Christopher Willman

Hypnotized by Chipmunks

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Mon, 14 May 2012 15:56:00 +0000

My sister Lisa and I used to love the movie, The Chipmunk Adventure movie. For her birthday this year, we found the dvd and gave it to Aunt Lisa. Then she brought the girls over for a slumber party. The kids were absolutely mesmerized watching it.

After watching this movie, in its awesome entirety started wandering around the house in his Colts hat, and sword, singing, "The Boys are Rock and Rollin'! The Girls are Rock and Rollin'!" Apparently, I should have bought us a copy of that movie too.

Wordless Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Thu, 10 May 2012 03:14:00 +0000

Solid Gold Dancer

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Sun, 06 May 2012 03:59:00 +0000

Friday was Christopher's Dance Recital. When I saw him in his outfit, I cried. He looked so grown up, he's going to be a heartbreaker when he gets to high school, goes to prom.

We dropped Christopher off backstage. Looks like the crew was working hard.

My sister Lisa, who got the class for Chris for Christmas, came down for the recital. We left the youngsters at home so we could enjoy the show. Eric's parents joined us and we took over most of a row.

Then the show started. And we cried. I cried for every little girl in a tutu, every group that took to the stage, I cried.

And then my tiny dancer took the stage. Oh yeah, that got me some more. There were only two boys in the entire recital. And mine was one of them.

It's a little hard to see in the video. Eric was videotaping, and we were pretty far back, so there's a lot more bobbing dark heads, but let's just say, Chris is the blob with black pants, 5th in from the left. The one that spun in a flashy circle upon introduction.

He did a great job.

He had been silly all semester, but when he hit that stage, all the silly disappeared, and he focused, kept up, and did a wonderful job, I was so proud of him.

Mama's little ham. He couldn't even see us. But we were out there, whooping it up, crying, sniffling.

And so proud.

For their Grand Finale, the entire troup came out dancing to the Jungle Book theme, "I wanna be like you."

After his concert, we brought him flowers and a balloon. He was so excited.

And we were all so proud.

Since we were out late, the littles were taken care of, to celebrate we took the my little dancer to Steak -n- Shake. In our family, nothing says Celebrations after a show, choir concert, wedding, or dance recital, like a milkshake!

He got his Jr. Mint, with no crunchies in it. :)

I swear he is so adorable he could do commercials for Steak-n-Shake.

It was the Perfect end to a Perfect evening.

the Number Story.

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Fri, 04 May 2012 11:22:00 +0000

2+4=6.

Heartsong

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Tue, 01 May 2012 03:59:00 +0000

Christopher often has a song in his heart, sometimes he'll just narrate his life.

And it's a Beautiful thing.

The karate chop story

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 00:44:00 +0000

Me and My family and Mommy tok a picture of Me frest as choping.

Easter Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 03:59:00 +0000

It's wonderfully refreshing that Chris is old enough to really enjoy Easter. Old enough to Believe and old enough to be helpful at the same time. I love this age. 6 is great. There are days I just want to freeze him like this. Easter weekend was one of those times. He was so pumped up about coloring eggs. I should have made more.

1 dozen wasn't enough. They were so adorable coloring. And Chris ran for the crayons and decorated of his own free will. One of my favorites he made said Christopher on one side and a black smiley on a yellow egg. It was very happy.

So, imagine his surprise when he came down the next morning and found the Empty Egg Carton!

Guess who just found his first Easter egg? Oh yeah, he was stoked! And this was before the sugar.

Then the boys found the Easter baskets.

Very kind of the Bunny to include some toys in there too.

We had to get to church early. But when we returned, Chris was an egg finding maniac! He found them all and was quite bummed that there weren't more.

We made it up to him by letting him have sugar for breakfast. Chris had no qualms about downing chocolate, peeps and jelly beans for breakfast.

Such sweetiepies!

Happy Easter Cousins!

