I have a kid in "real" school

It's done! My baby is officially gone on the bus to school! Andrew woke up coughing and feeling under the weather. Great day to start a cold. I knew he wasn't feeling too bad when he began chasing Lily around the house mere moments after she came downstairs. We spent the morning twiddling our thumbs and waiting for 12:50 to arrive. We went to the grocery to pick out popcorn...because Andrew really really wanted popcorn. I wrote a note and stuck it in his lunchbox. I opened the lunchbox...and there was a note from Jeff to his boy. Good daddy.

It was really sunny...as you can tell by the squinting. Also? Didn't think about the dark door background making him look hairless. First child experimentation...

Andrew and his bus stop buddy, Lauren. We've been in playgroup with her for 3 years, so it was really nice for him to know who he was sitting next to on the bus.

Mommy and Andrew. Didn't think about ME getting in the pictures. First child experiment. When Lily gets on the bus, I'm going to get all done UP for those photos.

Dude, that bus pulled up and Andrew jumped up and down shouting in excitement and got on without even looking back at me. So that's how it is. I chased him down and made him kiss me. Lord only knows what Lily and Michael were doing at this time...

Waving from on the bus. So. Stinkin'. Cute.

So Andrew...my sweet boy that I love more than words can express. How far we've come together...and how far we have left to go. I've had the honor and fortune to stay at home with Andrew since the day he was born. We know each other well. Now is the start of a new era...the one where you apparently run away from your mother without even a goodbye ;) Oh, how I remember the days when I couldn't even leave the ROOM without him crying for me.

Let's watch almost 6 years go by, shall we? Sorry for some of the long long gaps in time...I was kind of just randomly picking and choosing files. We have THOUSANDS of photos of Andrew ;)

Biggest belly I ever had

Seriously, were we hit by a truck? We only had 1 baby for cripes sake.

Look at those giant hands...like predicting a puppy's size by its paws...

We get them started early in my family

At least he's not a naked Santa like his little brother...

Always a happy happy baby

Total Momma's boy...

Why didn't I get him into modeling...he's so cute!

Happy Independence Day!

1st Halloween...at a scary "pumpkin patch" in CA...

Tickles

He has always loved books...

He has almost always loved football

Sharing the limelight with his sister

Fierce

Still loves his Mommy...but not quite a Momma's boy anymore...

Born to be a big brother...he was so excited to get a baby brother...

I don't even remember what he's doing here...but this is a pure Andrew mischief face

Reading to Lily

Last week, loving on an animal...always the gentle spirit

Oh! How we enjoy you Andrew! Happy first day of school...you were born to do it...you'll love it... Just quit growing up so fast, would ya?

The Surge

Jeff's fantasy football draft was last night. He decided to let Andrew stay up and help him with the first part. You would have thought it was Christmas Eve based on the level of anticipation and excitement in this house. Jeff printed out spreadsheets of the players, and Andrew highlighted them. They needed a new name to reflect their joint ownership...Andrew obsessed about it all day. He thought of Rocket Racers, Jeff wanted the names of Sanford and Son. Andrew wanted the Booger Busters, Jeff wanted a quote from How I Met Your Mother. They could find nothing to agree on...and were united only in their lack of creativity.

Here is their fierce picture that now graces the fantasy football website.

Andrew was moderately disappointed when he discovered that they weren't ACTUALLY drafting these players. I guess he thought they would own and have control over the players. And then he was equally disappointed when he found out that Jeff would never actually play football with his college buddies...they would merely mock each other in a virtual reality. When Jeff first told him that he could help with the draft, Andrew put his sneakers on, grabbed a football, and headed out the door, telling Jeff that they'd better practice.

But he had fun anyway, and Jeff's buddies were patient and didn't post any inappropriate pictures or use foul language while Andrew was sitting there. And Bill even heckled him a little bit...which Andrew LOVED. This boy was MADE for football...at least the sit-around-and-pretend variety. ;)

3 Voices

I am struggling with 3 voices shouting inside my head. One is courtesy 21 years of sitting around my parent's kitchen table, hearing the stories of my father, the school administrator. One is courtesy of 8 years of working as a student teacher/teacher/school librarian. And the last one is courtesy of almost 6 years of being a mother.



