Christmas 2015!

Back on December 1, Ralph reminded me "Hey, Mom it's time to get the elf out!" . . and so it began.  Smiley the elf returned for another round of flying back up to Santa to keep him updated on the boy's behavior.  They boys had fun finding Smiley each morning - most mornings he would just be in a different spot but he did do some fun antics a few times.  One day he cut snowflakes out of newspaper and another day he made a snowman out of 3 toilet paper on rolls.  Unfortunately, there was a period of a few days Smiley did not return due to Henry having an issue at school that needed addressed.  Henry was a bit sad when he realized why Smiley was gone that morning.


Holiday Laser Light Show
Grandma and grandpa took the boys to the planetarium at Morrill Hall for their holiday laser light show in early December.    The laser light show was set to Christmas songs like Winter Wonderland, Jingle Bell Rock, and Frosty the Snowman.  They spent time looking at Christmas lights on their way back to grandma and grandpa's house.

Christmas Caroling
Ralph and his fellow cub scouts spent some time Christmas caroling at a retirement center.  After the scouts were done caroling they were treated to hot chocolate and cookies and had a chance to talk with some of the residents.

Christmas!
On Christmas morning, the boys were excited to see Santa had ate the cupcake I left out for him after they had gone to bed.

 When it came time to open gifts Henry picked out the gift he brought home from school for us to open first.

The boys then passed out their gifts for Mike and I before looking for their own gifts.    Among other things Henry received a marble maze, more Imaginext batman related figures/accessories, and a youth sized sleeping bag.  Ralph received a magic kit, a glow in the dark fun lab, and a youth sized sleeping bag.  After opening gifts at home we went to Grandma and Grandpa's for more gift opening and dinner.

Candyhouses
We spent some time the day after Christmas doing the candyhouses.  I didn't plan well and didn't have enough white frosting to go around so we improvised with orange, pink, and brown (caramel apple flavored) frosting.  Somewhere between frosting the candyhouses and decorating them Henry lost interest so his house was a cooperative effort between him and I.

As Ralph says "Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year!"

Henry: Celebrating 6 Years!

6 Years . . . Again, where does the time go?

Take a look at this guy - his natural smiles are so much nicer, this isn't his worst 'smile' but its on the top 10 list.  He is wearing (hand me down) size 5 jeans . . .and a brand new shirt from the Children's Place - size 5/6 . .and the shirt cuffs are rolled up and they still are too long.  Yes, this boy just turned 6 and is not yet big enough to wear a small 5/6.  He is taking his sweet time growing.  I believe his shoes are size 10.5T but the number has worn off the inside of the shoe.

His diet has not changed a ton - he has his favorites . .and not so favorite foods which have not changed much over the past six months.

For some reason Henry loses clothes as the evening goes on - he may take his shirt off during supper . . in case he spills; then after a bit he loses another article of clothing.

His stubborn attitude seems to have lessened just a bit but it is still definitely there.

Henry has accepted the change to the daily inhaler (with an aerochamber) in an effort to give his lungs a fighting chance when he gets a cold.  We were supposed to up it to four puffs in the morning after our last visit to the doctor in October because of the unknown winter brings.  New germs in kindergarten from kids he has only been near for a few months combined the potential cold weather means it is only a matter of time before Henry gets a cold/sick.  Upping the daily dose to four puffs is just a preventative measure . . I am living on the edge and have not upped the daily dose yet – the time may come soon enough.  Ralph had a cold a few weeks ago – and luckily Henry did not receive that “hand me down”.    

Henry did start Singular back up in August after a cough that wouldn’t go away on its own and finally sent us to the doctor.  He is now taking a small chewable pill – luckily that switch went well and he calls it “candy”.

Kindergarten seems to be going well.  There was one super rough day in September that included 3 visits to the safe seat.  It didn’t take long for him to figure out how to make better decisions – at least I’m hoping he has it figured out!!  During conferences we learned he was reading at a level 6 which is great for 1^st quarter (kids are supposed to be at a level 4 when they complete Kindergarten).  (update on 12/7:  Henry read 27 pages of Ready Set Boo from the 1st Grade Friends Forever Series.  I thought he was reading a Kindergarten Kids book and didn't realize until he hit a wall with the reading.  He was doing great but just grew tired.) 

