Back to School Night, Hard Hats and Lost Teeth

Back to School night for Aidan's grade at his school was last Tuesday.  I went and was so pleasantly surprised!  Aidan is doing great.  His teacher loves him, and I think the feeling is mutual.  He is doing wonderfully all around with his studies.  He is working hard and he is progressing.  But, the biggest surprise was on the behavior incentives.  Aidan is doing the best in his class on behavior and citizenship.  In fact, he is becoming a leader among his classmates, helping them out and being someone they can look to.  I was, and am, soooo proud of my little man! 

Outside of school, Aidan is continuing to do well in football.  However, he continues to be reluctant at best about it.  His coach doesn't help much.  He awards stickers to the kids who have big plays.  Last Saturday, Aidan caused a fumble which resulted in a touchdown for his team.  He did not get a Big Play sticker.  And he was not happy about it.  Neither was his Mama.  Not liking that at all!

But, in hockey, Aidan had his turn as Goalie last weekend.  He loves being Goalie!  Me, not so much.  But, he I really good at it.  There were 38 shots on goal by the other team.   Sheesh.  Aidan's team lost by 4, but the coach made a big deal about saying it would have been a blow out if not for Aidan's skill.  He may be called upon to do it again.  Oh man. . .I guess I should be happy that Aidan is a good all around hockey player!

At this game, the coach also implemented a reward system.  Each week, the player who has the biggest game will be award a Hard Hat and the players number will be put on the hat.  All the numbers will stay on the hat through out the season, too.  So, Aidan got awarded the hat first.  He was so proud!  So, was I.  : )

The mouthguard in that picture brings me to his teeth. . .

On Sunday night, Aidan was trying to tighten a little rope bracelet thing he has and was using his teeth.  We were in his bathroom getting ready to brush teeth an prepare for bed.  All of a sudden I heard a ping ping ping!  And I looked at Aidan.  His mouth was open, and there was a little bit of blood where his lower middle tooth had been and he had the look of surprise mixed with a little bit of tears on his face.  He had the tooth in his hand and I just laughed and said, Well, I guess the tooth fairy is coming back tonight!  That little tooth was coming out--there was no root left-it was just hanging on by the skin!

And so, now he has lost two teeth in two weeks!  The upper two are next I guess!  : /

Aidan's lessons are going really well, too.  Coach Troy has been using Aidan as an example for the other boys, which is cool and he is challenging him as well.  And the best part is, Aidan is loving it. 

That's it for now.

Chillin' but not Chillaxin'

I am exhausted.  Utterly exhausted.  I need a break and I don't think it's coming anytime soon!

This past week, Aidan's homework picked up the pace a bit.  In addition to the daily reading, we had to add math homework.  And this coming week we will add Word Sort.  Fun.  Fun.  But, Aidan is doing really really well with it all.  He has already progressed to the next level on Math and is doing really well with his reading.  We'll see how it goes with the Word Sort--not his favorite by any means last year.

Football is moving along.  We're nearing the half way point of the season.  I'll be glad when it's over.  And I know Aidan will be too.  He's doing well and makes really good plays.  But, he is a reluctant football player at best. 

Hockey, on the other hand, is another story.  He looks forward to hockey.  He lives for hockey.  He loves hockey.  He smiles the entire time he's on the ice!  If he is in skates and on ice, he is a happy boy. 

Our team is Forest Green for the long Fall/Winter league.  At worst, Aidan is the absolute best on his team.  At best, he is absolutely brilliant compared to the other players.  Some of the players look like they haven't been skating very long.  One or two, in fact, look as though they may have just started.  Aidan is a good sport about it, though.  He knows he needs to help his team be better so he's trying.  His team lost today 13-8.  Aidan scored four of the goals, made two assists, and hit the cross bars at least another eight times!  They could have won if those had gone in. . . .

Having fun playing Sharks and Minnows at practice.  Aidan was picked as Shark because he is so fast on his skates!

 

Aidan at Center today just before he scored one of his goals.  Luckily, he gets to be Goalie for the next game.  : /

 

Aidan will almost definitely be selected to try out for the Select Team.  I know that will help him.  And, he starts a morning lesson tomorrow that will help challenge him.  So, it will all work out.

