Ralph: 6 year check-up

Ralph had his 6-year check up this afternoon.  He has grown about 3" in a year and gained almost 5 pounds.  He weighed in at 44.2 lbs (41%) and measured 46 1/4" (64%).  His BMI was 14.61 (35%), blood pressure was 108/54, and pulse was 104.

It was a pretty noneventful appointment.  This morning Ralph asked if he'd have 6 shots since he turned 6 . . remembering the 4-year appt where he got 4 shots.  I tried to reassure him I didn't think he would get any but I'm sure he worried about it off and on today until he found out he didn't need any.  I did tell the doctor Ralph has trouble staying in bed in the mornings and she mentioned a lamp that turns color indicating when it is time (or almost time) to get up.  Ralph can tell time so I wasn't really sold on the idea.  I wasn't entirely sure he knows what different times mean so gave him a scenario tonight.  I asked him if it was 6:27 and he was supposed to stay in bed until 7 what does that mean.  He said it would be 30 more minutes.  I think he gets the concept; he is choosing not to stay in bed.  I'm sure he has his reasons but not knowing the concept of time is not one of them.

I did get a bit of a lecture because Ralph is in a high back booster rather than a 5 point harness car seat which I found interesting.  I know he is on the low end of the requirement but last year the same nurse almost seemed surprised he was still 5 point harnessed (we switched sometime over the summer).

Ralph: Continuing the Birthday Celebrations!

Last Friday (the day after Ralph's birthday), Grandma and Grandpa along with Uncle Larry came over for a pizza supper followed by opening gifts and then cake and ice cream.  The cake was themed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and I got mint green ice cream which had been a favorite but Ralph didn't care for it much.  Most of the gifts centered around the Teenage Mutant Ninja theme, Monsters University, the Mr. series books, chess/checkers set, a rainbow loom, and an archery set that will have to stay at Grandma and Grandpa's where there is room to practice and someone (ie. grandpa) to provide guidance.

Last Sunday, a few friends joined Ralph for a celebration at Chuck E. Cheese.  I really limited the number of kids he could invite which was not his choice.  I think the initial shock of the freedom of choosing which games to play was tough; they hurried through some games so they could try the next game even though there was plenty of time.  They played games for a bit then had pizza followed by Teenage Mutant Turtle cupcakes followed by rockin' with Chuck E. Cheese and some time in the ticket blaster.

 Not all the party go-ers wanted their photo with Chuck (E. Cheese) and the group shot was not so successful at the end of the party . . .

 

Now it's time to write some thank yous!

Ralph: Celebrating 6 years

It has been a busy 6 months since the last post; it has been a busy 6 years since this guy made his mark on our lives - and it's only going to get busier!  I love watching him grow and develop.  There are days I look at him and wonder when he got so big - in height as well as his everything.  I love watching him spell out words without asking how to spell something - I love watching him spell a word as it sounds.  It leads to some interesting spelled words.  I love  sneaking a peak in his room on the rare morning he and Henry are in his bed and Ralph is reading a book to him.  I love listening to him read.  Oh, the milestones he hit this year!

Ralph can really get into a character when playing with character figures (superheros/ninja turtles).  He did a great job working with Henry on mazes a few weeks back; he was really trying to guide a "student" who didn't always care to listen.   He still does not like to play by himself much - he also does not care to go upstairs by himself if we are downstairs.  Listening/following directions isn't always a strength of his - nor his sleeping in, on a good day he sleeps until 6:30.

Ralph is doing his part to meet the recommendations of the US Health and Human Services to get 60 minutes of physical activity a day . . He has turned from the kid who was adamant he didn't want to do soccer to a kid that has completed two sessions of indoor soccer clinic through Capital Soccer Association  . . .as well as the kid who is in his 2nd session of flag football through Nebraska Football Academy. . . and the kid who is signed up for the next sessions of each that will be outdoors since it is, after all the first day of spring - the warmer weather should be right around the corner.  Ralph enjoys both sports; he will tell you his favorite is flag football.  Most of the soccer sessions were introducing fundamentals through games with a short 3x3 'scrimmage' at the end.  The football sessions were similar - working on fundamentals the first half and playing a game the second half.  Ralph did manage to score a touchdown at one game . . not that there was a scorebook.  He also did pass the ball that was ran in for a touchdown in another game. The coach does a great job rotating them through different positions.

He is also continuing the basketball clinics with Cornhusker Shooting Stars at Abbott.  This year there were not as many younger kids so they did not lower the rim.  In the last few months Ralph has developed enough arm strength to regularly make a 10' basket when he is just shooting hoops; his success rates drops during the clinic as they are working on fundamentals not making baskets.