It took a few weeks to adjust to the Y’s Adventure Club (ie. before/after school care).  Not only did he have to adjust to Kindergarten he also had to adjust to a new place to go before and after school.   He is doing great now.

Legos and batman/superhero "things" seems to be favorites these days.  The "boys" (all 3 of them) have been watching the original Batman series on Saturdays after supper until bath time lately.  It has given his free play a new look as he incorporates characters and story lines from the show.

THE Birth Day!

Henry wanted to go to Lost in Fun for his birthday . . so we did.  Henry and Ralph got "lost in fun" for 2 hours before we decided the fun had to come to an end.

We returned home to open gifts and have cake.  We went with a lego theme since he does have a fondness for legos.  He received plenty of Legos to keep him entertained for awhile and a Bat Cave.  I had a friend make a cake - She did awesome creating a lego head!

 

Sunday Funday! (Husker Track & Field mini-camp)

I noticed an ad promoting a track and field mini-camp held on Sundays during November for one hour.  It was noted as being appropriate for elementary students of all abilities, including those that have never tried track and field.  Ralph has humored us in "running" in the Pumpkin Run and the Mayor's Run but he is definitely not a runner.  It's too soon to tell for Henry.  I thought it would be fun to expose them to the different field events in addition to track - as well as being a good activity on a Sunday afternoon when the weather starts to turn and may not be good for playing outside (not that we do much of that anyhow).

The warm-up each Sunday involved running 2 laps.  With the exception of the 4th Sunday, that was the extent of running.  The kids would be split into smaller groups and rotated to different stations - anything from the long jump, high jump, shot put, javelin throw, hurdles, etc. - all geared to be age appropriate.   At the high jump they worked on landing on their backs before even trying the approach.  The 'javelin' was smaller and lightweight.  The hurdles were barely off the ground.  During the 4th week they did the 4x100 relay . . not once, not twice, but four times.  That was a long hour!

The 'coaches' at each station were Husker track and field athletes.

Ralph and Henry were in the same small group the 1st week but then were split up the next few weeks and then were together again in the last week.  Henry did great by himself - either he really liked the activities or is becoming more confident.  Henry has picked up his brother's habit of putting his fingers in his mouth while waiting in line.

Overall, I think the boys had fun though I'm guessing they won't miss it either.

The photos are a bit out of order but you can see a variety of the activities they did during the last session including perfecting the landing on the high jump, doing the hurdles during the last relay challenge, the long jump, and a warm up activity.

Swimming Lessons!

Ralph wanted to do a "open swim" before another round of swimming lessons so I obliged.  The "open swim" is nearly 3 hours of swimming at Rhonda's - it included a safety break complete with donut holes - and we also picked them up a bit early but they had fun and could hardly stay awake the rest of the day.  We bought a punch card which has 4 more punches on it.  

They did an "open swim" in October and followed up with lessons on Saturdays in the month of November.  Henry was the only level 3 student in the class - there was also a level 5 student; the rest, including Ralph, were in level 4.  My camera took awhile to acclimate to the humidity so I have few photos.

For the 1st time they took the belt off Henry during one length of the crawl stroke.  He did great.  The belt went back on for the rest of the swimming prior to treading.  During treading Henry did a half effort that might have lasted 15-20 seconds during the time the higher levels were treading.  When they were done, Rhonda asked Henry if he'd show us his treading, he said no.  She then asked him if he would tread for her, he agreed.  Henry then amazed everyone with his treading that lasted 1:20!  It really was amazing - there was no question his head clearly was out of the water.

Ralph showed improvement in most areas.  He seemed more at ease during the swims that went the length of the pool.  He did tread for 2 minutes but there were many times his head did go underwater.  His underwater swim was not quite as good as it was during his previous lessons.

 

During free play at the end of the lesson the boys jumped off the board.

 

Both will continue in their current levels.  They are also signed up for an "open swim" in a few weeks.