The porch is coming along.  The flooring is almost finished.  I think they will do the top rail on the railing and gutters next and then the screen will go up. . .which will leave the outdoor grilling porch with stairs on one side and the landing with stairs on the other.  It is really looking awesome.  Our contractor is very meticulous and it drives me nuts that this is going so slow.  But, it is really really beautiful.  And the attention to detail is truly awesome.  The doors arrived, too, so when the screen goes up, so will the doors and the one inside portion will be completely closed off!  Which means the screen door on the sliding glass door and the kitchen window screen will be taken off.  Permanently.  I can't wait to share pictures of it, but I promised myself an entire pictology of the porch from beginning to end. . .you'll be amazed.  Truly amazed!

The colds are almost gone, but my throat has been hurting again, which is usually the harbinger of another cold. . .not catching any breaks this year, I guess.

But, the weather has turned beautiful!  Several days of mid to upper 90's followed by a beautiful stretched of low to mid 70's. . .although this morning was in the 40's!  Brrr!!

That's it for now.  Have a great week!

I Pledge Allegiance to the Tooth. . .Nothin' But Tooth!

Well, the first week of school passed without any major hiccups.  It looks like Aidan is settling in for another year of learning.  He only complained a little about homework, which started right away, by the way.  But, it was light this first week, consisting only reading nightly for at least 15 minutes.  The other criteria was that it needed to be at least 100 words.  I hit the jackpot on Thursday night when I chose "Hungry, Hungry Shark" for Aidan to read.  We were all very tired and he complained a bit when we sat down to read.  But after settling in, I noticed that he was interested in what he was reading--he kept stopping to talk about what he had read and also to ask questions!!--and he was reading really well, too!! 

Friday found me on Amazon.com looking for more books about sharks, fish and anything ocean related. . .

The cold Aidan has had for the last few weeks is finally dissipating. . . of course, I now have it! 

When I got home on Friday, Aidan ran up to me and said, "Mama!  Look!"  He then opened his mouth and began to wiggle his lower middle tooth. . .whoa!  That thing was so wiggly!!   I knew it was coming out.  So, we proceeded to work on it. . .

And then we had to leave for his hockey evaluation skate. . .but that didn't stop Aidan from working on that tooth!!

He had to stop when it was time to go on the ice, where he was definitely one of the best, if not THE best, skaters on the ice!!!  (Yes, I'm the Mama, but really he's good!)

Daddy didn't go with us to this one.  He stayed home to help finish the railing on the porch--which looks beautiful!!!  Next up, the flooring!!!

After Aidan's skate, we came back home for dinner and some more wiggling of the tooth:

That tooth was soooo ready to come out!!  But, it needed to sit overnight.  So, we left it alone.  But, then, Saturday morning, it practically popped out into my hand!  I hardly had to touch it!  And now my baby has finally lost his first tooth.  : / 

He is now gap toothed. . .I think he'll be showing teeth for his next school picture!  : )  And the one next to that tooth is actually loose too!

The funny part was on Sunday morning.  Aidan came downstairs with his tooth fairy money clutched in his hand and said, "Mama, I thought it was gonna be $20. but it is only $3."  Um, son, I got a quarter for mine. . .

The rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful.  Aidan played well in his football game on Saturday.  Sunday we went to Lowe's and bought the two screen doors and ceiling fan for the porch as well as a new faucet for the kitchen sink and a towel bar for Aidan's bathroom to replace the one he broke doing pull ups. 

After a couple more stops for a new hockey net and a keg for the kegerator (it is football season, you know!) I realized it wasn't as quiet as I had thought!  But, it was still a nice weekend.

We even were able to sit on the porch a bit and read while all the neighborhood kids played on the pipestem!  That was nice.

First Day of Second Grade

So it finally came!  The first day of Second Grade!!  Oh my. . .

Yesterday, I took Aidan to get a hair cut.  It's a good one.  But it always makes me laugh that you tell them to keep it medium length and it ends up the same every time.  Short.  It does look nice, though!

And then today dawned. . .we got up and dressed.  I made him some special homemade pancakes, packed up his backpack and showed him where everything was.. . .measured him: 51 1/2" tall!!!!  Up another inch!!  Yikes!!!  And then it was out to the porch for first day of school pictures:

 

 Gonna fly through this year!  Yes I am!!!

Those are some awesome eyes. . .

 



And then we walked up to the corner where the bus picked all the kids up on the other side of the street. 

