No, No Baby Andrew!

I didn't know that the days of Austin barring Andrew from coming into a room or a fort or just generally being around would start so early. Here is Austin's sign blocking Andrew's admittance from his fort. It's a pretty good sign and he even wrote no.

Brotherly love (or something like that)

I don't know why Andrew doesn't look thrilled.

3rd week of school...completed (just barely)

This week was wild. Austin got a tummy bug on Monday. He went back to school on Wednesday only to get sick that afternoon. So, he was out Tuesday and Thursday of this week. He finished the week today and made it through without getting sick!

For the 3 days he was at school this week, he had great days! And he actually napped! Hooray!

Excused absence

I got a call yesterday from the school's nurse. Austin had thrown up...with only 5 minutes left of school. I picked up Andrew and headed to pick up Austin. On our way out of the school, he threw up all over the floor. They called over the intercom for a custodian to come clean up the mess. We got home and Austin just kept getting sick.

Now that he's in real school, we have to deal with absences and excuses. I got a call from the attendence office saying that I needed to send an excuse tomorrow. That's going to take some getting used to.

He's much, much better today and is actually eating and keeping things down. We've cleaned house (an attempt to get rid of the germs and hope that the rest of us get sick), made a fort, had a lunch party, and worked a little on a school project. Hopefully, he'll be back in school tomorrow!

Kindergarten update

I haven't posted much about Austin's kindergarten adventure so far because it's been challenging. While I knew it would be a hard transition for him, it's been harder than anyone expected. We're working through some behavior issues and trying to get some of our old routine back so help with all the change. I started taking him to school instead of him riding the bus. We're hoping it will help.

I know that Austin will be great in kindergarten. It's just going to take a little longer than most for him to adjust. We're working every day to make today better than yesterday. Pray that all of us will make it through this rough patch.

New words and other news

Andrew's saying (and signing) many new things these days. He says puppy and barks. Gene loves this of course because he's a Georgia fan. Maybe Austin will be my Roll Tide buddy.

Andrew knows the sign for eat and please. It's pretty funny because he'll walk around saying the word and signing it too. Today, he started saying carpet. At school, the teacher will tell them to go to the carpet and he said "carpet" today.

He also says cat but sometimes calls the cats puppies. He says their names too! Andrew's saying bubbles a lot. He has a Sesame Street book called Bubbles Bubbles. It's one of his favorite books.

No new teeth yet, but his gums are so bumpy. Any day now another one or two or three teeth will come in!

First day of school

Today was Austin's first day of kindergarten! He's been looking forward to this day for a while now. And it lived up to the hype.

Last night before we went to bed, Austin sprinkled his ready confetti under both of his pillows. He didn't lay down until we finished reading his book because he didn't want the confetti to start working yet. He finally laid down and looked up at me and asked "when is it going to start working?" He didn't need much help getting to sleep after the day we'd had.

We woke Austin up this morning and he got dressed, made his bed, and ate breakfast. He put on his backpack and wanted to go out to the bus stop at 6:30 a.m. (the bus doesn't come until 7:05 a.m.). We managed to keep him inside until 6:45 a.m.

He met all his friends from the street at the corner. When the bus came, he stood in line behind the other kids to get on. He stopped for a moment before hopping on the bus. When he did get on, he stopped to talk to the bus driver and then found a seat. He waved and smiled really big as he drove away.

Austin had a great day at school. His teacher sent the parents a 10 second video of the kids which really brightened my morning. Austin said that they went to the gym and played with parachutes and played duck-duck-goose. They painted gingerbread men and learned a new song.

There weren't many tears but it was still sad to see him drive away...with a complete stranger...on a bus with no car seat and no seat belt. I know this is only the first time we'll be saying goodbye to him.

15 month appointment

In the middle of getting ready for kindergarten, Andrew turned 15 months old! We went to the pediatrician this morning for his checkup. Andrew got 2 shots and was weighed and measured. He weighed 24.14 pounds and was 32 inches long. He is in the 50th percentile for weight and 75-95th percentile for height. Our next appointment is in November for his 18 month visit!

Chick-fil-A and McWane

Today, we got together with some of Austin's friends from Bright Horizons who are starting school this week. We met at Chick-fil-A for lunch and then went to the McWane Center. Austin had a great time playing with his friends and exploring everything.

