Lunchtime

The Man and I talked quite a bit about school lunch vs home lunch, we couldn’t decide what would be easier for the Kiddo. Eventually we decided that home lunch was better, and probably cheaper but that we would open a school lunch account so that the Kiddo could have one non home lunch per week. To help him be excited about his home lunches we bought him the very cool bento box mentioned in my previous blog. I pack his lunch with all the usual snacks he eats at home (peanut butter sandwich, fruit snacks, dried prunes, carrots… etc) and I put a cookie in there, or a mini chocolate chip zucchini muffin…

Yesterday when I went to pick the kiddo up from school I asked him what he drank with lunch (his water bottle was still full). He said milk, I thought okay maybe he got milk to go with his home lunch, I’d be okay with that. I dug into his back pack and saw that he hadn’t eaten anything, I asked him why and he said that he forgot that he brought a lunch from home. I was frustrated and yelled at him a little but then realized that I should have expected it. In the end I realized that I can’t and don’t really blame him, it was his first time in all day school and he’s never really experienced an away from home ‘lunchtime’ before. I asked the Kiddo what he thought we should do to help him remember what days he gets to eat school lunch and what days he has home lunch and he said he thought we should ask his teacher to help. I told him that she has a lot of other responsibilities but that we could try it as long as HE was trying to remember himself and she was his help (vs. just remembering for him and letting him off the hook). Here is the letter he helped me write for him to take to school today:

Dear Mrs. H

The Kiddo had trouble remembering that he brought a lunch from home yesterday. His idea to help with this was for me to write you to ask for you to help him remember. I will include a note in his folder that says if he is eating a home lunch or a school lunch that day. He will do his best to remember on his own but will have you as his backup in case he forgets. Would this be okay?

Thank you for your help,

G

Hopefully when I go pick him up he’ll tell me how cool it was to get to eat oreos at lunchtime (two in his lunchbox) and I’ll get a chance to confirm with Mrs. H that she doesn’t mind helping me help him learn to remember lunch.

Winding Up

This past week has been filled with school prep. I didn’t go through the normal parent routine of getting the Kiddo ready for earlier days. I admit to be a little to selfish with my sleep, why get him up at seven if there’s no reason to?

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We did a little last minute pre-school year fun though. We went to a splash park with his friend T (the Kiddo is in the orange shirt in the first picture, and in the jean shorts in the second). He loved it!! For a kid that isn’t fond of getting his face and head wet he really did seem to enjoy playing in the water spray.

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We also had soccer practice and a game last week. The kids worked hard on the mechanics of kicking the ball, and the Kiddo wasn’t afraid to get into the mix of things. Team pictures were taken following the game, I’m not sure when we get the pictures so I took my own while the photographer was setting them up.

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Back to school shopping was done last week as well. We bought the Kiddo a bento style lunch box so that he could have just the right portion size container and keep things from getting squished. There’s a bigger bin that holds a half sandwich, and then the three compartment bin that holds fruit and cracker or other little snacks. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that he doesn’t lose the thing (each piece is labeled with his name just in case).

Yesterday was the day we finally got to go in and meet his teacher. I was pleasantly blown away by Mrs. H’s focus on everything I told her. She has two kids with diabetes so she understands a little about what to look for if he isn’t feeling right (the symptoms can be similar). In a week or so we will have his medical meeting with all five first grade teachers, the school nurse, and the principle. Everyone gets educated on what he has and how it effects him in order to ensure he has the best possible care at school. The best part? The school has agreed that his emergency shot is essential and are training their office personnel to give it to him!! If something happens they will give him the shot AS they are calling 911, and then calling me. I no longer have to worry about staying close to his school while he is there, the relief is beyond explanation.

I hope he does well in class, last years constant barrage of “the Kiddo didn’t focus today” has me on edge about how this year will go.. I think it’ll take me a week or two of interaction with his teacher to lose the worry about how he will handle this year. I am hopeful though, she seems fairly sharp and able to handle his distracted nature (she experienced it full scale yesterday so she knows what she’s in for).

He was ready for his first day of school this morning, pumped up and ready to go. Lunch box, water bottle, and a full back pack. I’m scared and optimistic about what he’ll tell me when we pick him up in two hours; here’s to hoping it was a good day!