I am struggling.



Andrew starts Kindergarten on Monday. We had orientation last Thursday. It would be the understatement of the year to say I was unimpressed. But these darn voices...they shout at each other in my head... Here's an example of what I struggle with...using his class size as an example. There are other issues, like lack of communication, but I'll just bore you with one.

Parent- I can't believe there are 27 kids in Andrew's class. Even if it is a really good teacher, there's no way she can adequately meet every child's needs.
Teacher- The last thing I need is grief from an irate parent. It IS terrible to have 27-28 students in a class. What am I supposed to do about it? My administration just hands it to me.
Administrator- Money is tight. Budget cuts have to come from somewhere. If you want decent class size, let us raise your taxes or cancel busing or something. There are no state standards for class size, so we're not technically doing anything wrong.

Parent- I am going to write a letter to the administration demanding extra help in the classroom. If they won't pay for another class, then the teacher should at least have help in there.
Teacher- Fabulous. The parent doesn't even know FOR SURE yet how many kids are in the class and she's already going over my head. She's one of "THOSE PARENTS". I'll be sure to let the rest of the teachers know to be wary of her.
Administrator- Squeaky wheel. Volunteer in the classroom if you want extra help for the teacher. Parents have responsibilities too...not just the school.

Parent- Perhaps I'll volunteer once a week in the classroom to help out the teacher. She must be overwhelmed.
Teacher- Oh, great. This parent doesn't trust me and wants to watch everything that I'm doing. The last thing I need is to be constantly monitored.
Administrator- We have security issues and can't have random parents wandering about the school.

Parent- Perhaps I'll just sit back and be quiet for a few weeks and see how everything shakes down.
Teacher- Terrific. The parents are just going to take this lying down, so every year I'll get huge classes like this. Figures.
Administrator- See? A large class doesn't matter. Parents don't really care. They just want their kids out of their hair for the day.


These are the voices. I don't know what to do. I WILL wait a little while, because I don't have the whole story yet. I WILL ask the advise of my parents who have raised children through a school system of their own and undoubtedly faced issues like this. I WILL use my experiences in schools to help me access the situation and I WILL acknowledge that I don't know this particular school's issues so not to assume anything.

And I WILL probably let my parent voice win. But I fear that I will become one of THOSE parents. Which I really really don't want to. But I WILL fight for my child's education. I WILL fight for my child.

Why do I feel like I have to fight at all? Shouldn't we all be fighting together for the best education?

Future dentist?

Andrew had a dentist appointment this week...so the 4 of us pack up and went to hang out in the dentist's waiting area. Lily and Michael love it there because there are TONS of toys and a huge plastic play house in the waiting area. Don't comment about swine flu and transmittable diseases...I don't want to think about it. They were having fun...Andrew got his teeth cleaned...mission accomplished.

They did Andrew's first set of full jaw x-rays. Andrew did that and got his teeth cleaned while I waited with the littles out in the waiting room. I was called back when the dentist came in to look at his teeth. He's poking this tooth and then that tooth, and the hygienist is looking at Andrew's chart and chiming in, "We're watching J and E, we filled A in March 2008" etc etc.

Andrew suddenly chimes in, "Dr. T? Do I have 26 teeth?"
Dr. T, "No. You have 20 teeth. But you'll get more soon."
Andrew, "Can I name the new teeth with the rest of the letters of the alphabet?"
-the hygienist laughs at this point and comments on how smart he is and how closely he's been listening
Dr. T, "Actually, your new teeth will have numbers. Baby teeth are named with letters, but adult teeth are named with numbers."
Andrew nods thoughtfully.
Then Dr. T shows us the full jaw x-ray. It was so cool. Andrew has some big honking teeth up in his mouth. Yikes! You can tell the 6 year old molars are close to the gum line, and it looks like he'll probably lose his bottom teeth first in a little while...those adult teeth are starting to push their way up. Andrew studied it very interestedly...
Andrew (pointing at 2 dark spots on the x-ray), "Are those my eyes?"
Dr. T, "Good job, Andrew...those are your eyes. Do you see these teeth? They are your adult teeth."
Andrew (pointing at a specific tooth), "What's the name of this tooth?"
Dr. T, "That's 14."
Andrew, "That's going to be my favorite tooth."
We all chuckle. I say, "That is definitely NOT my favorite tooth. I have a crown on that tooth."
Dr. T, "So that's your DENTIST'S favorite tooth, then."

