T-Ball Photos

The same week as kindergarten registration I also started T-ball. We had several weeks of practice before we had our first game. Mom and Dad have some video of my first time at bat but we will show it at a later time. For now, here are some photos of me in my jersey for the first time. Mom's boss offered to sponsor my team so we have her company logo on the back of my jerseys. I thought that was pretty awesome.

We rotate playing positions so there is also a photo of me in my catcher's attire. I really liked playing catcher even if I could not see out of the helmet - I pretended I was Aragorn from Lord of the Rings wearing my battle armor. Mom and Dad said I did a great job showing effort. I always make my hits and thus far have only missed one ball that has come my way. Most of the time I am extremely focused.

It was really me who pushed hard to play T-ball. I really wanted to play and had Mom and Dad pursue it, even though it is way outside their comfort level. We are all learning together and with some extra pointers from my cousin I am having a great time and doing good things. 

Go Indians!!!

Kindergarten Registration

A few weeks ago, Mom and Dad took me to the school to register for kindergarten. I was really excited - a little bummed though to be awakened from my nap but once I saw the basketball hoops in the gym I was sold.

I met lots of other kids, most of which were girls. In fact, I only saw about 3-4 other boys total. All the other students were girls. Sounds like I'll be making lots of girl friends.

The first person I met on my tour was the principal. She was very nice and signed a book for me. Systematically I moved from station to station meeting my teachers, counselor, nurse, and lots of other interesting people. I just kept saying, "I am so excited to learn." (No, Mom and Dad did not coach me to say that - I really am genuinely excited. They just keep telling me to remember that on days I don't want to get up for school.)

I did have to take a placement test which I totally rocked. Mom and Dad could not be present when I had my placement test but they stood at a distance and took photos. They could tell I must have done okay because they captured a photo of me cheering. When I showed them my results they were SO excited. I scored 99 out of 100. I was a bit bummed that I missed one letter - "q" - but as I explained to Mom she taught me to make that letter with a tail and the one on the paper did not have a tail so I kept insisting it was a "g". Still, they were SO excited for my success and I definitely felt proud.

Mom and Dad love the school and commented how organized everything was. School is less than a mile from the house so I do not get to ride the bus but I was reassured there would be plenty of opportunities for me to ride the bus during the school year. Yes, we're going with public school.

For now, the teachers just want me practicing my writing skills. I can write my name pretty good but now we just need to work on fine tuning for the fall. I anticipate great fun in the forthcoming years.

 

 

 

 

For Joseph - Minifigure Photos - Part One

I received a request from my long distance friend Joseph asking for high resolution photos of my minifigures. I was more than happy to comply. However, I did insist on doing separate posts for each genre. Currently I am really into the realm of Middle Earth - Hobbits, Wizards, dwarves, and elves. 

Here I present to you, specifically Joseph, my fantasy collection with a few other scary characters thrown in because they make great villains.  

P.S. Since I wrote this posting, I've added a few more. When I can take a break from playing with my new Hobbit house, I will add more photos.

Visit to Dad's Work

Lately, I've been begging Dad to take me to visit his work. Dad has to spend a lot of time there and I am very curious about what he does.  I've been asking tons of questions about what his job actually entails.  Mom is a Nurse Practitioner and I understand that very clearly.  "Mom heals people!"  In fact, Sister and I play "Nurse Practitioner" all the time.  But Dad says he is a "Systems Engineer on computers and networks".  We have lots of computers in our house, and even though I'm not allowed to use them yet,  they don't look that complicated.  But Dad says the computers at his work are 'big machines', and they make his company run.  So I've been asking to see it all!!

Dad's workplace is a actually a worldwide organization that manufactures high tech machinery.  The building where he sits is huge!  I was very impressed as we drove up.  We had to get special permission to get access to the site.  We even had to wait until I was old enough to get the pass! Visitors are rarely allowed and must be escorted at all times. Even Mom has never been to his work for a visit!

We were allowed to take photos of me on my visit, but we could not take pictures of the manufacturing machines. I was very impressed by everything.  Everything was on a massive scale.  The halls are long and plain, and Dad's desk is surrounded by many other desks. His 'cube' is very small but, but each person in Dad's area has several computers with many screens.  Very complicated...  I've never seen anything like it!