Vacation

My mom gave me a vacation. She flew the Kiddo and myself out to Arizona to hang out with the family. It was timed perfectly, my little brother was back in town, my other brother was able to visit for three full days, my twin took five days off, my sister took three… and of course my parents were there every day :)

Uncle T spent the entire last year in Korea, which sounds like the coolest adventure ever! He got back to the states a couple days before we flew down and he spent almost every day playing with the Kiddo and hanging out.

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He very trustingly let the Kiddo play a few games on his iPad, he showed him how to do quite a few things with it and the two of them spent a lot of time together.

Grampie (my dad) had the pool nice and clean and the Kiddo went swimming several times. I didn’t expect him to jump off the diving board, usually he is too concerned with getting his head wet to want to jump in.

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Something about grannie and grampies house gave him motivation though and he jumped in several times.

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Uncle P drove up from Tucson and spent three days hanging out with us. I really enjoy his company and am so glad he was able to visit. The Kiddo adores him, he is so patient and fun with kids.

Auntie D was able to arrange her days off to take an extra long weekend and spent a ton of time with us. She loves the Kiddo and he loves her, she’s his “mommy number 2” and he says she is more fun then I am because she plays with him more and yells at him less. Silly kid, that is an aunts JOB *chuckle*

He got sick, of course. It seems like he always gets sick when we fly down to Arizona. Uncle T had brought some souvenir masks from Korea for him though so it worked out well.

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Because of the mask he was able to help Auntie D make double chocolate marshmallow brownies!

All in all it was a really great visit. It felt like it lasted far longer then the two weeks that it was. I managed to work on my school while I was there. I even received full points for the assignments I turned in that week (no slacker here!). My dad told me he was proud of my ability to focus… I got the warm and fuzzies :)

Now that we’re back it is time to get back into the grind of things. I spent the weekend finishing up a few more school assignments and making lists for what needs to be done before the Kiddo’s first day of school. Tonight we have soccer practice and Saturday is the Kiddo’s second soccer game of the season. Monday is “meet the teacher” day, and Tuesday is his first day of school.

Green vs Green–Scrimmage

Saturday was supposed to be the Kiddos first game but the other team didn’t have enough players so canceled. Our coach is awesome enough that he told everybody to come anyway and we’d play scrimmage against ourselves, 4 vs 4. I’m so glad, it would have be a huge disappointment to the Kiddo if he hadn’t gotten to play. We were there early so the kiddo and a few of the other kids practiced kicking to each other and shooting goals.

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After a few minutes of that the rest of the team (and coaches) showed up and the kids started to warm up. Hopping from one foot to the other isn’t the Kiddo’s strong point but he tried his best. Passing the ball around his body isn’t easy either, especially when his partner is that much taller then him…

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After warm up they started the scrimmage. The Kiddo is still relearning to run and rebuilding his legs muscle stamina so we knew the he might have problems here. We are extremely proud of him though he tried throughout the entire game. He ran his fastest and even when he was exhausted he still kept trying. I’m pretty sure he managed to kick the ball once near the start of the game and I watched him get it and “dribble” it twice towards the end.

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I think along with working on kicking and passing the ball I will also try to teach him how to anticipate where the ball is going. Maybe instead of running after the ball and the kids he can run to meet it. That’s a hard thing in soccer but it would make his life a bit easier and still keep him in the game.

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They ended the game a little early and then let the kids play cowboys and indians. The ‘cowboys’ stand on the sidelines and kick the balls at the ‘indians’ who run down the center and try to dodge. If the runners get hit they become cowboys for the next pass, the last person to get hit is the winner. The kids love the game! The Kiddo says he gets hit fast because his “high jumpers don’t work very well” but he doesn’t mind because he likes being a cowboy too.

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The Kids were given oranges as a halftime treat and brownies and juice as an after game treat. The Kiddo is so excited that he’s in a ‘real sport’ where they get treats and get to be a team wearing matching uniforms. I think soccer will be really good for him and I found out that if (when) we sign him up for next year we can request to keep his current coach, that way he’ll keep playing with the same kids every year and he’ll stay with a coach who knows how to work with him.

How to kick a ball

Yesterday was the Kiddo’s first soccer practice, I put him in his shoes and shin guards and some basketball shorts.