Ralph also finished up another session of swimming.  He mentioned tennis a few months ago (they were doing a tennis unit in PE class) . . . .Not sure if we have time to fit that into the schedule!

School seems to be going as well as it could be.  At the end of the 3rd quarter a few weeks ago he did comment that he hopes he has a good report card.  Maybe he is catching on a bit.

With all that is going on Ralph is usually done for the week by Friday, he is a lot more short tempered, sarcastic, and moody by 5 pm on Friday than the other days of the week.  The best Friday nights these days are those spent at home - movie nights are a new favorite. 

Ralph does not have any loose teeth yet; he is a bit disappointed but there's not much that can be done.

He seems to be average in size.  His size 5 pants are getting a bit to short; and most of the size 6's are a bit to long.  Most of his shirts are 5/6 and are somewhere between "just right" to "a bit to big".  Shoe size is 11.


He is very interested in age appropriate word searches, mazes, and other similar activities.  He is becoming an artist - his latest favorites are airplanes and rockets - and he will even draw the jet trails trailing the airplane and the fire under the rocket.

He had a basketball conflict tonight and will have a few birthday celebrations over the weekend.  To make up for not having a birthday cake today I put candles in a donut this morning. He was quite excited since donuts in the house are a rarity.

Ralph: Science Fair

Ralph came home with a form to sign up for Kahoa's science fair in early January.  He told me he wanted to do it.  I am sure he didn't quite know what he was in for but I also didn't want to discourage his enthusiasm.  Another student in his class talked about doing something with cars that reminded me of the Boy Scouts Pine Derby; that may have piqued his interest.  I told him we can not copy someone else's idea and we set to work finding a different one.

It took a few experiments before "we" settled on showing a demonstration of capillary action.  "We" did two different experiments to demonstrate capillary action.  One involved putting a carnation in colored water to see the petals turn color. The other involved water "climbing" up paper towels - one end of each paper towel was in a glass of colored water and the other end of each paper towel was placed in the same empty glass. The colored water could been seen "climbing" up the paper towel and down to the empty glass until the liquids evened out.  

The most challenging part in preparing for the fair was making the display board.  The directions encouraged "Kindergarten writing" and not computer printed information.  It also encouraged dark print.  I tried to get Ralph to write in pencil thinking he could trace over it but after a few attempts at erasing it became apparent that wasn't going to work well so I let him go straight to using a marker which meant he had to redo a page 5-6 times before it was acceptable.    Needless to say it was a very lengthy process and required a lot of patience.  The Sunday before the fair we took the display board to Grandma & Grandpa's to show them against Ralph's wishes.  I was hoping it would help him become more familiar with the board and help him to talk about it with someone else.  Grandma did a great job in asking questions . . .and she took it one step further and created a mini display board using the original board as her model.  It was a very sneaky way to get Ralph involved in explaining how the experiments were done and why they worked.

Ralph excitedly carried his display board into school and checked himself in.  I had thought about having the paper towel demonstration on the paper as a real life example vs just pictures but did not want to worry about anything spilling/making a mess and wanted to make it easy for him to carry.  We found his table and set up the board . . .then he went to work finding classmates and checking out their displays.  Lucky, once the judging started, it didn't take too long for the judges to come by his table.  I tried to give him space so he wouldn't look at me for help so I am not really sure what he did or didn't say - or what the judges asked him about.  He had fun and can't wait until Henry is in school so they can do a project together.

Swimming Lessons!

 The boys didn't exactly go anywhere tropical for spring break BUT they did get in the pool for 4 days this week as they took swimming lessons at Rhonda's Swim Academy (formerly Mulgrue Swim Academy).  This was Ralph's 3rd time in the level 1/2 combined class and Henry's first as he just met the age requirement when he turned 4.  In addition to being 4, a swimmer is also supposed to be 38" which Henry is but she also lowered the pool 3" to accommodate the little guy.


I think it helped each of them having each other nearby.  It also helped Ralph taking them so soon after the last ones - there was a year and a half gap between his first and second sessions which was like starting over.  Ralph is close to moving on to level 3; he needs to learn to take a breath when he surfaces after jumping into the water.   He also just needs to relax in general.  He gets a bit too anxious before the lessons.  It would help if he had more exposure to the water also and he should this summer as the school age group at Fingerprints has weekly field trips scheduled to Ballard pool.

Henry seemed at ease in the water.  He went underwater when asked . . and when not asked.  Many times he stayed under longer than needed for an exercise.  It is always nice to see him listen and follow directions of a teacher; sometimes he isn't so willing to do so at home.