And then it was time to leave, and everyone there decided that Andrew has the capacity to be a dentist someday. Or a football player...whatev.

12 things about Andrew

So there was this thing that ran through Facebook, 25 things? Where you try your hardest to be interesting to the masses and divulge your deepest darkest secrets, just because. I thought that I'd try to do it for each of my kids, but 25 is a lot of things for people years on this earth can be counted on one hand. So I thought I'd try 2 things for each year of their lives. Rounded a bit.

1. Andrew is right handed. When he was a baby, he kept his thumbs tucked into his hand. It made it nearly impossible for him to do finger food. If he hadn't been my first child, I probably would have really worried about it. My MIL tried to get me to worry about it, but I didn't listen...as usual. His left thumb popped out first, so we thought for a while he was left handed (Jeff is a lefty)...but as soon as his right hand was in working order he quickly favored the right. He is also right footed.

2. Andrew is deeply deeply compassionate. I worry that he will be made fun of for it, and harden to a "normal" man. He doesn't cry at scary parts of a movie...he cries when someone loses a friend, or feels sad in any way. He intensely worries about other people's well-being, and is almost too good at putting himself in other people's shoes. This makes him a great big brother...except for those times he is body-slamming them.

3. Andrew has a big hard head. His head is slowly getting more proportionate...but I do have worries that we will eventually have to switch to an "all-Polo" shirt wardrobe. Because we need buttons to make the head hole bigger to get in and out of the shirt. Seriously.

4. Andrew has lost all of his "baby" speech impediments, except he still says "TH-inger" for finger and "Th-umble" for fumble. According to my friend the speech therapist...this is backwards for normal speech impediments. He says all other Th/f words correctly.

5. Andrew is like his father when it comes to reading books...he remembers everything. This summer he made a book...and it turned out to be the story from a Magic Tree House book we read over a year ago. He remembered how the story went. We have read 23 in the series since, and he still remembered the plot line from the first one.

6. Andrew is super-de-dooper friendly with strange adults. He will not usually start the conversation, but if one. single. comment is made to him, it opens the flood gates. He will usually tell you about his many nicknames (?he has none), or his future careers (he is going to be a herpetologist like Jeff Corwin on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, an artist on Thursdays and Fridays, and Saturdays and Sundays he will play football), or about any of the latest current events in his life. This week it is getting bitten by an antelope. And starting Kindergarten.

7. Andrew likes to have his back scratched...a lot. Beware getting started...he is like a dog...nudging you, giving you directions as to where to scratch. He will reciprocate, but it is a pathetic 2 second scratch and then it's on to his turn again.

8. Andrew is a cuddler. He was as a baby, and he still is. All he wants is to curl up on your lap and snuggle in. Except that he weighs 52 pounds, so after a few moments, your legs are asleep, his gigantic hard noggin has smacked you in the cheek bones and your face is in his armpit because he wants to play with your hair.

9. Yes, he still has a hair fetish. It only gets creepier as he gets older.

10. Andrew is terrible at dressing himself. Part of it is his giant head...very difficult to get in and out of shirts. Part of it is lack of interest. But to pull up his pants, he just randomly grabs some material in the middle and unceremoniously yanks them up to his waist. He does not grab the waist band to do this, so he ends up with the waistband rolled up, and his shorts are jacked up unevenly. He looks ridiculous. And it doesn't bother him. For once I hope that someone will make fun of it at school so that he will take 2 seconds to care.

11. His favorite color is yellow. It was red for about 2 years, then green when he fell in love with Zooboomafoo a few years back, and now it is solidly yellow.

12. Andrew doesn't drink much. Never has. He will go all day and only have 1 or 2 cups of anything to drink. His urine looks totally normal. I suspect he is part camel.

