Thoughts on Leadership, Love Aden

It's difficult to get information from Aden on how his days go because he has forgotten the entire day by the time I pick him up. I know, how is that possible, right? But every single day he cannot recall a single moment. If I press him, I can usually get bits and pieces. And if I press him too hard, he begins to make stuff up just so I'll stop asking.

So it was a bit of a surprise on Monday when he offered, "I was the leader today at school."

I said, "You were? What does it mean to be the leader?" He began telling me all about it, how he gets to lead the pledge, sit at the front of the group and announce the day of the week, month, date, weather, etc. and got to squirt the soap in everyone's hands when they washed their hands. So much fun for a 5 year old!

Today, in an effort to keep the conversation flowing, I asked, "So who got to be the leader today?" He tells me the name and so I ask, "Oh really? How did he do?

(Big sigh)... "Not very good."

I asked what he meant and as serious as can be he said, "Well, he kept crying the whole time and leaders don't cry." I started laughing and he said, "What are you laughing about? I didn't tell a joke." I told him he's just cute.



Yeah, so I'm a terrible blogger lately.

I don't even know how to begin to catch up. We've been staying busy lately with Aden in Kindergarten and Taekwondo. His first day was great, Adam and I went in late and both walked Aden to class. First to the cafeteria to show him how to get through the line for breakfast, and then to Mrs. Dandridge's class. After day one, he was so excited about "big" school and loved his teacher... but couldn't remember a single story to tell us. We had to pry it out of him, which is pretty much how preschool went too.

After the first day, we had some hiccups with the cafeteria. First, Aden was adamant that he take his lunch - not buy it. I thought he wanted something special and he couldn't tell me what, so I took him to the grocery store to pick out what he wanted to eat for lunch. After circling for a bit, he grabbed some oreos and announced he was done shopping. It was later in the week that I finally put the whole story together - the cafeteria line was too long and by the time he got his food, the kids who brought their lunch were done eating, and he barely had time to finish.

Once we got through that issue, I discovered that he was getting to the school too late to get through the cafeteria line and get breakfast, then eat it. So now he packs a snack, a lunch AND a breakfast. Rest assured that any money we saved in daycare is certainly going towards individually wrapped food items. I'm only just now getting the swing of this.

Beyond food issues, he's having a great time. One little boy told Aden on day 1 that they were best friends, which made Aden's whole year. That's apparently all he needs, as he's decided not to make any other friends. I keep telling him that it's perfectly fine to have more than one friend but it falls on deaf ears. I worry about the fickleness of youth relationships and how hurt he'll be when the one friend decides to pick someone else to hang out with for a while.

Shortly after starting school, Aden lost his first tooth.

We were leaving Lola and Papa's and Aden was wiggling it and it just popped right out. There was a slight freak out, but then all was well, He was SOOO excited about the Tooth Fairy coming. He did ask, "Momma, where does the Tooth Fairy get money?" And then later, "How is it that the Tooth Fairy can slip in and out of my room without anyone knowing it?" But in the end, he got a dollar so he was pretty impressed by the process.

Taekwondo has kept us busy also. Aden has been learning so much. A couple of weekends ago, he participated in a demo on a large stage...

And then this weekend he competed in a tournament. He placed 2nd in his bracket for patterns and 1st in breaking! I was so proud of him, and I know he was proud of himself for breaking the board.

Ethan has been having some firsts as well. He started a new class, and had to say goodbye to our beloved Mrs. Oana. We all loved her a lot, but he had to move out of her room at some point. He has Miss Kameka now and while she's as sweet as can be, I don't think she has quite the patience and understanding for children like Ethan. Or maybe just for Ethan. Apparently the teachers whisper to each other that he's "a handful." Well, what can I say about that? He is.

One big change is that he now sits on the potty each day for practice. So far no action, but he's pretty excited about the naked sitting anyway. It's new. He is also talking like crazy. I can't believe how much he communicates. He speaks in whole sentences and really knows how to get his point across. His teachers always say they are very impressed by how well he speaks.