Oma made a special Easter dessert just for sweetboys.

Oh my goodness, the Bunny left some goodies outside.

And boys I know went outside and raked in all the goodies.

Christopher was the fastest finder and fetcher.

He got not just one but two baskets, and there were three different balls: a basketball, a soccerball, and a dodgeball. He picked up the basketball first and started playing catch.

Sam took the picture above, I kind of love this one, maybe Sam has as good a photographic eye as his big brother.

Still a good chunk of silly goose in there. He was taught this move when he was in soccer two years ago or so, as a practice move, dribble the ball with his feet, now Sit on it. The sitting was his favorite part. Guess it was a sign he was tired. Because after this we headed home. Spring Break ended, Easter done. And it was All Good.

More Spring Break Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 03:59:00 +0000

Chris spent his Spring Break surprising me with his increased maturity. He told me on Tuesday, that he wanted to make dinner on Wednesday. He wanted to make chicken nuggets. So I let him.

We walked through putting them on a tray and putting them in the toaster oven. He set the table without even being told. He was very well protected with his two oven mitts, he could barely maneuvre the tray. But he and Sam were perfectly thrilled with their nuggets and peaches dinner.

Then Thursday, his friend *Fifi came over for a playdate with her family. Her brother brought Legos, so we had a great big kid lego party...for about 10 minutes.

They even let the Moms chat a bit while they played Princess and Knights. *Fifi was often more knight than princess. She played so well with the crazy boys.

The end of the week was Good Friday. So, I picked Chris up a bit early, as his friend Emily had a half day from school too. So the girls came over for lunch, strawberry soup, and french fries.

And on to Easter celebrations.

Spring Break - A Sweetboy in the flowers

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 03:59:00 +0000

Happy April Fool's Day!

Uncle James came home for Spring Break from Afghanistan.

So it was a great refreshing start for our break to go have dinner at Oma and Opa's. We were celebrating the March birthdays. And James who is technically a February, but just barely. "Happy Birthday Sam, Suzy, Meb and Uncle James....." It didn't exactly roll off the tongue. So it was funny to hear all of us singing goody. Christopher laughed hardest of all.

The kids were acting a little crazy, and to run off some energy we all went outside to play. They had a wonderful time getting crazy, just literally running circles around the house. My son runs like Rick Moranis in Ghostbusters. So since he was up/down all around, crazy, he started climbing on the rock. Tiptoeing among the tulips at Oma's house. She had about 100 tulips in bloom in their front yard. And they were gorgeous.

The Thinker. Or should we say, The Stinker. Mr. Pouty pouts didn't want to look directly into the sun anymore.

But he did. Especially once he had some company on that rock.

I love this. Pure Sweetboy Joy.

Meanwhile, Christopher wanted to go to ABA Day Camp during Spring Break. He had such a wonderful time there last summer, an during Christmas break. So when it looked like he was going to have some time over Spring Break, I asked him if he wanted to go to Day Camp. He did!

The only bummer is that he was gone from 9-3 every day. They worked on counting, playing games, one on one and with peers. Kind of a light load. Maybe next time we'll work on reading and math. But it felt like So on the second day, we picked him up, and I took the boys to Garfield Park. The tulips were blooming, and I wanted them to run around a bit. They wanted to play on the playground. We came up with a compromise. We'll go to the Playground AFTER Mommy takes some flower pictures.

They took off into the sunken gardens, with little brother doing every single thing that big brother wanted to do.

There wasn't anything in these giant flower planters, but that didn't stop the boys from trying to hop in and take a look. They checked each and every one.

Sweetboys.

Goofballs.

Running like an airplane through tulips. It's better than tiptoeing.

What a great big brother!

Sam started to wander off, and I wanted a picture of the boys at this little gate, so Christopher ran off and grabbed Sam's hand, and carefully escorted him back to me. He's a Great Big Brother.

