Liking the color Orange

Oh my... I need to do a lot of catching up :). Preschool seems to be going great. His teachers both say that he is doing wonderful and that he is a pleasure to have there. He on the other hand, doesn't seem to like to talk about it. He has made a lot of new friends and is always excited to go. Dropping off isn't quite as smooth, but after a little time, he willingly says goodbye. I hope that part gets easier soon. It breaks our hearts some mornings when he just wants you to stay. I am going to stick with the assumption that unless I'm told differently, things are going great.

Gymnastics started back up a couple of weeks again. We didn't know what to expect. Last year, one of us did it with him because they were so young. This year, he's on his own. Let me just say that we were all pleasantly surprised. He runs right in and does a great job. He is becoming so independent. It is a wonderful thing to see.

Karate... WOO HOO! My little man was promoted to ORANGE BELT last night. Last week he tested for his new rank and did perfect. Sometimes it's hard to remember that he is only 3. He didn't know he was getting it. We just told him there was a party at Karate. Someone must've slipped because all of a sudden he yells "I"m getting an Orange Belt, WOO HOO". He was one VERY excited little boy. Baby Doll has been bitten by the Karate bug now too and we think she will try it out this Saturday. I am having many, many mixed emotions about this. Time will tell.

Day 1.... A SUCCESS

Pepere and I went to pick him up yesterday. We weren't late, but the other parents were really early. Poor Ryan was standing there, just watching the door, in great anticipation. He saw me and lit up like a light bulb :). He was smiling away. It was a little crazy with everyone there so all's I got was that he did great and he was wonderful. We left and went out to lunch. I kept questioning him but he was too pre occupied playing to really give me the low down. He did say that he liked it and that he wanted to go back. He liked the cheese they had for snack time :). This morning, he ran into the playground and starting playing with all the other kids and forgot I was even there. Miss Arlene said he was wonderful yesterday and that he was a very happy child. It was nice to hear.

Preschool Dropoff

I am in tears. He's fine. We went to open house last week and have been prepping until we were blue in the face. Preschool is only for kids, we drop you off and then will pick you back up before lunch, you will have new friends, new toys, new books to read, great teachers... You get the point. I walked him inside to drop his stuff off and made a quick trip to the great little kids potty. Then we met his class outside on the playground. He found a corner with trucks in it and was in heaven. He looked up at me and said "Are you leaving now mommy?". That was when I knew he would be ok. Miss Pat took my hand and said it's ok, we'll see you at 11:30.

Vacation week

Oh so much to catch up on. We were on vacation last week and had a perfect week. The weather was wonderful. We went to NH for 3 days and went to Storyland. Ryan loved being in a hotel (except he kept calling it the hospital???). He loved Storyland. When we went on Tuesday, it rained a little in the morning so the park was empty. It was great. He only wanted to go on the tallest or fastest rides. He LOVED the roller coaster and log flume. He is such a little thrill seaker. We also went back to the little train museum down the road. He could literally spend hours and hours just looking at all the different setups. We will definately miss the place is it ever closes.

Potty training is offically done! I can't remember the last accident. However, he has now taken to calling us into the bathroom to show us his "big beautiful poop". Yeah, they are going to love him in preschool.

We go to visit preschool on Sept 4th and his first day got moved to the 8th. This really stinks because I need to be at work that day and Jimmie has his riffle course that day. I'll make it work, somehow.

Karate has changed him. He LOVES it and would go everyday if we could take him. Right now he goes 3 days a week. He just earned another star for his uniform. When we went to Storyland and needed to wait in line, he was fine. It didn't bother him that people were close to him or than they were even behind him. Karate has helped him in so many ways. I am so glad we found it and stuck with it.

He has his first sleepover last week. He slept at Memere's house. He went to bed late and slept through the night. He thought it was great.

He is just such a joy right now. I didn't want to come back to work this week :(. I can't believe how fast he is growing. He called me at work yesterday and told me that when he grows up, he wants to be an astronaut. I love you buddy and I hope you know that you can be anything you want to be.

Just a little update

We had PT eval this morning. There are still some areas we need to work on. We are going to do some special things at home and go back in 1 month for another eval. If he is still behind, we will resume weekly sessions.

Karate is gong GREAT! He even talks about how much he likes it. I am so very proud of him. Every session, they have an oath they say at the beginning and end of class. He has never even uttered one word of it. He would do the hand gestures but that was it. On Monday, he said the oath at the end of class, from start to finish. Mr. Lovely was amazed. He is so funny. He won't do anything until he knows he can do it completely and correctly. The first time he counted, it was to 20. The first time he tried his ABC's, he said the whole thing. Correctly. I am sure this part of his personality is why he only said one word at age 2.

He is continuing to do great with the potty. He even sleeps in just underwear and no accidents.

I have been trying to prep him for pre-school which starts in a couple of weeks. I have been trying to explain to him how we drop him off and he stays there by himself and then we will return to pick him up. I know he is understanding what I am saying because he will even say it on his own. Now, I'm just not sure if he is going to like it. Of course, it doesn't make it easy on him that the only people we have ever left him with are my parents. Oh, and poor UB when he was 6 months old.

We are on vacation next week. As much as I love my job, I so need this vacation. We are going away for a couple of days and then will hopefully get some work done around the house. If we just cuddled all week, that would be ok too :).

Just one more minute

Nap time seems to be a thing of the past. Sorry Pepere :(. It seems like we are now at the point where he will take a sporadic one here or there, but for the most part, they are a thing of the past. This means that we have pushed his bedtime back down to 8. So far so good. However, a couple of times a week, when he has had a really busy day like Monday, he will fall asleep on me while we are doing our rock and read. Every night we sit in the rocking chair and read 2 books of his choice. When the 2 books are done, he knows it's bedtime. This has always been our special, quiet daily bonding time. I LOVE this time. Last night was one of those nights that he fell asleep while reading. I know that someday, this time together will end. I had to hold him just one more minute and make sure I thanked God for my most wonderful gift. I don't know how I ever existed without him. I still get tears in my everyday when I watch him.

He had PT yesterday morning and is progressing wonderfully. I can't wait for the day when he has graduated from all of his services. He has come so far!

We also had Karate last night. Just me and him. We got there early and I need to say... it went GREAT! There were a couple of kids there and some bigger kids. He earned another tiny tiger patch because he always brings so much energy to class and is so good at following instruction. I am so very proud of him.

Going to consider it a success

I believe we are POTTY TRAINED. WOO HOO!!! He has not had an accident since Tuesday and has done wonderful. He is still wearing pull-ups at night but for the last 4 days they have been dry in the morning. I am so very proud of him.

Karate on Saturday was great! Ok, he was the only one there again but that is ok sometimes. He worked hard for 45 minutes straight.

We went to Palace Playland on Sunday with Jack and Ella. He is definately a thrill ride seeker. He loved the faster/higher rides. He had so much fun. He just idolizes Jack and would do everything Jack would do. He and Ella act like best buds. I am so glad we went.