Yikes! It has been awhile since I have blogged. The longer you don't write, the harder it is to think of something to say. I will start from that latest. Yesterday I had Mason's parent teacher conference for his first semester of pre-kindergarten. Yes, I know that sounds ridiculous. Of course, she had all good things to say about him. She raved about his social skills and thinks that he is a very happy, well-adjusted boy. She said he ALWAYS raises his hand and knows all the right answers, so much so that the teacher will have to specifically not call on him because he takes over the class. That doesn't surprise me one bit. He has a tight group of friends that are all the 5 year old boys. She thinks he is very special that he can "hang with the big dogs." He got an "outstanding" grade in "respects supervision" and she had many nice things to say about how polite he is. She said that he is paying attention for much longer periods of time, as compared to the beginning of the school year.
The only slightly negative thing that she notices is that he erases his work if it is not exactly right. She said that this is concerning because he is showing signs of perfectionism and then he doesn't want to continue. His fine motor skills have always been lacking, and it is probably because he is not naturally good at it, and he doesn't like to practice things that he is not good at. The whole issue with art/scribbling came back up. Right before he went to school he loved art. As soon as he started school he refused to color or paint anymore. I always suspected it was because he was getting teased at his scribbling. She said that yes, the kids probably mention that he draws "like a baby" or something along those lines, but the teachers never do. Peer pressure is strong though. I don't really know what to do about this. He very recently started drawing stick figures, so that is an improvement past just scribbles or basic rectangles. I was thinking of getting a stylus for the ipad to practice with a pen in his hands. He has great fine motor control with one finger after all those hours playing Angry Birds, but holding a pencil is hard for him. Since he loves the ipad so much, he would practice more often. If anyone has any advice, I am all ears.
I told him that after the parent teacher conference we could go someplace special, just him and me. He immediately chose McDonald's. I am not thrilled that this is his special place, but I have to honor his choice. He told everyone for two days that he gets to go to McDonald's after school on Thursday. He always talks about the other kids and how they get McDonald's for breakfast and why he doesn't. We tell him that it is isn't healthy to eat McDonald's all the time and it should just be occasional. He understands, but he still wants it really bad. When we finally got there, he didn't even eat any french fries and maybe half of the hamburger after I had to prod him along. He did eat every last bite of the hot fudge sundae though.
When I tucked him into bed last night he told me about a game him and Marky were playing. He had picked blue and then Marky took blue from him. We talked for a very long time about that. He said he had to be purple, even though he doesn't like purple, because at least he was still playing the game. I said I was proud of him that he compromised and then we talked for a long time about compromise. He also said that Marky let him be blue after a couple of minutes and then he was happy. I love having these talks with Mason.
The other story he told me was about Angel. Angel is a very manic child - he is either the coolest kid around or the one that is getting in lots of trouble. I know that he is a foster child, but I don't know any history. I do know that he is not allowed to have sugar because Mason always points out sugar-free items as things Angel can have; so my assumption is that he probably has ADD or something. We will be walking through the grocery store and he will point out all the items (sugar-free) for Angel. This trait of Mason's is the most honest, true sign of his personality. He has always been extremely compassionate and knows what makes other people happy. He did this even when he was very young. He was a born pleaser and that has made him an extremely easy child to parent. Anyway, back to Angel. He said that Angel had ran into the front office and kicked the teacher because he was mad. Obviously Angel was punished for this, but what was interesting, is that Mason said, "Angel was very mad and he shouldn't kick the teacher, but he is not a bad kid, he just does bad things." I got all teary-eyed when he said that, because I have told Mason that many times. I always say things like some people make good choices and some people make bad choices, but it doesn't make them bad people. He really understands it now.
What else, oh yes, Christmas! He is so excited about Christmas. I think this will be one of the best ones. He is at the perfect age to feel the magic. I helped his write his letter to Santa - I will post it soon, and he wants to help Alex write a letter too. Sweet. I am going to help him buy presents for a few people - Dad, Alex, Laurence, Addison, and maybe a couple others (Ahem, Dad help him get something for Mom please - he never reads this so someone please remind Dad to do this!).
I am excited about my Advent calendar this year. I am wrapping 24 Christmas books - some we already had, and the rest I bought used. Every night we can unwrap one and read a new book. Then at the end of December I will put all the books away and save them for next year. I think the kids will love to remember what books are coming and get excited about them. I will probably change a couple out every year as they get older. Hint Hint...Good idea for a gift here - a meaningful Christmas book would be wonderful. The first one we opened last night went really well. It was a simple look-and-find book and Alex could even point to the pictures.
Alex is finally sitting on my lap to read! He is so funny because he hands me a book, then does a little turn around (reminds me of a dog that turns three times before he finally lays down) and plops down hard on my lap. He likes to turn the pages quickly so we don't get a lot of the story in, but it is a good start. I REALLY want to set up a reading area in Alex's room. I have been saying this for 6 months, and I need to take a trip to Ikea to make it happen. Hopefully we will go over New Years.