And lastly, lilacs. I try to get a picture of the boys by our lilacs at the old house every year, this year, we had to borrow someone else's lilacs. That works too!

Christopher and Sam took over the playground.

Playing musical seats on the teeter totter. Only this one was kind of wonky and didn't really move around much. That didn't bother the boys, they were thrilled I let them play at the playground.

Christopher was a climbing maniac. I guess it's been a while since we all went to the playground together.

Sam even wanted to try to do everything that big brother did. But Sam's a little afraid of heights.

So Big. It still makes me nervous when he climbs so high. But he can. He's growing so fast.

Spring Break's first weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 03:59:00 +0000

OK, this is going to be a big post, because although we didn't leave town for Spring Break this year, we packed the week full of wonderful things right here in town.

1. To start, when Chris got off the bus on Friday afternoon, the 29th, his BFF Emily was there waiting for him. She got to stay overnight for a slumber party. Isn't that the way all slumber parties should start? We thought so too.

And because it was the start of a vacation, Daddy was able to be home a smidge early...just in time for a boy to get home from school too! And Chris and Emily wanted to ride their bikes.

Since Emily was learning to ride a big girl bike with no training wheels, we decided to pull Chris's wheels off too. But he Needed Daddy to push along behind.

Best Friends!

It's a great evening for being outside riding a bicycle. Even Daddy was taking his 'new' bike out for a spin. Showing the kids how it is Done.

Then as it should be, we curled up to eat some pizza and watch some Avatar. Oddly enough, the kids got us sucked into this show, and Daddy and I really like it. Chris and Sam got tired and went to bed, and Mommy and Emily did their nails for a little bit. It worked out perfectly.

Waffles Around!

Emily had a softball game in the morning, but that was fine, the boys got to relax a bit before Chris's school friend C* birthday party. Her birthday had already passed, but she opted take over Trader's Point church, and the park during Spring Break.

Christopher was the first of the school friends to arrive, so he got to play dress up one on one. He insisted, I like Girls. So I can dress up too. I just dress up like a boy. What can I say? My boy has style.

School friends!

Make a wish *C! A pretty butterfly cake for a sweet girl. Christopher told me she liked Hello Kitty, so he picked her out a Hello Kitty diary with stickers for a present. It was Perfect! What did I say, the kid has style.

The kids had a Wonderful time.

They got crazy climbing, and playing. And didn't stop moving for a moment. C* and F* had a great time with Christopher. It was obvious that these girls were good friends to my boy. And Mommy got to meet their Mom's and we're going to set up playdates. It will be great!

I think Chris Loves Spring Break!

The Play Date

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 17:16:00 +0000

Sometimes it's easy to make a little mess bigger. (Like the muddy backsplash on pretty little daffodils, insanity runs wild around here.) And I don't know if you knew this, sometimes I tend to blow things entirely out of proportion.

A couple weeks ago, I hit new first with Christopher: the first friend of Chris's I didn't know, a 4th grader, came knocking on our door to ask him to come out and play. I probably could've handled that. But she came while he was having his flush. I let her in, and took her upstairs to Chris. I was so Excited that the great and legendary *L had come over, and I just knew Chris would have been shaking with Joy too. So they chatted for a minute, in the doorway to the bathroom, and then she left. Afterwards I wondered, did I do the right thing? Did I handle that right? She didn't have any questions, and Chris acted like he had told her all about his Flushes before, and they both acted fine, but now that I think about it, if I was in 4th grade, and went to see my friend and found him on the toilet hooked up to the toilet, probably would have weirded me out. The more I thought about it, the more upset I got. I was just too excited just to have one of Chris's new friends come by. And used to Emily who is entirely comfortable with the whole process. I suppose I should have talked to her parents, but I didn't know them. I didn't even know her phone number or where she lives. I gave him the assignment of inviting her over, getting her number, preferably on a Friday afternoon, you know 'Flush Free Fridays' are a big party around here.