Close your eyes...

...and listen to Lily.

Linda didn't even know her camera was taping...so it is really long and really hard to look at. But it is such a great sound bite of Lily...being Lily. So just close your eyes and listen to what I get to listen to about 50% of the time. The other 50% she is being cute. Wait. Perhaps that ratio is a bit off...I think she sounds like this a LOT of the time. ;)

In case you can't understand her, the conversation is basically this: Michael kicks her, Lily is hungry, she wants to eat now, she doesn't want to go to McDonald's and dip, she wants to eat, she wants to sit on the bench, she wants the shade, she insists the bench is in the shade, she wants to do it herself, she wants to go to the bench, she wants her mommy, she does not want Grandma to pick her up.

Now you know why I want to kill her or myself much of the time. She. never. lets. up.

We will survive. Both of us. Maybe. Does anyone know where a 2 year olds mute button is?

I swear we spent the same amount of time in Cinci

My MIL downloaded her camera onto my computer when she was here at our house, so that is why there are so many pictures. I think.



This is the last day we spent in Mt. Vernon. We woke up, went in the hot tub, went to a farm and rode ponies, came home and rode Grandpa's tractor, had a nap, then had a cookout at the fire pit with Grandma's family. It was a full day!



Pictures: In no particular order...

Lily riding the tractor in her pretty yellow dress.

Lily actually rode the pony. Shocking. She did comment, "This horse is too bumpy". She liked riding it better when it was standing still. ;)


Lily's dream come true...barn kittens. We almost came home with one.

Andrew, the pony riding pro.

Michael shocked us by LOVING the tractor. Rode around for quite a while. Did I mention he has a new word? Ruck ("truck").

Michael sitting on the pony. He did not ride it. But loved every minute of this whole trip.

Andrew in the basement with the other cousin Collin. Collin played football and pool with Andrew (not at the same time) and was exceedingly patient the whole time. If my kids grow up to be half as nice as Collin and Allie (his sister)...I'll be a lucky woman.

Allie, Andrew, Collin, and Michael. Lily was already in bed (she hadn't napped...too busy being "patient"). Michael ADORED Collin and Allie, so we let him stay up. You'll see the video down below of Mr. Ham-it-up.

In the hot tub. It was cool in Ohio...hot tub felt good. I was sad to come back to the hot and humid Pennsylvania air.

Videos:

Andrew trotting on the horse. You can't quite see it here, but he was grinning so big, I thought he might hurt himself. And I think I can give up on any dreams of grandchildren from him...if you know what I mean...

Cousin Troy just -gasp- GAVE his iPhone to Michael. You have to kind of ignore the small talk going on in the background and enjoy Michael's "moves". He was totally hamming it up for the crowd.

More of Michael's moves...

Turning 32

On Friday, I turned 32. Linda took Andrew and Lily out the night before to shop for my presents. Lily had a definite idea of what she wanted to get me...a cat. A stuffed cat. I guess she could not be persuaded otherwise...they found the perfect one in the toy aisle...it even came with a baby bottle. Andrew didn't know what to get me, but as they walked in the front door, they saw the flower display. He told his grandma that it doesn't matter what they look like, just what they smell like. Which is really touching, because that is totally how I feel about flowers...I just had no idea he knew. They picked out a cake...Andrew insisted on marble and wanted the one with roses on it (since he got me roses). Lily wanted to get me a party hat, but Andrew suggested that they MAKE one. They came back home proud and excited and went to bed with plots and plans to make my birthday special. It's nice to be loved.

They woke up the next morning, and we had birthday doughnuts (day-old, but Whatev-) and opened all my presents by 7 am. I felt like my birthday was over before the sun had even come up all the way. ;) It was lovely...and I was just amused and touched by how excited the kids were.

In my birthday hat, with my roses.

My cat. I handed it over to Lily about 3 minutes after this photo was taken, and I haven't been allowed to touch it since.

Me with my whole crew. Notice how dark it is in the background. This photo has a time stamp of 7:01 am. Crazy. ;)

That night we had steaks and mushrooms and cake and yummo! Mike and I pose in front of my birthday sign.

