Summer!

Today was Q's last day of school, his kindergarten year is officially over. His class performed their play today, Coyote Steals Summer. When the parents were coming in, he was trying to hide into the background, but once the play started he did well. He sang and did all of the choreography, but definitely tried not to smile too much. He has been telling me about their daily rehearsals leading up to today, but left out the detail that he was the one that ended up stealing summer to share with everyone at the end of the play. I was so surprised that he had kept it his little secret for the last couple of weeks.

Along with the play, his teacher handed out awards, Q received the hard worker award. I was so proud to hear his teacher say that Q works hard at everything from small daily tasks to big undertakings like the play. His teacher mentioned that she had been reading John Wooden's book, The Pyramid of Success, to the class and they had been discussing hard work. She commented that Q embodied hard work and he's off to a great start on his road to success. I'm so excited that his first year of school has gone so well and he has come to enjoy school and learning.

I still can't believe kindergarten went so fast. His teacher made the comment that we as kinder parents have no idea yet that every year goes this fast. I'm sure it's a true statement, but can't quite cope with that fact yet.

Fashion Conscious

So, I went in to Q’s room Sunday night to put some laundry away and found this on his bed. Hilarious, kid had already laid out his clothes for school the next day, complete with Monday undies! The kid is fashion conscious, I thought he was more fashion conscious than most kinder boys, but maybe not. He started kinder wearing Paul Frank shirts, then he switched to Star Wars shirts and now he’s been asking to buy cool shirts, specifically DC shirts. Then he asked for Nike’s when we were in Nordstrom Rack the other day. But I realized this may be typical behavior from boys in his class when he was telling me that another boy in his class said he should go back to wearing jeans instead of shorts because he looks cool in jeans. About a week ago, I dropped Q off at school one morning and noticed his class mates having fashion related conversations in line before class. It kind of bums me out that kinders are already so self conscious. With kindergarten coming to a close I can’t believe how much Q has grown up in just one year, I’m not really looking forward to all the changes and drama that first grade will bring. Thank goodness for summer vacation, I think I need it as much as Q.

Six

This week we celebrated Q's birthday. He had his party on Sunday and he had a blast. Wednesday was his actual birthday so we sent him to school with doughnut holes to celebrate with his class and after school we took him out for ice cream. Then on Thursday, we brought cupcakes so he could celebrate with his taekwondo class. He's six, I can't quite wrap my brain around that yet. I still think of him as a quirky little two year old. My brother says that doesn't go away, in his mind his kids remain a particular age and it always shocks him that they are older than the way he thinks of them.

So at six, he now loves nerf guns and Star Wars, but he also still loves his "pets". I don't think he would admit to loving his "pets" out in public because he now labels certain things as "babyish". For his birthday he got a ton a great "boy" presents, but since I'm not quite ready to let go of his little boy qualities, I indulged his love of "pets" and bought him plush toys of some of his favorite book characters for his birthday.

The baby in the car seat is the one we brought home 6 years ago. The kid sleeping with his pets now sets his alarm to wake up for school and wears a watch so he'll know when to expect me to show up for him at child care. At the age of six, he's old enough to tell time, but is still my baby that wants me to hurry up and pick him up from child care. I'm so grateful that he still has a hint of little boy qualities . I'm pretty sure that all of his little boy qualities will be gone by his seventh birthday and I'm dreading it already.

100th Day of Kindergarten

Today is Q’s 100th day of school celebration. He’s so excited, he had a hard time falling asleep last night. He really has grown up and learned a lot since September. He started the school year knowing his letters and sounds and just a handful of sight words. I never took on the task of teaching him how to read since I’m not the expert on teaching reading/phonics. I figured it would be best to leave that to a trained professional. He’s starting to enjoy reading, he gets so excited when he realizes he can read signs when we’re out and about. It’s fun to see his reading skills develop.

Losing My Cool

So, Q’s only five and it’s happening already, I’m not that cool anymore. I thought I had at least until he was about 9ish, but I guess the start of elementary school has a lot to do with it. He’s realizing there are a lot more options out there than the ones I put in front of him. Up until now, I got to pick out his wardrobe. There aren’t a lot of options for boys clothing most involve hokey trucks or sports equipment, but I was able to get to this point without putting him in cooky toddler boy gear. He ended up in a lot stripes and plaid, but I’ll take the lack of variety over monster truck shirts that say vroom vroom any day.
Q and I were shopping a couple of weeks ago and he asked if he could buy a shirt. I showed him a couple of cute options and was told “those shirts aren’t very cool mommy, I wanted to buy a cool shirt.” So in the middle of Nordstrom Rack we had a blank stare stare down for a good thirty seconds. I was speechless, staring at him thinking my five year old is already looking at me like I have no clue. And he was speechless, staring at me. I have no doubt that his thoughts were somewhere along the lines of my mom has no idea what cool is.
Later on that day, he also found some star wars light up shoes. I’m not a fan. I just wanted him to get some black slip on vans, so I told him the lights are probably a little too distracting to wear in class. It kills me that the five year old that thinks the star wars light up shoes are the way to go is the kid that thinks I’m not cool. After some thinking, I caved, I’m getting him the star wars shoes for Christmas. Cookey wardrobe decisions aren’t that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things, but it’s still painful to witness. And the real bummer is knowing that this is just the beginning. He’s starting to make his own decisions, some I will approve of and some I will not. I’m working on being grateful that he still shops with me.

First Man Tooth

The last two weeks have been big weeks for Q. Well really, he’s done a lot of growing up since he started kindergarten in September. In just a couple of months he’s a completely different kid, he is definitely a bona fide big kid now. So last week was Q’s first parent teacher conference which went so well, I teared up hearing just how well he’s doing in class. Academically he’s ahead of where he needs to be, and as expected, the one thing he could improve on is participation. His teacher is working on getting him to participate more in classroom discussions, but she did mention that he’s starting to show glimmers of confidence in the classroom.
So not only is Q growing up emotionally, but physically too. His first man tooth has sprouted up, I teared up as soon as I saw it. His man tooth was coming up behind the baby tooth which wasn’t loose yet so went to the dentist to check it out. Of course he was terrified of the dentist, but a little bubble gum scented laughing gas with a tv to watch Toy Story and everything went smoothly. The dentist ended up pulling both of his bottom teeth since the man tooth next to his first one is about to come up too. They handed me his first baby teeth in little treasure boxes and I teared up again. Q and I went home and had some fun in the mirror while he had his first experience with numbness. Just like baby’s that look completely different when they go from a toothless, gummy smile to a smile with a couple of teeth, Q with a couple of missing baby teeth now looks completely grown up. And yes, I’m tearing up again typing this…..

Advent Season

I've been wanted to do an Advent Calendar for Q and just recently found a great idea on this blog. http://www.chicaandjo.com/2010/11/10/grinch-advent-calendar/. I used an over the door shoe organizer which is perfect because they have 24 slots and decorated each slot with Christmas scrapbook paper. Q was super excited to start opening his advent calendar gifts last night. Before getting ready for bed, the three of us sat together to talk about Christmas and remind Q just how much we love him. I think the Advent Calendar is going to be one of my favorite Givens family Christmas traditions.