So this last Friday, she came. Oh my word Christopher was so excited. They were a hoot and a half. Chris gave the house tour, she loved our place. And they went and played outside. I got to meet her Mom when she came to get her, so I got to have a chat, and while it is a little awkward to explain Chris's history and flushes in 5 minutes or less, she seemed cool about it, and she was really nice. Apparently, *L was cool enough with Christopher and his explanation of things, she had just told her Mom that he was a little sick that day. Good enough. He's so Amazing.

But that left me in a new pickle. What do I do with a playdate that is a 4th grader, certainly old enough to play in the yard without my constant supervision, and my sweetboy, who just borders old enough to play outside without me. I called Eric. And he said I should listen and check on them periodically.

So I did. Whew.

Amazingly enough, it all turned out OK. Kids are so much more resilient than I give them credit for. These girls that Chris has made his friends really are so kind hearted and loving, turns out he's a great judge of character.

Under the guise of taking pictures of flowers in the yard, I kept an eye on them.

A little driveway time. :)

What are you talking about? I'm just taking pictures of Flowers over here.

*L-name changed to protect the innocent. ;)

Music Share Night

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 20:22:00 +0000

Thursday was Christopher's first music program at school. We were so thrilled that as we were arriving, his Grandma and Grandpa joined us. It meant so much that they show up to support him. He was hamming it up for all of us.

It was Wonderful to have him play a little hand drum with us, just like they would practice in class.

But that wasn't all they did. There was lots of music, dancing, singing, all in all a Great Show!

My favorite was this one, the Turkey Tango.

He just got distracted by his neighbors periodically, par for the course in Kindergarten, right!?

We were so Proud of him, when he was participating, he was spot on.

The Cow says Meow! Another one of my favorites from this evening. Only kindergartners could play off that level of silliness. I was so Proud of him.

And as any fine performer will do at the end, A Bow.

We were and are all so Proud of him, we can't believe this was just the First of many music programs. Great Job Christopher!

Happy Birthday Emily!

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 20:07:00 +0000

This whole 'being in school the whole stinky day all week long' thing really is beginning to cramp our social style. Christopher is always invited to go to lunch/dinner on Emily's birthday, and vice versa. But this year, with everyone's Easter preparations, and Eric's surgery, there was no time.

So we avoided the crowds on Sunday morning, and went to Chuck E. Cheese for 'brunch'. And by brunch, I mean we played our hearts out, ate cake, and left to go to lunch at Panera (Em's pick).

The boys had a great time playing, Sam followed Emily for a while, checking out all the Big Girl things that she did.

All the kids loved this Jet Rider roller coaster ride. But only the big kids wanted to ride down with their arms up.

Kathleen had printed off a scavenger hunt, of sorts, worth extra tickets, that I got to help the big kids work on. Like learning what the E in Chuck E. Cheese stands for: Entertainment.

Who knew?!

Speaking of Chuck E., he made an appearance when we decided to have cake. We chose dessert before lunch. Worked out Just Fine. :)

Suddenly our big kids are really big. They are 6. That's a lot more candles on the cakes than there used to be. They look so much older; they are growing up so fast. Not only are we so Proud of the young lady (and gentleman) that they have become, they're really getting a little confidence in themselves. But so far, as a parent, I like 6.

They are becoming more mature, wanting to be good helpers with their siblings, more responsible. Yet not afraid to give a strange mouse a hug.

And they are really good with the little kids. 6 is a great age, they still are young enough to really have a good time with little brother (or sister). Absolutely enchanting.

Then the boys played with each other (how novel) before we left.

So much sweetness borders on illegal.

I wish I could freeze these days.

Emily's 6th Birthday Party

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 22:51:00 +0000

Well, I wasn't able to make it being sick and all, but yesterday evening, my sweetboys had a great time at Emily's 6th Birthday party. It's not often that a boy can say his best friend is a girl, but that is the case for Christopher, and I'm blessed that her Mom is my bestie too. I was really bummed to miss out on yesterday's festivities, but Eric covered for me taking pictures. It appears that I missed a whole lot of cuteness.

