A funny story

Adam's class has been doing a unit on Community.  They are learning about different cultures, what other people do when they lose a tooth, how to not call unfamiliar foods "disgusting" (call them "different" instead), etc.  Adam brought home a paper last week where he wrote, "I would like to try a hot dog made out of pig snouts and hoofs."  Dave and I said, "You probably already have!"  He got SO upset!  He said it had to be something he never tried before and he didn't know!  We told him he might not have - we usually buy turkey or all beef - but he's had hot dogs other places...  He also got very upset with us when we told him he didn't live in Columbus...because his teacher told him they ALL lived in Columbus (even though he knows his address says Westerville).  His teacher was trying to do a very general lesson on how they live in the state of Ohio and in the city of Columbus (except for one kid who lives in Lancaster).  If Mrs. Klug says something, it has to be true!!  She had a good laugh about it at our conference.  She said he hangs on her every word. :)

Adam's first musical

The 1st graders are going to be performing a mini-musical "The Little Red Hen" on Tuesday, October 28th (8:15am  in the theater).  Adam's class is the Pig Chorus (there is a cat chorus, a cow chorus, fox chorus, and chick chorus).  Adam gets to be "Bob the Pig"!!  I think he gets to come out and snort or something.  Ha ha!  His first taste of the spotlight! 

Basketball

Adam has signed up to play on the junior basketball team!  I knew if there was at least one friend signed up,  he'd want to try it!  Practice and games start at the end of the month on Sunday afternoons.  Ought to be interesting.  :)

School love

When Adam got home from school today he said, "School is the best thing in my life!" :)

Ultrasound

Adam had his ultrasound last Friday.  Got the results back today:  no node was noted on the liver (say that 10 times fast).  That went away thank goodness!  Spleen - well, it's still enlarged.  It measured 9.9 cm; a tiny bit up from last time of 9.7 cm.  Doc just said repeat at the usual 3 months.

When our ultrasound tech Kelly was about to image Adam's spleen, I told her how it's been enlarged and how our doc wasn't concerned but I was annoyed because I wanted to know why.  She showed me his spleen in relation to his kidney. She said that they don't usually get worried until the spleen gets soo large it covers the kidney.  His does not even reach his kidney.  So I guess that's good!  She also told me that the internal organs tend to grow before a growth spurt. Well, he hasn't really grown any but maybe his body is gearing up for one.  Let's hope! 

Adam is still loving school! 

Minecraft YouTube-r

Adam loves these British guys called Stampylongnose and Ballistic Squid that have YouTube channels in which they commentate as they play Minecraft and other games.  I don't know what the fascination is in watching other people play (and the one guy has a really annoying laugh) but Adam will sit and watch these videos for hours.  This morning Adam got up and got on the computer. He was talking away playing Minecraft and I thought he was just imitating these guys.  A little while later he was all "Oh, Man!!  It didn't work!".  I found out that he had been recording himself trying to make a video to upload to YouTube but he used PhotoBooth which only records you - not your computer screen.   I had to do a little research and learned that QuickTime will record your screen and audio.  Sooo..Adam now has a video of himself narrating his playing of Minecraft...and a YouTube channel under his Minecraft name (stampy squid man). He wants to post more Minecraft videos (which are incredibly boring but his little voice is soo cute!).  I think that he thinks that if he gets a ton of subscribers like Stampy and Squid, he will get paid like they do.  :)

1st Day of First Grade!!

Adam had a great first day back to school!  After a bit of a rough wake-up (I apparently woke him up in the middle of a dream), he had a breakfast of pancakes and bacon and still had a little time to chill out watching his "Stampy" Minecraft  videos. As I had written on Facebook, he wanted Dave and I to be at the bus stop AND at his school when he got off the bus like last year.  We thought the bus would take forever like last year so we waited about a half hour after it left and ended up missing it. When he got home, I asked if he cared that we weren't there when his bus got to school.  Not really.  He said there were only 4 people on the bus in the morning!  No wonder it got there soo quickly!  He didn't really care when we went to his classroom either.  I felt bad for missing him.  He was just going about his business and being "Mr.Quiet" (because that's who he turns into at school).  He and his friend Jaxon get to so sit next to each other so a snapped a quick picture of them and we headed out.

Adam got home and told me all about his day.  They had a little scavenger hunt to find things in the classroom (name tags to place how you are going home, names to color and cut out, supplies that aren't in his desk cubby, etc). He actually went into detail about where each thing was  - it was pretty cute.  Then there was the big morning assembly where the Seniors get paired up with the Kindergarten buddies.  (He said Emma got a buddy and his friend's little brother got a buddy).  Uncle Stefan got an award/certificate for being a teacher for soo many years.

They had lunch. It was grilled cheese but he said you have to eat a vegetable, a fruit, and a protein before you can get something else?  He got half a blueberry bagel. Thankfully they took away "Fruit Rush" drink (aka colored sugar water) and he had chocolate milk.  (Fruit Rush is just for summer camps he said).

They had a recess or 2.  Played a new game of tag called "doctors".  They went to the library where he got 2 books on dinosaurs that he read on the bus ride home.  They had computer lab with a new teacher. 

