it has been an exciting week for our family... lots of firsts.
i'll start with ammon. after much deliberation about whether to start our young five-year-old in kindergarten this year (he just turned five a few weeks ago), we decided to give it a try. he was to start on monday, so we spent a little bit of time sunday night making sure that everything was prepared for a smooth morning. smooth it was!!! ammon was 100% cooperative in doing everything i asked him to do (not the usual case!) ... he was soooo excited!! i on the other hand was a nervous and emotional wreck (crying myself to sleep at about 3:00 a.m. didn't help). abraham, ziya and i walked ammon into his new classroom. his teacher is a veteran kindergarten teacher and knew just what to do to make all the new kindergarteners comfortable. we helped ammon go through what will be his normal morning routine (greet teacher, hang backpack, choose book, etc.) and then we just hung out for a while and explored the classroom with him. he got just a tad nervous when i told him we were going to leave, but as soon as i introduced him to a classmate who was playing with little toy animals, he was eager for me to leave.
now one week later, ammon dances around our apartment saying "vvvvvvvv is the sound for vampire and it starts with the letter V!" he also criss-crosses his arms while waving them in the air and says "fox... x says xxxxx." he has already dug his hands into a tub of earthworms, watched and waited with anticipation for the classroom cocoons to hatch, searched in the woods for living creatures either "above, on or under" the ground, played with bombs (i.e. balls) in gym and gone on an amazing watermelon hunt (in two weeks he'll be helping to harvest potatoes from a local garden). in other words, he's having a great time!
abraham refused to be left out of the excitement of the first day of school. while ammon prepared his backpack sunday night, abraham also packed his own and set it next to the front door (finding this at 2:00 a.m. was what started my crying fit). i'd told abe that i was going to get together with some other moms and start a preschool for him, but i had not yet done that. well... he was up and dressed and ready to go even before ammon was! after we left ammon's school, i desperately called a good friend and asked her to "pretend" to be abe's preschool teacher for the day. within the 15 minutes that it took us to get to her house, she had a preschool lesson prepared (handouts and all!) for abraham and her own three-year-old daughter. (bless you, gina!) abe had fun learning about the "very special" letter A. he picked out A's from a group of ABC blocks and he even practiced writing A's on a magna doodle. after everybody was home in the evening, he was excited to show off his preschool papers.
this week abe has also become an expert bike rider. while i go on walks with some friends, he rides his bike alongside us. it didn't even dawn on me the first day he did this, that he was riding close to 4 miles though. when he woke up in the middle of the night crying because his legs hurt, we made arrangements the next day and hid his bike along the trail so that he did not have to ride the entire time!
i did finally coordinate with some other moms and we started a parent co-op preschool at an elementary school not too far from where we live. we already have plans to stencil with apples on the first official day, visit a fire station later in the month and do lots of other fun stuff. now he really does have a preschool to call his own.
even little ziya has had some firsts (hers actually started a few weeks ago, but she perfected them this week!). ziya's introduction to baby rice cereal was a hit. i kept having to stir up more and more because she just kept eating and eating. she ate like such a pro... if i didn't know any better, i would have thought somebody had been sneaking her cereal behind my back!
ziya has also finally started playing with her feet when she's lying down. she's caught glimpses of them before, but was never interested in actually playing with them. now it's the first thing she does when i lay her down to change a diaper or just to hang out.
ziya has also just started playing in an exersaucer and a jumperoo (i'll post pictures in a few days when i can get some good ones). it really is amazing how fast she's growing. her little personality is adorable. in relief society today, she cooed and giggled with the sister who was sitting behind me for at least 15 minutes. she is a true blessing in our lives.
as for me, i've also had a few "firsts" this past week. my neighbor and i went out and picked raspberries one night. i learned how to wash them without destroying them (thank goodness for the internet) and get all the spiders off. the next day, i made my first ever raspberry freezer jam! it feels great to look in the freezer and see something that i've created from scratch all by myself!
just yesterday, a dear relief society sister also brought over a large sack full of rhubarb from her garden. i made rhubarb crisp for dessert (ymmmmm! with vanilla ice cream) and tonight as a family activity, we all worked at the table and chopped it up to put in freezer bags for future use.