The big kids got to play outside.

I just love this picture of Mary and Emily peeking in through the window. Not sure what they were peeking at, or where Chris is (?) but they just seem so sweet.

The big kids all lined up by the fireplace, in readiness for the grand present opening extravaganza.

I love this wig that Emily got as a gift. She had to put it on immediately. She's adorable as a blonde.

Though Chris is intrigued by a blonde Emily. He told us he now wants a Flynn Rider (Rapunzel's boyfriend) birthday party when he turns 7.

I have no idea how to pull off a Flynn Rider cake, like he wants, but he wants one just like Emily's. Emily's was a neat cupcake cake smothered with icing and rapunzel goodness.

I have to post the annual picture of Mommy and Daddy with Emily in the middle. (Though I blame Eric for Mike's eyes.) ;)

Happy almost Birthday Emily!

Sparkly Scrap

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 16:34:00 +0000

Wordless Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 23:22:00 +0000

the Christopher com

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 12:52:00 +0000

Me and Mommy had two appols. Then daddy gev three appols!
2+3=5.

Wordy Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 04:51:00 +0000

Tonight Chris and I had some library time, after Kindermusik class. I showed him where the non-scary comic books are. He had gotten one last week that gave him nightmares from the young adult section. I told him he can't get a book there again until he's 13. He seemed ok with that, though 13 was arbitrary.

His favorite area at the library is now the superhero shelf, and the lego shelf. ;)

Mommy took advantage of a sale the library coffee shop was having: buy a latte, get a kid's cocoa free. Oh my. I picked him up a banana split cocoa. It had chocolate, carmel, and banana syrups. Wicked. It was nice of me to save some for him. He was quite a big fan too.

Heaven is a Batman: Brave and Bold book and a cup of hot cocoa!

The Open Door Policy

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 21:23:00 +0000

My son is Enchanting. I think you knew that. However, the extent of his enchantments never cease to surprise me.

For Valentine's Day, I met Christopher at his school. The parents were invited to participate in gym class, so Kathleen borrowed Sam, and I went to gym class. We did an obstacle course.

And I realize I'm very out of shape. Hula Hooping, Balance beams, Jumping Rope, and a potato sack race. And FYI, Jumping Jacks should be illegal for people with busts like mine. But I was one of three parents to show up, and for that I was grateful, and Christopher was also grateful.

It was crazy. I may have overdone it, and gotten a little sore. But after gym class, I helped out in the classroom for a bit. We waited a while before having a Valentine's Party. Turns out Christopher is an excellent reader. Not only did he write down every student's name on their Valentine's, he was able to read his own handwriting and put them in their own boxes. He was only of about 3 kids that could read their own writing, or read it at all. It was very impressive.

After school we did a quick flush, so we could go out to dinner with the Julius's. Chris got to play with his favorite girls, and it was great.

It wasn't until the next day that I opened every Valentine and realized he had gotten an extra one, from someone not in his class, it was one of the .50 cent valentines with a fruit snack that someone bought. It said, Happy Valentine's Day from H-Your Secret Admirer. Oh my goodness.

In kindergarten, he's getting the secret admirers. It could be anyone! I couldn't believe it.

On Sunday, we had a special play date, when Audrey came over to play. She hasn't come over in a long time. The last time she did, we told her she couldn't go up on the top bunk until she was 5. Her birthday was in November, and a few days after, she told her mother that she had to come over and get in Christopher's bed because she was 5 now. This unnerved us parents. We didn't get around to setting up the playdate until now. I guess it's because Chris can only play on evenings and weekends, and evenings are pretty rough around here, what with flushes and homework and all. But Audrey came, and within minutes they were in his room and on his bed.