He’s a little shorter then most of the kids but there is one boy who is the same height so he isn’t the only short one. He IS the only one who has never played soccer before but the coaches were really great. The Kiddo has a decent grasp on how to run into the mix and try to get the ball, he just needs to work on his technique.

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The coach (Brian) spent some time showing him how to pass a ball with the inside toe of his foot. I loved how focused the Kiddo looked, he was really paying attention! He even did a little foot shift echo of the movement to make sure he understood. A little later Coach B spent time explaining to the kids that a stiff foot is the best way to power kick. I attempted to remember all the drills the kids did so I can work with him at home every day. My sister said she thought she had a size 3 soccer ball in AZ so we can practice when we’re down there too!

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At the end of practice they handed out the uniforms. They lined the kids up from tall to short (you can see the other little boy standing next to the Kiddo). We put the kiddos shirt on right away to see how it fit him, it’s not bad… I bought a box of fruit snacks for after practices and games (to give his sugars a boost) and he was too excited about a ‘treat’ to look at the camera.

When we got home I put the socks and shorts on him for a quick ‘photo shoot’ so my readers could see how great he looks. Unfortunately the shorts are FAR to big and even cinched up they wont stay on so the photo shoot was done with his green shorts.

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Sometime before Saturday (his first game) we’ll buy him some black shorts that fit better. I’m proud of him he paid attention when Coach B was talking and he tried his best when it came time to play. He was extremely confused several times but even when he was going the wrong direction he was still kicking the ball and trying. I hope he keeps having this much fun through the whole season and I hope he keeps learning and doing his best.

Dinosaur trees

The other morning the Kiddo ran to get me to show the dinosaur tree shadow on our patio fence. He spent quite a bit of time watching the wind blow the shadow move up and down (mouth opening and closing). He thought it was so cool that I took a picture to share.

Last week was the finals week of my management class, it was a little messy with individual paper and two group group papers. Obviously not much blogging was done between that and taking the kiddos go play with his new friend.

Theo has really bad ADHD but the Kiddo is so laid back that they get along pretty well and seem to enjoy spending time together. They ride bikes outside and play on the slides and in the sand. It’s fairly hot out and the Kiddo can be a little sensitive to extreme temperatures so they also spend time indoors playing in Chances room or watching tv over at Theo’s house. It’s nice to sit and chat with another adult and hear the two kids playing quietly together.

Also it was time to get the Kiddo new shoes, we knew that already but hadn’t realized how much his feet had grown until we used a kids measuring device. Last year we bought him 10.5 shoes, a little bit for his size 10 feet but comfortable with growing room. When we measured him last week his big toe hit the 11, so we’re buying him 11.5 shoes. I found a website online that sells wide shoes and they had a few on sale so we bought him new sandals and a pair of lace up tennies. In a perfect world I’d also get him some Velcro closure shoes but we’ll have to do that one later.

We also hit the nearest Big 5 and bought him some soccer shoes and shin guards. He was beyond excited during the trip. Of course they don’t sell wide kids soccer shoes but the Adidas seemed to have enough give in the sides to fit well and he liked them a lot because they have “claw marks which make them cooler then all the rest in the whole world.”

We finally received information about his fall season. His team is going to be wearing lime green (sweet! His and my favorite color) and his first practice is tomorrow, Wednesday, evening. His first game is this coming Saturday. Then there will be a two week break from games but the Kiddo will miss two practices because him and I will be on vacation ... he’ll be home in time for one practice before his second game on the 27th. I hope he has fun playing, tries hard and does well... I can’t wait to take pictures of him in his uniform.

Among those things we’ve also continued to work on Math (he did a sheet of word problems the other day and my jaw hit the floor!). He played dress up at target (Captain America woohoo).

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We had a bbq at the in laws and he played ladder ball with his cousin (they had so much fun). And we hit the book store to buy him a few traveling books for our trip… He wanted to bring some of his library books and I told him I would prefer we didn’t (what if we accidentally left one behind when we come home?) and that I would buy him a few new ones instead.

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Now it’s a new month and it’s going to be a full one with our vacation, soccer, and the start of school for the Kiddo (he’ll be in first grade this year *sigh*). We’ve still got to call the school and see when they want to set up his 504 plan for his medication, but other then that I think we’re ready.