another "first" for me is my daily above-mentioned walks with a few friends. we briskly walk about 4 miles or so. the weather has been really cooperative and it has been nice to be outside so much. i push ziya in a bike trailer/stroller and abe rides his bike. the most exciting part about this is that when i weighed myself at the end of the week, i was down 5.4 pounds from my weight just two weeks prior. exciting stuff!!
finally, there's papi jacob. he actually started school a week and a half ago -- his second year of teaching. he has four co-taught classes, which means that he coordinates with four different teachers (and four different subjects, i might add) in finding ways to modify curriculum for the special ed students with whom he works. he teaches in these classes and also teaches one period of his own self-titled "intensive studies" class (study skills). and all this he does in amazingly handsome style! (he's sporting new clothes that actually fit comfortably... being 6'5" isn't easy on the wardrobe!). pictures to come later.
now one week later, ammon dances around our apartment saying "vvvvvvvv is the sound for vampire and it starts with the letter V!" he also criss-crosses his arms while waving them in the air and says "fox... x says xxxxx." he has already dug his hands into a tub of earthworms, watched and waited with anticipation for the classroom cocoons to hatch, searched in the woods for living creatures either "above, on or under" the ground, played with bombs (i.e. balls) in gym and gone on an amazing watermelon hunt (in two weeks he'll be helping to harvest potatoes from a local garden). in other words, he's having a great time!
this week abe has also become an expert bike rider. while i go on walks with some friends, he rides his bike alongside us. it didn't even dawn on me the first day he did this, that he was riding close to 4 miles though. when he woke up in the middle of the night crying because his legs hurt, we made arrangements the next day and hid his bike along the trail so that he did not have to ride the entire time!
i did finally coordinate with some other moms and we started a parent co-op preschool at an elementary school not too far from where we live. we already have plans to stencil with apples on the first official day, visit a fire station later in the month and do lots of other fun stuff. now he really does have a preschool to call his own.
ziya has also finally started playing with her feet when she's lying down. she's caught glimpses of them before, but was never interested in actually playing with them. now it's the first thing she does when i lay her down to change a diaper or just to hang out.
ziya has also just started playing in an exersaucer and a jumperoo (i'll post pictures in a few days when i can get some good ones). it really is amazing how fast she's growing. her little personality is adorable. in relief society today, she cooed and giggled with the sister who was sitting behind me for at least 15 minutes. she is a true blessing in our lives.
as for me, i've also had a few "firsts" this past week. my neighbor and i went out and picked raspberries one night. i learned how to wash them without destroying them (thank goodness for the internet) and get all the spiders off. the next day, i made my first ever raspberry freezer jam! it feels great to look in the freezer and see something that i've created from scratch all by myself!just yesterday, a dear relief society sister also brought over a large sack full of rhubarb from her garden. i made rhubarb crisp for dessert (ymmmmm! with vanilla ice cream) and tonight as a family activity, we all worked at the table and chopped it up to put in freezer bags for future use.
another "first" for me is my daily above-mentioned walks with a few friends. we briskly walk about 4 miles or so. the weather has been really cooperative and it has been nice to be outside so much. i push ziya in a bike trailer/stroller and abe rides his bike. the most exciting part about this is that when i weighed myself at the end of the week, i was down 5.4 pounds from my weight just two weeks prior. exciting stuff!!
finally, there's papi jacob. he actually started school a week and a half ago -- his second year of teaching. he has four co-taught classes, which means that he coordinates with four different teachers (and four different subjects, i might add) in finding ways to modify curriculum for the special ed students with whom he works. he teaches in these classes and also teaches one period of his own self-titled "intensive studies" class (study skills). and all this he does in amazingly handsome style! (he's sporting new clothes that actually fit comfortably... being 6'5" isn't easy on the wardrobe!). pictures to come later.
1 comment:
What a great post! I almost cried too when you said that Abe had placed his backpack by the door and was up and ready to go before Ammon. I'm glad it all worked out and that Ammon loves kindergarten. I love the fall when the real routine starts again.
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