There was one rule, Eric laid it out. If girls are in your bed, you Will leave the door open! I modified it to if there are any girls in your room at all, then the door will be open.

Although all I think they did was read. ;)

Today was President's Day. Last week Chris came home with E*'s phone number, and we set up a playdate with her today. She's such a sweetie, and her family is great. It was pretty enough to play outside.

Little E* was desperate for Christopher to spend the night, but her Daddy put his foot down. That makes sense. I defer to all fathers in matters of comfort with coed playdates or slumber parties. I didn't think the differences in girls and boys and how the play needed to be monitored or worried about at age 6, but I guess it's time to watch. And time to make sure the doors stay open.

Persistance Pays

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 02:32:00 +0000

Sometimes my son amazes me.

You know what happened today? He came home with a girl's phone number. This girl was not on The List, you know the parent approved list that only 7 parents, including us, put their names on. No, this was a different girl. Now I've met her and her Mom, and they are the sweetest you ever saw, so no this sweetie is not any kind of hussy. In fact, I'd put my money on her being Valedictorian in another 12 years. But Chris has been trying inviting himself to her house. He's been bugging me for 2 weeks! I went into their class and the two of them cornered me and he informed me "I want to go home with E* after school today!" And she told me, she wanted him to stay over. I told him that her Mom and I would need to talk. I thought that was the end of it.

But No.

Chris kept bugging me. He's been most persistant in playing with his girlfriends. I get requests for me to arrange playdates all day long. This morning on the way to school it was, "Mommy I want to go play with Emily on Sunday after church for dinner." Uh, OK, I'll see what I can do. Only when I asked Kathleen about it did she say, Uh, Good Thing we're close enough that you can invite yourselves over to our house. Uh yeah, little rude. Whoops. Guess it's rubbing off on me too. Goodness gracious. I hate to see what VALENTINE'S DAY will bring.

So today, he brings home E*'s phone number, in small child handwriting. What are the odds that a kindergartner can get a girl's phone number, slim right? Sure. OK, sure, I'll try it. What do you know? It was the correct one. And apparently the young lass has been going on and on about our little sweetboy too. Darn it. He really is going to have a girl in every port.

I will say, at least it took him 2 whole weeks to get the girl's phone number. At least she held out for a while. But it just proves, once again, he's irresistible.

Oh yeah, so what was I doing at the school for half the days a couple weeks ago. We were having trouble, not flirty flirts troubles. I don't think I mentioned the bus problem. He spanked a kid on the bus, and that was Chris's third strike, in our book anyway. It's been months since the busdriver called us, but last time, we threatened him with making him become a car rider, so towards the end of January, when we had an incident, we pulled him from the bus and we've been chauffering him ever since. At first, it was successful, it was a fate worse than death to not ride the bus anymore.

But now he LOVES it!

**

It's a refreshing opportunity for him to get some quality time, sitting in a car line for a half an hour a day will do that for you. And I'll admit, in the morning, is when he's at his best. It makes me feel better, instead of him using up all the best he has to give at school, I do get to experience some of his sweetness again.

Like this, he was telling me to give him smoochies in his "Tunnel of Tuff". He wears this brown coat, that used to belong to Eric, so it's 30 years old, and Chris calls it his "Tough Coat". When he zips it up all the way, there's this little tunnel around his face, you know, the awesomely 80's retro cool. Yeah, that's Chris all over. Only, now he's bringing back the awesomeness, and next winter, you'll be seeing these coats all over the place. Because Chris knows cool.

Sam's not as big of a fan of the daily ride, and having to nap earlier (or go without) in order to pick up brother. But both boys tell each other how much they miss each other during the day.

**

Oh yeah, so why I brought up the bus thing. Well, after his third strike, we pulled him from the bus, and he's been car riding. Only he was still getting in tiffs. Two weeks ago, I arrived to find him being huddled in a teacher's arms, Miss Jill, who turns out to be the Special Ed teacher, and has met Christopher in meetings and things, and she was giving him bear hugs and compression therapy because he'd had a meltdown that friend cut him in line while they waited to come outside. The setup being the kindergarten car riders get in a line, leave the classroom first, then wait by the door until the entire school empties out (i.e. mass hysteria goes by) then they go outside and wait for car.