Ethan has a wonderful imagination. Aden never really got into imaginative play, he's always been a logical thinker (see tooth fairy thoughts), but Ethan loves to imagine and pretend. Just today, he created a whole game with Lola about the bears that were around the side of the car (you're safe as long as you get in the car). I love to see his imagination grow.

He is still such a loving little boy though, who adores his fuzzy friends. He loves watching Scooby Doo and Thundercats and will curl on the couch with a teddy bear, or his beloved Baby Duck (as seen here on a trip to Austin)

We are very much looking forward to cooler temperatures and the holiday season. Aden's already talking about his Santa list - which is basically comprised of various infomercial items he sees on TV. I'll try to recap more often, I really do want to document these moments since there are so many precious memories that I don't want to forget. The boys are at SUCH a great age and every day they fill my heart a little more.

Kindergarten-Eve

My BABY BOY is starting Kindergarten tomorrow.

He's so excited too. We've already purchased his school supplies and dropped them off at the school, we met his teacher and got to see his classroom and where he'll be sitting. He says he's most excited about eating lunch in a cafeteria (at his preschool, they just brought his lunch to his room, so this cafeteria stuff seems like big business.) He picked out a backpack and we're getting his lunch box today. He is all set! But am I?

Of course I tear up just thinking about how he's officially in school now, attendance being counted and a curriculum set by the state. He'll be learning about how mean and cruel some people can be, and how wonderful a true friendship can be. He'll be learning about Independence and making his own choices. He'll be receiving enrichment classes like art and music, and have regular library visits to choose his own books. I know he'll be wonderful at all of this. He is so special.



The school itself seems really fun. They even had a "teachers parade" through the neighborhood, which both boys thought was awesome since the teachers threw candy.

 This is not just a big day for Aden tomorrow, but for Ethan too. He's leaving our beloved Miss Oana's class and will be in the Two's class now. Tomorrow, he officially begins potty training and will be introduced to the potty. How is he growing so fast? 

A little catch up

We sure have been busy this past month at Casa Elwell. I started a new job that's only a 6-mile commute from home! This has saved me tons of time, I even get to sleep in a little.

We've also been trying to either stay out of the heat, or make sure we're in water of some sort. It's been record breaking heat for weeks now with temperatures reaching 109 and 111. Completely miserable to go outdoors.

Ethan is a chatterbox, and speaks in complete sentences now most of the time. He's also lately been going back and forth between people's names and the nicknames he's given them. Aden can be Allie when they are friends, and Aden when he's not happy with him. Ethan also goes back and forth between Lee Lee and Lindsey for Aunt Lindsey, depending on whether he's serious or not. (sometimes he means business).

Aden starts kindergarten in 15 days! We managed to get all his school supplies - except he still needs a backpack. We can't agree on this. He is adamant that he wants a backpack that rolls with a handle. I think getting on and off the bus and through the halls would be easier if he just had the bag on his back. Aden is very stubborn and once he gets something in his mind, there's just no changing it. So we still need to get that, but we'll pick that up next weekend.

Here are a few pictures from the last four weeks:

My bright little artist

We took a trip out on the lake in Papa's boat and Aden jumped right into the tube. I was a little freaked out for him. He was a long way out there going kind of fast and I... am a mommy.

Once Aden got past the "swimming with fishes" thing (and made us swear there weren't any sharks in the lake), he had a blast swimming in the lake. This actually became his favorite part of the day. Particularly the part where he could dunk his daddy's head in the water.

The next week, two of our Taekwondo friends had a birthday party together, complete with a huge water slide. Aden was the smallest kid to go down by himself, so all the others were cheering him on. Ethan also went down - with his daddy.

This one is of Aden's first trip down (with one of the birthday girls). After this, he was a pro.

Ethan went down and then kept saying, "One more time."

Recently, while in the kitchen, I heard Aden say, "You might want to come take a picture of us." So I grabbed my camera and went into the living room and found them like this:

A couple weeks ago, Ethan and I had a date. We went to the movies to see "Winnie The Pooh," and we played some air hockey. We had so much fun. It took me a while to convince him it wasn't "Winnie the Poop." For the rest of the day, he kept telling everyone that he saw Winnie the Poop.