I think that's all!

Catching up before school starts

Wow!!  Well, Adam spent most of his summer at school.  CA has some amazing camps and Adam wanted to sign up for every week.  He mostly did science-type camps but his favorite week was called Ancient Survival.  They learned about how Native Americans lived and spent a lot of time in the woods around the school.  The last day of camp they went on a field trip to Flint Ridge Park.  Adam enjoyed learning how to use a flint drill and spending all his money in the gift shop.  :)  Last week we went to COSI (and I agree, the old one was much better), mini golf, and the zoo/Jungle Jack's landing.  I think if given the chance, Adam would play Minecraft or watch Minecraft videos all day and call it a great summer break! Ugh!  At least I was able to teach him how to ride his bike.

Yesterday our neighborhood had a picnic.  The first one in the 11 years we have lived here!  We found out we have a lot of older neighbors with a sprinkling of us younger ones.  We finally got to meet the one's whose Junior rides the bus to CA with Adam.  I had contacted her earlier in the day to see if they had received the bus schedule yet. (No).  Adam ended up playing with her younger son and a couple of the other neighborhood kids we sometimes see out.  I was like - Yeah, that's what a neighborhood should look like!  A bunch of kids running around together!  Our new home association secretary (or maybe he's president) is planning a "progressive dinner" next.  Something about having appetizers at one house, salad at another, main at another, then all meet up at the last house for dessert.  Hmmm.....won't be our house. ;)

I just got an email from our fellow CA neighbor.  She emailed Westerville City Schools Dept. of Logistics/Transportation today (I did last week and didn't get a response at all).  She said they called her tonight to say the boys will be picked up at 6:48 am on Wednesday!!  10 minutes earlier than last year!  Her son was always running for the bus in the morning so I hope he makes it.  One of her other sons is starting there this year so maybe he'll help get him going. :)

2 more days left of summer.  I'm hoping the weather holds out because I would like to take Adam to the Olentangy Caverns (I've never been) and maybe back to Young's Dairy or Clifton Gorge/Glen Helen.

Lab work

Adam's doctor was not concerned about his ultrasound results but she said if we were overly concerned, she had no problem ordering the lab work.  Adam had it done on Wednesday.  He sat in the chair by himself and the tech explained everything he was going to do and everything he was doing as he did it.  He told Adam he may want to look away and that he would poke him on "3".  Since they use butterfly catheters and Adam is bigger than he was 3 years ago, he didn't even flinch.  He didn't even know he actually got poked until the tech said he was almost done and Adam watched the rest of the blood draw!  Awesome!

Doc office called today and his afp is 1.3!!  YAY! I know he is way past the age for hepatoblastoma but I just wanted to be sure.  (If a tumor was starting, afp would be in the thousands or higher).  So we still don't know why he had the enlarged liver lymph node or why his spleen has been slightly enlarged but at least we know it's not a liver tumor!  Another bws-mom said the spleen thing has happened to her son, too, so who knows?  Maybe it happens to all of us but since we don't get quarterly ultrasounds, we don't know.

Ultrasound results

Adam had his latest ultrasound on Friday the 23rd.  I got a little bit worried when the tech said she needed to go make sure she got all the pictures she needed (code for 'let me check with the radiologist on something') but when she came back without the radiologist, I felt better.  So...we wait for his pediatrician to call for official results.

A nurse called tonight.  His spleen is in the upper limits of normal to slightly enlarged.  Not sure if that is any improvement from the last since all they said was mild splenomegaly last time.  (Basically the same thing except no mention of ul of normal).  In addition to that, he has a small enlarged lymph node in his liver.  It could be normal or could mean liver problems.  Uggh!  Since all the rest of the findings were normal (no symptoms, no enlargement of liver, or masses found), we have to wait until his next ultrasound which is the end of August.  His doctor is not in tomorrow but I sent a message asking if we should do a precautionary afp level. This is the blood test he used to get quarterly up until he turned 4 to check for liver issues.   Just as we were seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, all these weird things keep popping up. Makes me want to continue ultrasounds for another couple of years instead of ending when he's 8. 

051914 Wrestling

Last parent/teacher conference of the year!

Friday was the last parent/teacher conference for kindergarten.  That's crazy!  Where did the year go?  Well...it was all good news!  He has gone up 6 reading levels since the beginning of the year, his hand writing is much stronger, he's not afraid to make mistakes writing anymore (at the beginning of the year he would constantly erase), he's expanding his social circle, better handling his emotions...just all good things.  The only thing they suggested was to have him count some change as he can't remember what dimes and nickles are worth. 

Beds

The other night, Adam came into my room at 1:30am.  It was stormy and he said he had a bad dream so I let him crawl into bed and go back to sleep.  Dave didn't get to bed until 4:30ish so he let Adam stay the 1.5 hours until we had to get up.  At dinner, Adam said that Dave should go sleep in the guest room so that he could sleep in the big bed with me.  Dave told him no - every time he sleeps in that bed, he hurts his back.  Adam said he (Dave) could sleep in his (Adam's) bed.  Again, Dave said no - that Adam can sleep in his own bed and Dave will sleep with me.  Adam said he doesn't like to sleep by himself and that we are grown-ups so we shouldn't need to sleep with each other.  Kids get scared and need to sleep with the grown-ups so he's going to sleep in our bed since it's big enough for 3!  Ha ha!!