Cousin Ryan reading to Andrew and Lily. Earlier in the evening, Uncle Dave joked with Lily not to get too close to Ryan because he was big and might throw her over the deck. She did not understand the humor, and ran away from Ryan crying and burying herself in pillows. Ryan won her over eventually...Uncle Dave learned that sarcasm is lost on a 2 year old.

Mike enjoying my cake. Marble is good!

Mt Vernon...the first day and the farm

I headed off to my in-laws' house on Wednesday morning. Jeff had gone back to Philly on Monday, so they weren't going to get to see him this trip...bummer for all around. Darned, "somebody has to make the money" and all that.

I made sure to leave in time that we could get to Grandma and Grandpa's and play a bit and then take a much needed nap. My kids sleep pretty well in Ohio, but they get about 2 hours less sleep each night than they do regularly...just because of sharing a room. ;) Lily had skipped her nap on Tuesday...she came downstairs after a long talk with Pepere...running over to me and patting my leg and saying, "I will be nice and I will be PATIENT, Mommy." Very cute...the first time.

So we get to Linda and Paul's house, and the kids trash the house (Grandma's basement is like Disneyland!), and it is time for naps. Michael screams as if the mattress is made of hot pokers...we tried for 45 minutes, and he wouldn't sleep. Lily kept coming out of her room telling us how, "I will be Patient. But I will be Patient, mommy...." She has no idea what that word means, but somehow it worked the day before, so she was angrily adamant that it would work again. (Note: On Thursday, I made "patient" a bad word. You are not allowed to use it at my house anymore.) (Another note: My father is no longer allowed to have heart-to-heart talks with my daughter).

Michael as we ran errands that first day. Damn it if he didn't fall asleep in the first 15 minutes. Arghhhh.

On Thursday, we got up early (shocker) and headed to The Farm. This is an Amish-run facility, which was very very clean and unique. They have built 2 Amish homes that no one lives in...it is an education tool so you can see how they live. They have Amish people demonstrating how they do things...sometimes they are canning, quilting, washing their clothes, etc. They weren't doing anything when we were there...we'd just missed the cookie baking demonstration...luckily they'd left some free samples behind ;)

Other than the farm set up, there was a wagon ride where you feed wild animals. Kind of scary...especially when Andrew got bitten by an antelope in the first 5 minutes. And I mean BITTEN. His little knuckle was cut up and pinched really bad. Thank heavens he was already on anti-biotics for his ear :) He was really really brave and pulled it together and enjoyed the rest of the hour long ride. I felt lousy, because I couldn't adequately comfort him...we were on a huge open-sided cart, and I had to restrain Michael while Grandma restrained Lily. There was no one available to cuddle him and hold him. :( Later, when I complimented him on being brave, he earnestly replied, "Well, I really love animals. And just because I get hurt, I'm not going to stop loving animals. Just like Jeff Corwin." His hero...

Andrew and his little giraffe buddy. The other giraffes were HUGE...this guy was only about 8 feet tall. Andrew actually let him eat out of his hand (something he'd stopped doing since the antelope tried to take off his ring finger 40 minutes earlier)

The Shetland cattle liked you to pour the food down his throat. Andrew LOVED it and gave him almost a bucket of food. Did I mention Andrew wasn't letting anything else eat out of his hand?


Ostriches are freaky. Me no likey.
This is before Andrew's accident. You can see the horns of the culprit below the freaky bird.

Michael petting a giraffe. They are really soft. I expected wiry. Which made me think...I don't know why I even HAD expectations of what a giraffe's fur would feel like.

Andrew resting on the front porch of the Amish house.

Michael chillin' inside the Amish house.

Michael had soo sooo sooooooo much fun.

Andrew and his giraffe buddy again.

That night Great-Grandma came over and she and Andrew read the Bible together (the other 2 children were put to bed at 4pm or something...because NO ONE was being "patient")

And finally, a video. Michael was obsessed with everything...but he really really like the chicken coop. The roosters would crow every minute or so...and every time he would exclaim, "Whoa!" I was trying to capture that on tape. 1 second after I stopped filming, it happened. Figures.