Playing mini golf in the mini Birmingham area

At the shark and ray touch tank

Austin's being the weatherman

Fixing the "car"

Using the pulley to pull himself up to the top

Meet the teacher

Today, Gene and I took Austin to meet his new kindergarten teacher. He was very excited. The room was like a wonderland with all sorts of neat things to do an explore. Austin wasn't shy about asking his teacher if he could play or talk to everyone. His teacher even made Austin a special goody bag with a backpack tag, a name tag for the first two week of school, and something called Ready Confetti to sprinkle under his pillow the night before school starts.

Last day

Today was Austin's last day at Bright Horizons. He was pretty excited about it being his last day. He got up this morning and said, "Mommy, guess what today is." I said, "It's Friday." He said, "Yeah, but what else?" I said, "It's water play day." He said, "Yeah, but what else?" I asked him to tell me and he said, "It's my last day!"

When we got there, I teared up on the way in with my bags in hand to clean out his cubby. Gene met me at the school and we went to Austin's room first. He was putting a puzzle together and wanted to finish it so we went to Andrew's room to get him. After we got back to Austin's class, he was ready to go. He said goodbye to his friends and teacher. We saw his other favorite teacher in the hall and he gave her the biggest hug. After that, we were ready to go.

I have to admit it was bittersweet picking him up this afternoon. We're ready to move on and have enjoyed our time at Bright Horizons so much. Austin's learned a lot and made so many friends. I know he'll miss everyone!

Did he seriously just ask her out?

Austin is a pretty popular boy in his class. At least, I like to think he is anyway. He loves both the boys and the girls, but I think he's partial to the little girls. And it's quite cute the way they talk to each other.

One day last week, prior to our movie adventure, Austin yelled across the parking lot of the school at one of his friends. When she came over to the car, he said "You wanna go to the movies with me?" Of course, it was last minute and she'd already seen the movie we were going to see. We decided to find another movie so we could all go together one day. He said "I want to sit next to her."

Yesterday, when we picked up Andrew, Austin saw a different girl in the parking lot. Same thing. He called her over and asked her to go to the movies. Again, he said "I want to sit next to her."

I know this is all innocent stuff and it never even occurred to me that he'd asked either girl out until the mother of the first girl said that she jokingly told her husband that their daughter had been asked out on her first date. Is this how it all starts? The dude is only 5 years old and already has the ladies eating out of the palm of his hand.

I'm sweating like peanut butter

Austin's been sick the last three days apparently with a nasty tummy bug. It all started on Sunday and has gotten better but is still hanging around. Hopefully, he'll be back at school tomorrow. After his bath tonight, he told me he was sweating...sweating like peanut butter. I have no idea where this came from but I thought it was too funny not to share.

In other news, this week is Austin's last week at pre-school. This is his last week of never having homework again (except for summers that is). I hate that he's missed 2 days of seeing his friends, friends that he won't see again after Friday. I have tried to schedule some playdates with some of his close friends to we can keep in touch. It would be a shame for us to never see these kids again after they've spent so much time together. I know that schedules will conflict and eventually they'll drift apart. But how cool would it be if we could keep in touch with even one of his preschool friends over the next 1, 2, 5, 10 years?

It's sad that it's coming to an end, but so exciting too for us as parents and for Austin as a student. I can't wait to see how everyone just marvels at how smart he is (and of course they will because he's just so very smart). I can't wait to see him excited to come home and tell us all about his day and what he's learned. I know there will be days where he won't want to go and where he won't know anyone and won't know what to do. Eventually, he'll get adjusted to the new routine and all will be well. And, quite frankly, so will I.

1st movie

We took Austin to his very first movie at the movie theater today! We saw Ice Age 3. He's been talking about it for weeks and counting down the days. He had it planned out...first we'd get our popcorn and then find our seats. It was in 3-D which was pretty cool. 3-D sure has come a long way since Jaws 3D in the 80s. Austin was funny with it though. He kept reaching out to touch everything that was coming towards him.

He really enjoyed the movie and was still for the most part the whole way through. It was great to see his reactions to things and see what made him laugh. This is just the beginning of our movie going experiences!