Christmas 2015

Photos from Christmas week.

We went to see the new Star Wars movie - Episode VII. T thought it a little scary but still enjoyed it.

Santa Visit - T was sick on the original day we were scheduled so we postponed the trip to see Santa another day to allow him to heal.

Christmas Eve we stayed home and played in the snow. He, S, and his dad played laser tag outside in the snow. Then inside to watch Charlie Brown Christmas before heading off to bed.

T asked for some Halo action figures after initially wanting a Perry the platypus. He got both with some Star Wars and Scooby Doo Legos. He was a happy guy. He said it was the best Christmas ever. Definitely lots of magic in the air this year.

He's such a great kids. I'm his mom so I feel like I can brag but he really is an awesome kid. So grateful he's part of our family. 

Eight!

From the birthday party...

T Rex Dad drove 6 of T's closest friends across town for pizza and laser tag. They ate and played a couple rounds of laser tag. His favorite cousin made an appearance. Non-chocolate chip chocolate chip pan cookie was the dessert. He said he had a great time.

Taekwondo Belt Test - HIgh Green

T Rex Mom here....

T tested for his high green a couple weeks ago. One of the components of his test was he had to break a board. He was never able to break the board during practice so he was quite concerned about doing so during his test. 

Come test time he rocked his form, was pretty good with his three steps, and then it came time for board breaking. His teacher walked him through it a few times. Then he just had to go for it. 

He nailed it! Nice clean break. He was SO surprised!

Photos and video below. He will be presenting his story to his class this week and discussing what taekwondo is, where it comes from, and showing his new belt and the boards he broke. Now we need to think of something to make with all these boards he's going to start breaking. 

I admire his courage being put on the spot up there all by himself. In fact, courage is one of the tenants of taekwondo.

Another Natural Tooth Loss

This time it occurred at school. When that happens the nurse gives a treasure chest to put it in. Look at that smile!

Taekwondo Award...

T received a special award from his taekwondo instructor. This award is nationally recognized so quite a big deal. He was the most improved student for 2014-2015. Mr. M and we, his parents and family, were so proud of him. He has done a beautiful job learning to be focused and getting outside his comfort zone. His instructor spoke with tears in his eyes about T. We are so grateful for the life changing experience taekwondo with Mr. M has been in T's life. Truly amazing! We are most grateful.

First Day of School...

T Rex Mom here. I am considering transferring this blog to T but for the sake of not getting too far behind I'll catch things up and then transfer flags.

T is now in 2nd grade. He's doing quite well. Always getting the challenging spelling words because unlike his mother, he's a really great speller. His teacher is starting to get to know him and she finds him quite entertaining because of his serious demeanor. He's a super serious kid and knows it. She has been good for him teaching how to be less serious and to loosen up and go with the flow of things. I really appreciate that about her. Her homework expectations are about 180 degrees from what we were used to last year which started out being a struggle for us. Once we took focus off of that and some of the typical academic things like spelling, reading, and math and focusing more on presentation skills and other life skills, it has been wonderful for him and our family. He wants to take archery lessons with his dad. We are working on that.

He is still doing taekwondo twice per week and will test for his high green belt in a couple weeks.

He continues to study hard but he can finish an entire week's worth of homework in 5 minutes and rarely needs to study his spelling words. Even challenging ones like "kiosk". He usually doesn't get 100% because his handwriting is still pretty bad. Spelling good, writing bad. He's getting there. It's about slowing down. His mind thinks so fast compared to how fast he can write.

He has an after school job cleaning up one of the kindergarten class rooms. He washes tables and stacks chairs. Mrs. T pays him 2 Skittles every day he performs his tasks. Sometimes she throws in left over snacks from the class and he's REALLY happy about that. Plus, he adores her. He still regularly visits his 1st grade teacher who is also quite beloved to him. Recently we had her and her husband over and Mr. S brought his collection of dinosaur fossils over to share with us. T was talking with him and Mr. S came up to all of us after T left the room and said, "I think that kid is smarter than me." Mrs. S (who is certified gifted and talented) said, "I'm pretty sure he's smarter than all of us here." She taught us that he's a creative thinker so not the typical "academic achiever" that we think of with "smart kids". He's often spacey and contemplative. When you ask him what he's thinking about it's deep. Like meaning of life deep. I am grateful for all the help she gave us understanding him at an early age so we could help him. 

