Fun at Sky High!!

We took the kiddos to Sky High (an indoor trampoline place) and let them have at it! Drew took to it right away, while Ava was patiently waiting her turn for a square (she didn't know she could just jump with the other kids). After we told her she could go ahead and jump, she really liked it! Drew chose to run over the trampolines while Ava showed off her best jumping skills :)

Drew's First Attempt at Writing His Name in School!

This was Drew's update from his teacher today and I thought I would share it! Oh and by the way, if you would like more school updates (he gets one daily) check out andrewgoestoschool.blogspot.com and follow it :)

"Check out Andrew writing his name in yellow. You can clearly see A-N-D-R-E. I wrote his letters in red, and he copied. He lost interest by the time we got to W.

My son has asthma, so we took it easy today. I let them watch Go, Diego, Go (Animal Rescue episode), and Busytown (Confusion in the Cornfield/Lighthouse Ghost). Both are rated Y, and are educational shows. They talked about different animals (actually saw what a real platypus looked like), and demonstrated deductive reasoning.

We went to the library, where Andrew practiced some computer skills using the library’s toddler/preschool programs. He practiced painting a picture, and also some letter-recognition. Great practice in using the mouse.

We had lunch at Einstein Cafe (right beside the library). Andrew had 2 slices of cheese pizza, half an apple and apple juice (only for $3.19-what a deal!). He ate everything.

Heads-up: his cold/cough is getting worse. Guess it will seem worse before it gets better.

Nevertheless, he still used his listening ears and kind words and voice, even with a cold. Such a trooper!"

San Fran Shenanigans!!

I was off work Monday so I decided to keep Drew home from school and take everyone to San Francisco for the day! We went to the Bay Aquarium, lunch at Wipeout Grill, walked the piers a bit and then off to the Boudin Bread Factory to get the kids little turtle shaped bread. Ava gobbled hers up while Drew wanted to keep his...as a pet. They both did so good and had a lot of fun even though it was a long day!

Jamba Juice Fun!

A couple days a week after school, I like to treat Drew to a delicious Orange Dream Machine smoothie from Jamba Juice. By the way, Drew likes to take all self taken pictures this way :)

Drew's First Day at Preschool!

Drew had his first day at school today and I was so excited when I received this email from his teacher. It was awesome that she took the time to write this and shows the love she has for her career and the kids she cares for. We are off to a great start with her:

"Hope all is well with you. All is well with Andrew. He was a busy body exploring the toys in Preschool. He was very partial towards the Cars toys and the Thomas trains. We also helped Don Paul sort out his legos. Andrew took care of taking things apart and sorting out the blues and the reds.

When I asked him to sign his name on the white board, he said he didn't know how, so I guided his hand to write his name. It's neat that he does not shy away from help. Eventually, he'll gain confidence in writing his letters : )

He found a red fire truck, and we made a song about it, describing how it looks, what sound it makes, and what job it does. We're planning on going on a field trip to the nearest fire station (on Clarksville), in the next month or so.

For snack, I offered organic yogurt with organic granola. He didn't care for it and pushed it away. Ok by me. I knew that if he was hungry, he'll eat whatever I offer for lunch. He did sit for the books that I read during snack time.

For lunch, I offered grilled cheese sandwiches with spinach inside. He ate a quarter of a full sandwich, and almost half an organic honeycrisp apple. I offered him milk, but he preferred water.

He is a good-natured kid, and doesn't seem to mind when I correct his words (instead of 'yeah,' say 'Yes, Mrs. Howell.') He did say Thank you to Don Paul unprompted.

We washed our hands twice and made sure that he went through the motions of proper hand-washing (turn on water, wet hands, bubble-up hands with soap, rub hands under running water and sing the Alphabet song, turn off water, dry hands well). I monitored him after he went potty too, and made sure that he washed his hands properly. I'll be monitoring him for quite a while (heck, I still monitor my 11-year old son ; ).

After lunch, we played with the marble run for a little bit. I gave everybody a warning that quiet time is in 5 minutes, or after we add-on 2 more things to our marble run structure. When that happened, Andrew broke down. He cried for about 20 minutes, saying he was choking, saying he was sick, asking to call Mommy, and saying that he doesn't' want to take a nap. Good thing that I've had experience with these things. So I calmly told him that Mommy is at work, Grandma is picking him up, he doesn't need to take a nap, but he needs to stay on the couch for 1 hour. Eventually, he calmed down and fell asleep. whew!

I'll be waking him up in half an hour, then we'll have a busy afternoon doing carpool. We will pick up a neighbor at 1:50, then come back home, then pick up 3 more neighbors at 2:30, then be back home by 3pm. Then we'll have snack, and then he can play some more until Grandma comes. Usually, we play at the nearby park between carpool pick-ups, but the park is wet today. Maybe tomorrow we'll get a chance."