 

While he was gone, I got a manicure, which I never do; did some laundry and ironing, which I always do; baked some cookies, and generally hung out looking at the clock every so often trying to imagine what he was doing at school today. 

A little after 3:00, I headed back up the street and hung out with the other neighborhood moms waiting for our kids to come home.








And home they came! 

 And the first words out of his mouth. . ."It was awesome!"

 

Once home, he handed me his backpack, which has my annual paperwork to deal with, ate a cookie and then said, "Can I go out and play?"  Okay. . .I'll see you later.

 

And he was gone again.  I guess that's how it is.

 

And now, I need to look at my paperwork so I can get my homework done!

The End of Summer and The Beginning of New Things!

So this is it.  The last day of summer break for Aidan.  We've had a lot of lasts this past week. 

This was Aidan's last week at Cold Rush. His last early early Wednesday morning.   I know it won't be his last time with Cold Rush--I want to do it again, Mama!!  could be heard the rest of the week.  But, Aidan wasn't last in anything at Cold Rush this Wednesday.  He was first in all of the foot races and in all of the jumps.  He did so well, I could tell all of the instructors were very pleased with his progress.  And progress he did indeed! I was a very very proud mama sitting in the stands watching my little man.  Here's a little taste of what they did.

It started really fun.  Game time with these really large balls that looked like giant tennis balls.  What Maggie would do if she saw these!!  : )

And then they had to do a couple of skills with the balls:

The second one was hilarious!

And then they had some races.  Over and over.  So many times, I could see the skaters were tired.  And yet my Aidan kept coming in first!  He has gotten so fast with the Push Position work. . .

And then they did some fast skating with small turns and jumps.

And backwards too. . .

This was also the last week of Hockey Camp.  I have to say, I was amazed and surprised at how Aidan was skating and shooting when I picked him up on Friday.  He has really improved a lot this summer. 

Hockey Camp was funny.  They said they could provide Before Care, which we did need, but only for two days.  But, then when I checked him in on Monday, the story was different.  It seems that the Figure Skating Camp does all of the Before Care but they don't have camp the last week of summer.  But, the Director of the Hockey program stepped up and found someone to be there for Aidan. The thing about this is that you really never know who these people are going to be.  And I have to say, I was a little nervous about it.  So, it was a very happy surprise to find out on Tuesday morning that the boy watching Aidan was Tyler!!!  Whom Aidan has been skating with all Summer at Cold Rush.  Yeah Tyler!!

And, another added surprise, was that Aidan was also with Coach Joe.  Coach Joe worked with Aidan two years ago when he was in Mini Mites.  He told me he was absolutely amazed at Aidan's progress.  I worked it out and Aidan was able to do a Free Skate and a Stick and Shoot on Sunday with Coach Joe. . .and Daddy!!!

 

Another really cool thing that happened was on Monday.  I had put Aidan in the wrong locker room by accident, but it turned out to be a happy accident.  Jeff Halpern (NHL player!!) was there, on the ice.  When I was leaving, I saw Aidan watching him skate and do all of the same drills he has been doing at Cold Rush.  Including the Metronome drill.  I also saw Mr. Halpern skate by and smile at Aidan a couple of times.  Smiling, I went on my way to work.  Later, I listened to my starry eyed son chitter chatter nonstop about Jeff Halpern this and that!  Apparently, Aidan had gone back in the locker room and Mr. Halpern came in and sat next to him and they talked hockey for a bit.  My boy was hero worhiping Mr. Halpern all week!!  He really is a nice guy.  Wish I had thought to get a picture of Aidan watching him. . .it was soooo cute!

On Thursday, I went to Aidan's school, found his new room and met his new teacher.  Mrs. Fuller seems very nice.  If she is even half as good as Ms. Jenkins, we will be very blessed indeed. 

Our new cleaners started on Friday.  There is a slight learning curve for the way I like the floors done.  But, other than that, they were great!  I think our shower is cleaner than it's been in a long while.

And the porch is coming along.  The roof is done!!  I'm hoping the next couple of weeks will finish it off. . .then we can move on to the patio!!  Woo Hoo!

And so, with that, we turn to some new beginnings: 

School starts tomorrow with the fresh new promise of all kinds of new things to learn; new friends to make; and new shoes and clothes to wear.

And a new season of hockey begins on Friday.

It's going to be a great new year!!