we put away for Christmas), along with a copy of Baking Illustrated that I’ve wanted for 4 years or so, and a few other books, we headed to the checkout and paid for our pile.  Ouch.  Later that night I started to mark up the receipt for budget recording purposes and realized that the Hogwarts set was not on the receipt, but an odd book was.  The cashier had punched in the wrong number for the set and charged us only for a book.  As honesty is the best policy, and the difference in cost was too much to ignore, M’Lord took a photo, with his phone, of the price tag, and headed to work the next day.  He called Borders and ended up talking to the manager.  He explained what had happened, was thanked for his honesty, and asked to come back in to the store with the receipt.  The shift manager then fixed the mistake, and, for his honesty, gave M’Lord a 40% discount instead of the original 25%.  So, while it was still an expensive trip, the fun toy part of it came down a bit.

On Saturday morning, The Cub, who is now home again, found the box and had a lot of trouble waiting for M’Lord to get up so that they could start to build this 1260 piece thing.  There were 10 bags of pieces in the box.  For a 5 year old The Cub did very well with following the directions and putting the “sets” together considering that the age range on the box is 8 to 14 years .  Yes, M’Lord was doing very well with it too, considering he’s way beyond the age range .  On Saturday we (M’Lord, My Dad, and I) helped with the first 7 bags.

First they assembled the characters.

Then the first tower.

Then The Cub and I assembled the bottom half of the second tower.

The The Cub and my Dad assembled the top half of the second tower.

Then The Cub and M’Lord started the Dining Room section until it was The Cub’s bedtime.

The rest would wait for Sunday.

Meanwhile, M’Lord started to clean up the top shelf area in the Family Room in order to have a place to put the finished castle.

On Sunday morning, The Cub woke M’Lord up enough to ask if he could put the pieces from Bag 8 together with Pa.  The answer was Yes.  This one included the parts to complete the Dining Hall roof.

Once M’Lord was up and about, he and The Cub took care of Bag 9.

After lunch they completed the project with Bag 10, which included a tiny green Lego frog.

The critters in this set are great.  There are 3 owls, a cat, a large rat, a spider, a frog, and a bat.

The finished build is pretty neat.

And The Cub is happy!

Bunnicula in Lego

Now that I’ve finally uploaded the photos from the camera, here is Bunnicula in Lego, as conceived/built by M’Lord and The Cub at the Cub’s request.  We now have Book 5 in the series, Return to Howliday Inn, waiting for M’Lord and The Cub to finish Book 4, Nighty Nightmare.

From left to right we have Bunnicula, Chester, Howie, and Harold.

Why I can’t save this rotated is beyond me right now, but here are the critters and additional Lego figures that The Cub picked to be the father, mother, and two boys.

The Cub loves to use his Lego figures to be whatever it is that he is interested in at that moment.  This night it was Bunnicula characters.

Trips to the Lego store can be very interesting when it is to build new figures based on what they have in the random parts bins.  It’s quite a process.  That store is very dangerous.  The last batch were Mario, Baby Mario, and WaLuigi, if I remember correctly.

My goal is to not vacuum up any parts or pieces.

Quiet

The house is quiet.

All weekend the house was quiet.  No Legos falling, or being stepped on as I moved them into their bins or on to the Lego table (which was the train table but has been taken over by Legos).  No “Look what I made, Mommy (Lego creation #???)”.  No “Mommy, can I play on your computer?”  No “Mommy, will you read this book with me?”  No soft voice from the living room as he reads his books out loud to himself.  No “Can we go somewhere?”  No “Are we going anywhere today?” No bare feet running through the house sounds.  No pantry cabinet door closing sounds.  No step stool being pushed across the kitchen floor so that he can reach something sound.  No “Can I help?”.  No “Mwa” sounds when The Cub comes in to the room to say “I Love You, Mommy.

I miss the words and the sounds.

I stayed in bed until 7 am this morning, not having to get up earlier to have time to cuddle with The Cub before getting ready for work and the sitter.  And I still managed to get out the door later than I might have without The Cub in tow.

5 more days and I’ll be Mommy again, instead of a “phone call to say goodnight Mommy”.