Dad's desk definitely reflects his style and he even had some old toys of mine that I was very interested in.  He says he likes these things to be there to remind him of why he is at work all the time!   Some things I found there included my first Buzz Lightyear, a 'poopatrooper (tiny parachute man), one of my old Lightning  McQueens, and a Lego mini-figure of a dwarf!  Dad let me take the mini-figure home and I gave him one  I built especially for him from my collection.  I wanted him to have something special of mine at his desk, from me!

After checking out Dad's desk and sitting in his chair for a while, we went to a nearby break room and we bought some 'crisps'.  I've been jokingly obsessed with a Geiko Gecko commercial for more than two years where the Gecko buys some chips from a vending machine with his boss' very first earned dollar.  I think it's hysterical!  So Dad let me go buy some chips.  I loved pushing the buttons to buy the 'crisps'!

Then we went into the 'machine room' to check out the Big Machines.  WOW.  I was very impressed.  Huge rooms filled with giant computers and other machines that Dad says are 'routers' and 'tape libraries'.  Hundreds and hundreds of machines.  It was loud and very cold.

I was especially impressed with a robotic arm that moves 'backup tapes' around.  I watched it moving inside a big machine.  Although it's wasn't as interesting as the 'robots' I have seen in cartoons, this was real life...

While we were in the machine room, Dad showed me the 'raised floor'.  He says that all those big machines need extra cold air to keep from overheating, so they sit on top of raised floors with chilled air flowing underneath.  He says all the network and power cables are kept under there as well to keep things neat and organized.  I was very impressed by the engineering behind all this.

Dad showed me a very cool trick that you can do using the air which blows up through all those tiny holes in the floor.  You can 'skate' a CDROM over them and it actually floats!  We skimmed a CDROM back and forth to each other for a while on the air cushion.  I loved it!

Dad told me about a visit to see a computer that his Dad (my Grandpa) arranged when my Dad was five!  (he says you don't want to know how long ago that was, but people were still walking around on the Moon then...)  Back then, my Grandpa was a key official for our state and took the initiative that brought the very first computer into our state government's infrastructure.  That one computer cost millions of dollars and filled as much space as all the 'big machines' I saw.  But it was only one computer!  Anyway, Grandpa arranged for my Dad to have a tour of that computer center and it made a big impression on him.  They let Dad play a game on the 'console' and printed him a picture of Snoopy and Woodstock on a 'dot matrix printer'.  Printers were really rare back then, apparently so it was really really cool.  Dad kept that printout for years...  Dad says there must be some kind of 'synchronicity' in the whole Snoopy / Woodstock thing, because I have become really interested in Snoopy and Woodstock in the past few weeks.  Same age, same thing.  Circles and circles, Dad says. 

I don't understand what all that means, but it was great to see where Dad spends so much of his time.  He says he hates to be away from me, Sister, and Mom so much, but he does it because he loves us. He says doing one's job is about the most important thing you can do in life, when you do it for the right reason.  He says 'we are his reason' and that I will understand all this when I have a family of my own!   All I know is that I miss him terribly when he goes away and that I loved seeing where he works!  A week later, I am still talking about it all!

Thanks Dad!!

PS Dad says that even though he was very impressed by that long ago visit to the computer center, he did not want to grow up to have a career in computers.  He wanted to be an astronaut!  He secretly wonders if I will ever catch that spark, but he is letting me find my own way....

Lego Mini-figures...

I love playing Legos and especially love my mini-figures. I recently earned some new ones - the set included a hobbit and wizard. Dad has been reading The Hobbit to Sister and me and we love it. I was so excited. That blanket is set up as a little Hobbit hole. I have also turned many of my mini-figures into dwarves, too.

Five Year Well Check...

On my second day of being five, I went to see my pediatric health care provider, Nurse Practitioner NM.

If you would like to compare with last year, you can click here.