Yeah, he was getting on edge for the noise and chaos, and one little thing set him off. So I asked for a meeting with his teacher. God Bless Her! By the time we went in, she'd been talking to all kinds of people, and had a couple options all prepared. She and I make a good team. What we decided was that there's an older girl, very shy, that they'll give the Job of coming and getting Christopher, and escorting him Outside. No mass chaos in the hall, she gets a friend, he gets a friend, and he gets dropped off by Miss Jill until I make it through the line.

And he had gotten a dart in reading class, so they had communicated, and decided that a little OT may be in order before he goes there. OT disagreed, so Mrs. N is doing Classwide exercise break before they split for reading. Did I also mention that the reason Chris leaves for Reading is that he's in the highest reading group? Yup! I'm a little bit proud.

After this meeting, I decided to sit in on story time when Daddy got the boys ready for bed to hear Chris do some reading aloud. Sam chose Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Suess, and we let brother start the reading. Only Chris didn't stop. He read the whole book! 60 pages, and he read it! I will say long about page 35 he started to stumble, getting tired, but I just said, Oh I don't know if he can do the WHOLE THING. And like any boy with a challenge, he accepted, and knocked it out of the park.

He got all green smileys last week, and 2 purple character awards in the last two weeks. One from his regular teacher, and one from his reading teacher, both for independently Showing Responsibility.

I am so Proud of him.

**- Pictures that Christopher took during our car time.

Rock On

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:33:00 +0000

My Hero

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:05:00 +0000

It's Super Hero day at school today.

This is how I sent him off, with backpack, coat, and Superman costume equipped with muscles and cape.

I love him.

The Shirt of Awesomeness

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 03:54:00 +0000

Also known as the 100th Day shirt.

Christopher had an assignment for today. It was to create a shirt and cover it with 100 things for their 100th Day of school. Who knew this was a thing we celebrated? I had no idea. Then again, I went to kindergarten in a day care center run by a hospital. I guess it's a big deal if you've recently discovered how to count to 100.

We procrastinated, and though I had an idea, we didn't get around to shopping for supplies until last night. And we let Chris lead.

I thought we'd get safety pins and pin 100 things to a size small yellow shirt, I had leftover from making Disney shirts. So Eric took him shopping last night (to Wal-mart, brave soul), and let Chris pick what he wanted to pin. He was led to ribbons, so he picked out a few colors of ribbons. We used gold, red, blue, purple and pink. But he also fell in love with some alphabet beads. Eric decided to do both.

So when they got home, roughly 8 o'clock, hello procrastinators anonymous, we put Chris to work Counting 100 beads.

Then he helped me cut 100 pieces of ribbon.

Daddy counted out 100 safety pins, and then came the "Fun" of having Chris write 1-100 on each ribbon. We probably didn't have to write the numbers on them, but we did it, because I thought he should be able to demonstrate his mad skillz with writing the numbers 1-100 as well as count. He did great!

He did wonderfully, but by the 80s he started getting punchy, understandable, it had been a long day. And he was getting tired. Us too.

But Chris Wouldn't go to bed until the homework was done. That's honorable, albeit a little crazy. So we worked together as a 'Team'. While Chris and I wrote out ribbons, Eric started putting the pins together. Then when Chris and I were done, I started putting the pins in the shirt. We didn't opt to let Chris deal with the safety pins directly, I thought that was just asking for trouble. We worked out ok.

But then he was so tired. And he Wouldn't go to bed. It was almost 10 by the time we finished. He was blithering, but he Wouldn't go to bed. Doesn't he look like a drunken sailor? But he Wouldn't go to bed.

