Simon's Graduation to a Twin Bed

Long overdue, we have finally gotten our 5.5 year old kindergartener out of his toddler bed and into a twin. We took some time last week to go to IKEA and got Simon a new dresser and a new BUNK BED! It's on the shorter side for a bunk, about 3.5 feet off the ground, but it fits in his room perfectly and he adores it. There is a dedicated lego playing space underneath instead of another bed. He also has a new dresser and more space in general with the new configuration.

Growing, growing, growing!

Past time for a larger mattress!

Simon and Alan built the bed together.

It's built!

It works! Sleeping the first night.

Doesn't he look little.

Simon's First Day of Kindergarten

How crazy is it that Simon is 5 years old and starting Kindergarten already! He was so excited to start that he ran all the way from home to school. Once we got into the playground we had about 15 minutes of play time before lineup, then some waiting in line for the kids to all file in. The waiting broke him - he got really nervous and by the time it was his line's turn he was clinging to me. I ended up having to pry him off me and hand him to the principal. But I was later told by one of the assistants that as soon as he got into the room he settled right down and ended up having a great day.

Simon will be in room 110 with Ms. Weisensel this year. There are 57 Kindergarteners at Hamilton and two classrooms. The rooms do some activities together and some separately. As a whole, Hamilton has about 450 students Pre-K through 8th grade.

Simon is in the YMCA after school program daily and will be joining 2 after school activities - Chess and Robotics. The YMCA program does sports, crafts and story times.

At Hamilton Elementary

Happy Birthday: Simon is 5!

Simon is 5! How is it possible that the tiny little boy who made Morla faces when he was tired turned into this handsome and kind boy? He was sick all week and missed 4 days of school, including his actual birthday. But despite the fever we still did a small family birthday party. 

Here he is discovering trick candles for the first time. Both kids thought it was hilarious! 

On his actual birthday with a fever of 102.

Some info about Simon as he is turning 5: 

• Simon absolutely loves Wild Kratts. He wants to grow up to study animals and 'creature adventure' in the wild. He knows a ton about animals already and loves talking to everyone that will listen. 
• He is very familiar with the alphabet and the letter sounds and has started sounding out words. He still doesn't do it independently, but when you sit with him he'll get through whole sentences pretty quickly.
• He can count to 100 and do basic finger math. Though he's impressed me a couple times in the past week or two when he says really quickly 'that means we have 3 left' or something along those lines. 
• Simon has loved school and really flourished with his amazing teach Ms. Zairel. He is a kid that others seek out to play with. Even though many people ask for play dates with us, Simon isn't really one to ask for play dates at people's houses. He is as content playing by himself as he is playing with the friends. 
• He is very into super heroes and is often playing Iron Man or something similar. 
• Simon has really become a great big brother. They definitely still have conflict, but he is more often than not generous with her and enjoys helping her. He usually will hold her hand to help her down steps, or push her on the swing in the park. 
• He is funny and fun and generally a great kid to be around. 
• He has started going to Auntie houses (Colleen's and Jenn's) for sleep overs and really enjoys the one-on-one times.
• He normally goes to bed around 7:30 and wakes up around 6 with no nap. 

New Bike for Simon!

Simon is turning 5 in a couple weeks and for his birthday he got a new bike and helmet! He's very excited and loves riding. We spent hours this weekend riding around the school field (the fake grass) so he could get comfortable stopping and turning. He has figured out how to stop and how to do a tight enough turn to turn around only on the sidewalk, so now he's set for sidewalk riding. Nothing will stop this kid now!

Simon Enrolled for Kindergarden

This little man is now officially enrolled in Kindergarten at Hamilton starting Fall 2016.

Simon's Last day of school 2015

It is somehow already Simon's last day of school. I am completely amazed at how much our boy has learned and grown this past year. He can identify and write every capital letter and 23 lower case letters (p,q and l are still tricky). He can count to 20 and occasionally higher. He can write his full name in all capital letters. He has learned to talk with kids his own age, practiced entering groups and asking friends to play with him. His imagination has soared, he leads imaginative play with peers and adults, he is so very competitive (you can get him to do almost anything by telling him it is a race) and his love of sports has (somehow) increased as well. He danced and sang, was in a school show, toured restaurant kitchens, made pizzas, went on field trips, learned about trees and watched butterflies emerge from cocoons. He has had TWO surgeries this year: one to remove the wart from warty toe and the other to take out his tonsils, adenoids and put tubes in his ears. He began to love his little sister and they are finally playing together nicely on a fairly regular basis - I attribute at least some of that turn around to how much the kids in his classroom loved Lillian visiting in the morning.  His favorite color is purple and when talking about who he is going to marry (after ruling out all family, including aunties) he thinks he will marry Adelaide (I'll include a picture after the jump), but that might just be because she wants to marry him. When asked who he wants to play with he says Sadie because he just doesn't get to talk to her much during the day and she is always so nice. He plays sports with Calvin every recess and claims he wins every race, even when he obviously has not won.   He never wants to leave the house to go to school, but once we are on our way he runs to get there and is thrilled to see everyone and start his day. He is very attached to the schedule and process and is so very proud when he gets a job in the classroom (like line leader, chime ringer, or counter). When asked, he told me that he will miss Ms Zairel the most this summer.

Simon's amazing Pre-K teachers
From left to right: Mrs Walker, Simon, Ms Zairel, Ms Roshea. 

A picture of 4 year old Simon next to a mural at school.
I envision this picture annually with the kids for the next 10 years. 

Simon's 4th Birthday Party

Simon had 17 of the kids in his class to his birthday party at Little Kickers (they do kid soccer classes and soccer themed parties).  We had 2 coaches for 2 hours to help the kids play, run, kick and generally have a blast. Simon was a happy, sweaty birthday boy.

Simon loved being the goalie and kicking. He did some drop kicking like a goalie does and he was pretty good at it. We didn't open any presents during the party; we brought them home and we started opening them in the afternoon after the party. Simon opened presents and played with each one before moving on to the next present. He opened the last present from the party on Monday evening! He has had a wonderful birthday.

Showing off his Drop Kick.

Pre-Game talk with the coaches.

Blowing out the candle on his 4th birthday cake.

Simon and Noah.

CRAZY BOY!

Guess how old he is??

Simon's first day of PreSchool

Simon is going to Hamilton Elementary for preschool. They teach PreK-8 so if all goes as planned he will be at the school across the street for eleven years. Pretty amazing to think about. Today he was awesome. Jenn and Colleen came to see him off and we all took pictures on the front steps. On the walk to school he told everyone we passed that it was his first day, he was so proud! When we got into the classroom we dropped his clothes off in his cubby, put a picture of the family on the window sill and then hung his back pack up on a hook (that he chose!). The whole time we did all the getting ready tasks I had to keep pulling him away from playing. When I finally stopped restraining him he was off to the sand table! I went over to say goodbye and while he definitely knew I left he was much too interested in the sand to be sad. He will have a great day!

Full Size, for folks who want to print it out.

New Nanny: Hello Jessie!

Today Jessie started with us as our new full time nanny. She will be spending this week with both kids and then watching Lillian full time while Simon is in preschool. 

Welcome to the family, Jessie!

Jenn's Spring Kids Pictures

Jenn took the below pictures in the spring, when Simon was almost 3 years old and Lillian was 6 months old. So sorry it took me so long to get them up! If you want any of them at full size just let me know!