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.