This morning, he was so excited to wear his special shirt. He was thrilled. He told me, "My shirt is Made of Awesomeness!"

He may have been right. ;) However, Mommy and Daddy need to work on their Procrastinating. This will not do in a higher grade when the project takes more than 2 hours. But Chris loved his shirt, and came home with a reward of a 100 fruity o's for a snack today. He'd had to remove his shirt in the middle of the day, apparently 100 pieces of ribbon can only take the beatings of a kindergartner for so long. But he Loved it.

Just remind me folks, to shop more than a day in advance, even if I'm still sickly and not wanting to go shop. And to let Chris start it before 8 o'clock at night, the night before. Just because Mommy started her homework late, does not mean that's a trend I want to perpetuate in my son.

*The reason that it's called the Shirt of Awesomeness, is when he got dressed for school the next morning, he told me, "My Shirt is Made of Awesomeness!"

2! 2 Good Riley visits, Ah Ah Ah

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 22:33:00 +0000

Last week we went to Riley for a couple appointments. First we headed to the Orthopaedist. It was the first ortho we'd seen in 3 years, as it turns out, I knew it had been a while, but not That long. Anyway, first they wanted an x-ray. At first, Chris was nervous, but he did great. And our new doctor took a look at him, said he's doing great, his scoliosis isn't showing any changes, in spite of the hemivertebrae. We just need to keep watching in case there is a change.
So he'll see us in a year. I love that.

Then we went to Therapy with Mr. Doug. We were coming off our DisneyWorld high, and didn't really have much bad to say about anything. Chris says he doesn't like us complaining, luckily, there wasn't much to complain about. Chris has been doing well in school. Any meltdowns are usually resulting from exhaustion. And Chris is implementing his deep breathing exercises on his own. He's doing really great. Mr. Doug doesn't want to see him back until March! We're backing down on Therapy!

Woohoo!

Then yesterday, we had an appointment with Dr. M in Urology. We didn't chose the time, I had to pull Chris out of school at noon to get him there by 1. He was having a Urine Flow study. We had been slacking and not given him his Flomax in weeks. Then they did an ultrasound to see if he had enough pee. He didn't. And he was flipping out a little.

He had brought Duffy bear to school, and wanted to bring him to the procedure. It was actually pretty comforting to have Duffy, and the great nurse helping him out hous. Turns out the ultrasound goo makes him uncomfortable, but he did better if they put it on the wand first, instead of on his belly, I'll have to remember that trick.
He didn't have enough liquid, so they gave us a cup of water, told us to drink and walk. We did. We walked over to McD's, where I got him a juice and had him drink that, by the time we got back, 1/2 hour later, he had to pee. Then he did the Test like a champ.

AND they liked what they saw. He had a little residual pee left behind, but nothing to worry about. Here's the Best PArt. First, we could officially discontinue the Flomax. Second, they don't want to see us back for 6 months!!!!

Praise the Lord!

First Dance Class

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:52:00 +0000

For Christmas, my sister and Mom bought Christopher a semesters worth of Dance class. It's a combo class of tap and ballet. Tonight was his first lesson. Initially he was worried he'd be the only boy in the class. He wasn't. Since I was sick, Eric took Chris, and made sure to get me plenty of pictures and video, so I thought I'd share them.

He's simply enchanting. I'm very impressed that he seems to have picked it up so quickly. It's really only his first dance lesson.

Then he got to switch to his Ballet shoes.

He's so precious. Reminds me of my old dance class days.

Eric said that he had to hide behind a window, so there was only minimal peeping allowed, and if you're wondering why the video sound is weird, it's because there's noise of other kids and parents. Apparently for this ballet video, they were dancing to YMCA, although I think Chris was more OI hula hula. I love it!

For his first night, I'm very impressed. And I don't think I'm entirely biased, I think he has Enthusiasm as well as natural gifts, which are both very important. He's Simply Fabulous.