Here are my stats:

Weight: 38 lbs (25%)

Height: 42 inches (25%)

Blood Pressure: 80/48 (normal)

I received all my kindergarten vaccines, too - DTap, Polio, MMR, and Varicella (chicken pox). It was a total of 3 shots. Mom brought some special band-aids. I was so excited to see the Toy Story Band-Aids that I was completed distracted from the shots and did not flinch. Plus, the medical assistant student did a great job and Sister was there to offer reassurance.

We did get my special monkey weighed, too. He was 6 oz. I was also really excited that I got to take home some gloves. I used them for a while as super hero costume attire until Mom found some real ones for me.

There was a nurse practitioner student also working with me. This is the same teaching clinic where Mom did her training so she knew it would be fine for the student to examine me. I checked out great. Everything was within normal limits and I am growing and progressing just as I should according to the American Academy of Pediatrics parameters.

My asthma was well controlled and I was off all my medications except occasional rescue inhaler use. That is until I came down with a horrible virus. Then I was using my inhaler and nebulizer every 2-4 hours and not sleeping. After two weeks and a probably secondary infection, Mom started me on antibiotics and prednisolone. Finally, I started to improve. (Although, the "roid rages" aka emotional outbursts were not that great but breathing and sleeping were most welcome.) I'm back on some maintenance medications until cold/virus season is over. At least I did not get influenza A like Cousin Dede did. Guess my vaccine worked. This probably also explains why my growth is slowed a bit compared with my previous history. I will likely catch up as I get older. Asthma and the meds can slow growth velocity but generally I should reach my expected adult height - it just might take a bit longer.

Interests: Super Heroes and Star Wars (specifically Jedi)
Favorite books: Currently reading The Hobbit with Dad, books about my interests, monkey books (Curious George and the Pizza), Star Wars Lego Mini-figure reference manual

Favorite foods: cheese pizza, freeze dried strawberries, "unhealthy" mac n cheese, fruit snacks, fries, spinach (without stems - I will now specify), and still no sweets but unfrosted sugar cookies are my dessert of choice, water is still my drink of choice

Favorite movies/shows: Land of the Lost (1972), Jonny Quest (1964), starting to enjoy Star Wars movies (have only seen Episodes I, II, and IV), Peanuts from the 1960s

Favorite toys: super hero and Jedi costumes - I have several and wear them all the time, my new minifigures, legos

Naps: I have quiet time every day and about 75% of the time I will still sleep but if I miss my nap I am not too grumpy

I am reading and loving it. Mom is still working with me to work through some of the more complex words but now that I can read it has made for some interesting questions when I read questionable things.

I do sleep with a menagerie of characters - Daniel and Daniella are still my beloved cats but now Monkey is in the mix as is Woodstock and Captain America.

Well, there you have it. Me at my five year well check. Just wait, six is just around the corner, but don't mention it to Mom or Dad because they get sad whenever we talk about me getting older or bigger. They say it is just going so fast. They do seem to feel a little better when I tell them my future farm house will have a guest bedroom where they can stay when they come to visit my wife, me, and my five children (3 boys and two girls) and I will always give them snuggles, too.

Five Year Birthday Party

I am a bit behind in posting these photos as my birthday party was about a month and a half ago but starting with my birthday the four of us have birthdays all within 6 weeks of each other, add this to the holidays plus a 3 week illness flaring up my asthma and it is the perfect storm for getting behind. However, I think the photos are worth the wait. Auntie J made a collage for me that is proudly displayed in my room from this very special day.

Since the aquarium opened I asked to have my birthday party here. We booked it 3 months in advance because I was so excited. It was just a special day.

With Grandpa N petting rays. It was he and Grandma's first visit to the aquarium. Note the resemblance between us.

My youngest guest was most interested in the rays.

Feeding the tropical fish with my guests.

Nan pointing out the clams in the boat tank.

Dad and Sister petting rays.

Watching Beam, the new sea turtle.

With my neighbor and friend. We are spying the sharks swimming with Beam.

Petting the tide pool sand creatures.

Blowing out the candles on my fish shaped sugar cookie (thanks to Auntie all our guests had fish cookies). 

After the party at the aquarium we all departed to my favorite restaurant, Red Robin, and had grilled chicken (chic on a stick) and steak fries. It was so fun having my family and friends close to me on my special day.