First Day = Success

Andrew's first day of preschool can be marked as a success! I dropped him off this morning at 10:45am and received no resistance whatsoever. He wanted to play the "bashful, grab your leg, hide from everyone" charade, but I put a quick halt to that. Mrs. Cooper (we have built this poor woman up to high standards), his wonderful teacher, was excited to see him and really wanted to put his "special" name tag on him. He gave in, smiled at her, hugged and kissed me twice and marched into his class to find his spot on the floor. Thanks be to God he did not scream and cry about being dropped off. I must admit I was fully expecting a melt down today. My stomach was in knots over drop off. Andrew proved to me that he is indeed a big boy now.

Fast forward to 12:00pm
Sound of a cell phone ringing. It is Nonnie. Here goes the convo.

Nonnie: Hey! Someone wants to talk to you
Me: Great, put him on.
Andrew (at a 1 billion high decibel): MOMMY! I didn't fight today (Yes, this was his first comment.), I had fun at school, we ate doughnuts for snack, we played, Mrs. Cooper read 2 books to us, I love you. You can consider that sentence a complete run-on. I assure you he did not take a breath while he talked to me.
Me: That's fantastic sweetie! What books did Mrs. Cooper read to you?
Andrew: I don't know. I love you.
Me: Ok, well at least you remembered she read to you. What are you doing now?
Pause, pause, pause - no answer

I guess he was on a 1st day of preschool high. School is in folks and thankfully our year has started off on the right foot.

Chick Fil-A concluded his school day a la Nonnie and her spoiling ways. Andrew is one happy camper. Tomorrow is a full day (well in preschool terms 9 - 12) of school. I hope he's as enthusiastic as he was today.

While I'm thinking about it, please pray for his teachers Mrs. Cooper and Mrs. Davis. They have a lot of pressure riding on their shoulders as 14 children are under their leadership and care.

Completely forgot to document Zachary's one year ped's appt.

Height: 28 1/4 inches - grew 2 1/4 inches since July
Weight: 18 lbs 1 oz - only gained 1 stinkin' oz
Head: I don't remember

Dr. Steele was more than pleased with Zachary and how he's progressed. He wants us to continue developmental therapy (so does Duke). He wasn't concerned he only gained 1 oz. Given he's grown 2 plus inches he was bound to "slim" out some. He continues to cruise around this house like he owns it. Steps don't deter him, doors don't stop him and blockades don't always work. One thing for sure... he is persistent!

Zachary won't be eligible for Synagis shots this year since he's doing so well. My pocketbook thanks the doctors for this. I would pay any amount if the shots kept him well (and last year they must have worked), but paying $252.00 a month for 6 plus months hurts. I guess I should be thankful my insurance paid the rest (approx $1350.00). Nonetheless, we only get flu shots this year.

Zachary is very vocal. He thinks everyone in a 300 mile radius should be able to hear him. It really gets to annoying when big brother chimes in to top Zachary's loudest explosion. Man, the ear plugs come in handy at that time.

As for Andrew, he has his moments of loving big brotherhood and times when he doesn't. The idea of sharing seems to be a new concept for him. Oh, he's been told about sharing, knows how to share, but refuses because IT IS HIS STUFF! He starts preschool tomrorow at our church. Please pray for a smooth transition. It's hard for me to believe he is one school year away from Kindergarten. I'm excited about getting him back into a structured school program. It's good for him.

Life for us is boring right now, which is good. We had enough excitement and draHma last year to last a while.

Soccer Part Deux and Changes

Mini Becks scored a goal in practice last night. No, it wasn't a game, but he scored one while in practice. We praise all attempts you see. He was completely pleased with himself. He didn't want to go to practice, but I reminded him I have $60.00 that says he will go unless the town of HS decides to cancel practice, he is deathly ill or some "Act of God" keeps us from going. Thankfully he didn't show his tail and enjoyed himself. Phewwww...

Andrew starts preschool next week. I hope he enjoys preschool like he did daycare. Fingers crossed. Can you believe in January we will start the process of registering for Kindergarten? Holy smokes! Where has the time gone? Right now we're debating private vs. public school. We're at a crossroad. At least we have a few more months to figure it out.

The change part... so my friend Heather S. posted about changing the name of her blog for security reasons and the more I thought about it, the more I think that would be in the best interest for our family as well. I mean, my son's name is the web address of our blog. Not really a bright idea these days. I do want to keep it public since I have met some wonderful friends via our blog.

Starting on Saturday, August 22nd our new blog address will be www.housefulloflittlemonkeys.blogspot.com

Make sure to update your links if you have them.

Have a good weekend!

Soccer Mom and Her Mini "Becks"

It's official, I am a soccer mom. Minivan - check, kid who plays soccer - check.

Andrew started soccer yesterday. Robbie is one half of the Bobcat's coaching team. We weren't really sure how Andrew would do. He still has moments of shyness that makes many events down right unbearable. He surprised us. He proved us wrong. My mini Becks went out on the field and did his thing. He's never played soccer a day before in his life and he was kicking the ball and moving like he knew what to do. Way to go, Andrew!

Andrew seemed to have a really good time and asked us when the next practice is. That's good, right? I look forward to their scrimmages against the other teams. We don't keep score, there are no goalies and everyone plays. It'll be interesting to see how Andrew does and if he'll want to continue with soccer.

Note To Self

Note to Mommy:

1) It's never a good idea to put a baby down for his nap in just a diaper. Even though your intentions were good and you wanted him to be cool. Don't do it!

2) If you hear him hollering/squealing for over 40 minutes go check because he may have left you a surprise. Say, oh, pulled his diaper off and peed all over his crib. Stuffed animal(s) included.

3) When you walk in to get said precious child, make sure you have camera in tow. A picture is worth a thousand words. Said baby standing in his crib, naked as the day he was born, squealing at you REALLY is funny. Really it is.

Bright side - At least said baby didn't poop and have free reign with that. Ughhh!

What You're Up To

Purely documentation for me. Here's what our little man is up to these days. It's hard to believe a whole year has gone by.

• CRUISING.ALL.OVER.THE.PLACE
• You say Ma Ma, Da Da, Bye and Hey
• You've almost got the sign for "more" down pat
• You LOVE Gerber puffs in any flavor (even the Wal-Mart brand)
• You're about to grow out of your 9 month clothes
• You are happy all the time. Sun up to sun down you are happy!
• You're working on drinking from a sippy cup, but you're not quite there yet
• You love all foods. You really like it when we slip you chicken nuggets and fries (in small bites of course). Your favorite treat is rice krispie treats.
• Once we get your brother a booster car seat you'll be in a BIG boy seat
• You want to do everything Andrew does
• You fancy keys and love to put them in your darling little mouth
• Speaking of mouths, you have 8, that's right, 8 teeth
• Those teeth hurt when you make contact with skin
• You could stay in the bath all night if we let you
• You think your reflection is impressive. I do too!
• You can climb all the way up our stairs unassisted
• You suck your right thumb when sleeping
• You love our running dates
• You've learned how to turn door knobs and open doors
• You love to hear This Little Light of Mine and He's Able
• You can climb into the kiddie chairs we have in the bonus room. Once you get in it you don't know what to do
• You love your new swing that Ahmy bought for the swing set
• You'll clap at anything
• You like pulling Maggie's hair out
• You love it when Maggie kisses you in the mouth. GROSS!
• You're a mama's boy through and through
• You've recently started to let me rock you. You know how to make my heart happy.
  

A Party's Not a Party