At the request of both his first and second grade teachers and with some seeds that were planted by his kindergarten teacher, he's going to be tested for gifted and talented later this year. They tell me it can be a lengthy process and if he passes we can make some decisions. The amazing thing is we don't really work with him. He just picks things up so fast with little prompting and practice. He is an amazing reader. We struggle to find appropriate challenging literature for him. He wants to read The Martian but having read it I know the language is inappropriate for a 7 year old. But he would probably understand it better than me.

For now, we're happy he is finally settling into second grade. I hear he had an amazing time learning about ancestor immigration and going through a mock process of it last week. His dad went and participated and either T or his dad can post more about that. I had to work. I hear it was handled flawlessly and all the correct lessons were taught. T has a great, great grandfather who was a baby when he came over on a boat in steerage class to Ellis Island about 100 years ago. 

Here are some photos from the first day of school. The final one is after the day was done.

Missing Front Teeth

Within the past month I have lost my two front teeth. Both natural losses and both after picture day at school. It's been over a year since Uncle Doc pulled my two front bottom teeth.

 

The top ones have been loose for a while. Then while we were at a play date at the zoo I bit into an apple slice and the right front came out. The photo is of it right after it happened. Then a week ago my beloved kindergarten teacher texted Mom a photo of me with my missing tooth that I lost during class. My 2nd grade teacher told Mom that I stopped the entire class and announced very seriously that it was about to happen and sure enough it did. I went to the nurse's office and was given a chest to store it. (Not a necklace because those can be a distraction to my learning.)

Mom thinks the adult permanent teeth will be grown in by Christmas so I won't have to sing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth." She also tells my I'm quite cute with these missing teeth. The tooth fairy gave me 2 golden dollar coins for each tooth she collected. Mom gave me her childhood tooth pillow to use for the transfers.

Pikachu

Auntie J gave him to me. I love him. Yes, I am totally into Pokemon. Guess who else is? Mom. She and I play all the time. It's our special time together and our own crazy language at the dinner table.

Baseball 2015

No longer playing t-ball. Now I am a baseball player - coach pitch which is "rookie" league. The clinic Mom works for sponsored the team again this year. Coach pitch is really machine pitch. It has taken a lot of work to get used to hitting a moving object. Even my eye doctor said it would be a challenge for me with my lack of depth perception but I am learning and excelling.

Things haven't been as organized this year as they have been in the past. It took half the season to get the correct jerseys. We had a total of 3 practices the entire season. Thankfully, Dad, Uncle S, and Cousin Dede got me headed on the correct path and I am regularly practicing on my own.

I had one especially great game where I hit two home runs and won player of the game. I was awarded a ball to keep afterward. My beloved kindergarten teacher came to watch during that game, too. Here are some photos from some of my games and my special guests who have come to watch. 

First Grade Community Project...

Last month we finished our unit on communities. Prior to then it was about families.

For our community project we were to construction a three dimensional structure of something in our community and then describe how it serves our community. There were 100 items to choose from and each first grader chose one. There were 100 different structures ranging from soccer/baseball fields to fast food restaurants to gas stations and grocery stores. I chose the Stinker Station which is a gas station/convenience store. I was not super happy about the choice as there were not a lot of options left when it was my turn but we rolled with it. It was to be a family project. In the end I was pleased.

Here are the end results. The way it serves the community - gas for vehicles, food for travelers, air for the tires of vehicles, ice, movie rentals (Red Box), and live bait for fishing (yes, we have vending machines with live bait here).