Only One More Year

Andrew is definitely growing up! I look at him and can't believe how tall he is, how old he looks, and all the things he can say and do. He likes to talk about how he will be 5 at his next birthday. And while it is still 6 months away, I just cannot believe he is going to be 5. Four wasn't too bad, but 5 sounds so old!! This is his last year before kindergarten! It makes me really sad to think about leaving him all day, every day. I have never had to do that. I feel very blessed to have had the opportunity to stay home with him, but I'm not sure I'm ready for it to end. Thankfully, I do still have almost a year left to be with him, so I'll stop writing about that and start writing about Andrew now.

Andrew is doing really well at Pre-K. He goes 3 days a week for 3.5 hours a day. I can definitely tell as he gets older, he gets more interested in school. Andrew has never been a sit down type of kid. He never really liked doing organized activities or "learning" activities. His attention span wasn't long enough and he would just rather be doing something active and hands on. He literally would slinky out of his chair when I tried to work on letters with him. It was always kind of hard for me because I loved school and assumed my kids would too. It is a little relief to see him start having some interest, but he is still a busy little boy. I think his Pre-K class will be a great benefit to him.

Andrew isn't much of a talker, so I don't get a lot of details out of him about school. I usually have to ask lots of questions and in return I get very brief answers. He did confess to getting into trouble this week, though. I asked him about school and what he did outside that day. He said he got time out. He wouldn't tell me why he got time out, but he was honest about getting it. Matt finally got him to tell him why....he didn't put his truck away and sit down when asked. I asked him if he had time out before and he said it was his first time at school. And I'm really hoping one of the only! I thought it was funny that Andrew tells me very little about school, but did tell us he got time out.

Even though he doesn't talk about it much, Andrew says he really likes school. I have already seen some improvements in his recognizing letters, numbers, coloring, etc. since he started. He often has papers in his binder that say "Finish at home" but aren't in his homework section. I asked his teacher if I needed to turn them back in and she said no that she had noticed Andrew didn't like to color very much (which I already knew!) and thought it would be good for him to know he has to finish even if it is at home. One morning, she showed me a picture that was fully colored. She said she told Andrew he couldn't have play time until it was finished and she said he colored it in just a matter of minutes. He definitely didn't want to miss play time!

For those who know Andrew, it would be no surprise that he is really quiet at school. His teacher said he is starting to talk a little more, but is still pretty quiet. I think she does a great job of trying to encourage Andrew to come out of his shell and not be afraid to talk. He had a reward in his binder one day and he said he got it for raising his hand and talking loud. You know he is the quiet kid when he gets a reward for raising his hand. :) But I'm glad she gave it to him because it will hopefully encourage him to do it more. We have parent teacher conferences in October, so hopefully I'll get a better idea of what he does every day in school and how he is doing.