Young Vikes Wrestling picture

Adam has 2 Mondays left of his wrestling class. The last class will be a tournament.  I can't wait to see him wrestle!  (They try to cover all the windows in the wrestling room - probably more so the kids don't get distracted by all of us parents trying to look at them.  Ha ha!) Adam seems to be enjoying it.  There was a week or 2 where he was saying it was boring but now that they know more than one move, it's getting better.   Last week they got their team t-shirts and the coach took a picture.  I have to share it. It is hilarious.  Only my kid!

 

Oh Dear!

Tonight we got a call from a parent of a 1st grader that rides the bus with Adam.  Apparently Adam punched him today!!  Dave took the call.  He said it was the mom and she was just making sure that her kid didn't do something to provoke Adam.  Adam said he was trying to give the kid a piece of paper that he (Adam) had written some words (words he knows we don't like) with a couple of doodles on it and the kid wouldn't take it.  Not sure why that warranted a punch. Adam has been warned! We think he may have gotten the idea from another bus "friend" who he says pinches him or punches him in the butt.  I figured it was just boys being boys but maybe I should call his parents? 

Ocean concert

The Kindergarten class put on a little concert at Assembly today for the rest of the Lower School.  Parents were invited and since Dave couldn't fall asleep this morning, he came too!

Here are a couple of clips I got.  At one point I thought I was recording and wasn't so hopefully the school videotaped it because it was really cute!

I think Adam was searching for us the whole time (as you can see from the beginning of the clip).  He bowed after almost every song but I'm not sure why he started to tickle himself...

After school actvity

For the past 6 weeks on Tuesdays, Adam has been going to "Science, Science, Science!"  after school. He loved it and was sad that Tuesday was the last day.  The newest after-school-activity brochure came out today and guess what Adam wants to do?  Swim? Math? Make cupcakes? Nope! Wrestle!!  Yes, they have a wrestling class for K-6!  Ha ha!  I can't wait to see what he thinks of it. They will even have a little tournament at the end.

As a side note and completely unrelated, Adam had his quarterly ultrasound on Friday.  This is the first time we have gotten any abnormal results but thankfully not liver or kidneys. He had a slightly enlarged spleen.  His doctor is not concerned since everything else was normal.  She said we will just recheck it at his next one in May.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Here is a picture I tried to take after Adam lost his tooth.  Can't really tell but it's a cute picture anyway!

 

Today Adam had a big Valentine's Day party at school with his class and their 4th grade buddies.  Adam gave everyone a superhero valentine that came with a sticker and an edible gummy wrist band.

Here are some pictures at the party.

Hands up and listen when the chime rings.

Adam and one of his buddies decorating cookies.

Adam giving his buddies cards they made in class.

Decorating cookies.

Playing BINGO with buddies.

The Kinders got to watch their buddies in the gym for Jump Rope for Your Heart.  One of his teachers said Adam was dancing like crazy.  She said they couldn't believe it was the same kid!  Ha ha!  He loves his music!

Adam also made us some Valentines.  They are entertaining!  This first one he made at school.

Front: Mom you love me.  I love you.

Inside : and I love you.  We might get into fights but I still love you.

Back: Dad sometimes we get into fights but I still love you. To mom and dad.

Apparently we fight a lot??  Funny 'cause we rarely yell anymore since he's been in school.

Then he made these at home:

Front: Mom and Dad, I love you.  I try to not get in trouble but you're still my Valentine's.  My mistake.  I love Dad 99% and Mom 100%

 My mistake?? What?  He just laughed when we asked.

Back:  Have a great Valentine's Day from Adam Aikins. Happy Valentine's Day.

Inside Happy Valetine's Day.  (Lots of balloons - not sperm.  :)) Adam Aikins written fancy.

 And for the dogs:

Ramona, I hope your eye gets better.  Olive, when you grow up I think you will be just like Kirby.

So I made this card just for you two.  (and a bunch of balloons with dog faces in them)

Another tooth out!

Adam has had this one bottom tooth that has been wiggling for a while now. Today was the day he was finally able to yank it out.  Then he asked if he was going to get $5 for it. Ummmm...no. So that's 3 teeth now - the 2 bottom middle and the 1 right next to them on his left side.   Now he's going to work on the bottom tooth on the right side that is slightly loose.  Maybe some top ones will loosen in the meantime.  :)

I tricked Adam

Adam had gone to bed Tuesday before we got the call from school that it would be closed on Wednesday.  I heard him up around 8am Wednesday.  I came downstairs and asked, "Adam?  What are you doing here?  My alarm didn't go off and you should have gotten me up!  We are late for school!!"  He looked at me all panicked and asked,  "What?  What time is it?"  I said, "It's 8:30! We're already a half hour late!"  He was just about to start crying.  I felt soo bad!  "Just kidding, Buddy!  It's another snow day!" He was all, "You almost made me cry!!!"    Ha ha!!