Last Day of Pre-K

Asher had a fantastic year of preschool, and concluded it today with a "graduation" celebration. The kids sang and signed some of the songs they learned and recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

Together Songs and Pledge of Allegiance

Red, White, and Blue

Signing the Alphabet

Leading a Nursery Rhyme

I Think You're Wonderful

The small group was perfect for Asher, and we couldn't have asked for a better teacher than Mrs. Rhonda. Now it's on to kindergarten!

They Said...

I was recently in the car with just Asher and Tyson. It was quiet when Tyson suddenly announced, "My p***s fwyin' awound in my pants."

I tried not to react as I asked for clarification. "What is your p***s doing?"

Again, "It fwying awound in my pants."

I was baffled, but Asher jumped right in to rescue both of us. "That happens to me sometimes. I just reach in my pants and pull it back into my underwear."

Oh, that's what Tyson was talking about! That, my friends, is what big brothers are for.

As the only adult present, I thought I'd better give some further advice on the topic. "You should go into a bathroom first, and then pull your p***s back into your pants. Then pull your underwear up. It was probably just too saggy."

That's when Asher asked, "Mom, what does 'saggy' mean?"

Seriously? You knew exactly what Tyson was talking about with his crazy description, but you don't know the word 'saggy'?

Off To Preschool I Go

Asher's preschool began a full three weeks after Riley and Tyson started. He was so eager to begin.

His preschool teacher does the preschool out of her home, and has been doing it for over 20 years. She is wonderful, and just the sweet, nurturing type of person that Asher will warm up to right away. I'm also excited that he is one of only 6 kids in the class, so our shy boy won't be able to fade into the background.

Friendly

Asher is kind of a solitary kid. For years he's been responding to questions about who his friends are with answers like, "Just Riley" or "I don't have any friends." And he's not complaining when he says that. In fact, he almost seems a little proud of it. Soon after he started going to the nursery at church at 18 months old, he would claim only one boy in the group as his friend. That stayed consistent until we moved just after his 3rd birthday.

Since our move, he's talked about a couple of the kids in his church group, but usually insisted that none of them were his friends. As his fourth birthday was approaching, I suggested that he think of two friends that he'd like to invite to his party. I limited the guest list to two, not because I wanted a small party, but because I knew even that small number would be a stretch for him. But he didn't hesitate to name one boy and one girl that he wanted to invite. Yea, the boy has two friends now!

On Thursday he told us that he'd made a new friend in his tumbling class. This was huge for Asher! "He does what I do and then I do what he does." Sounds like a good start to a friendship, right? He told us about this new friend, "He's Korean, like Tyson." Then I remembered seeing the boy he was talking about and told Asher, "He might be Chinese." "No Mom," he quickly corrected, "he's five. He told me that." Oh, well if he's five he is obviously not Chinese. When I asked Asher if he knew the name of this new friend he answered, "He told me it, but I forgot. Lame!"

She Says . . .

If you aren't familiar with our church's Articles of Faith, check out number 4 so you'll understand the following joke. During dinner, Riley and Asher debated about who would be the first to finish eating. As Riley started to bring her dishes to the sink she stated, "First finished." And then with a chuckle, she added, "Second, repentance."

After finishing her green beans at dinner, Riley asked for seconds, then thirds. It was about that point that Asher told her if she kept eating she was going to get sick. She corrected him, "Green beans. You mean I'm going to get healthy."

Is That In The Job Description?

Riley's kindergarten class rotates between five "specials:" art, music, PE, science, and technology. Riley enjoys PE and is fond of her music teacher. But her absolute favorite is science. Early in the year she told me that they were going to be dissecting a fish in science. Actually, I think her exact words were, "cut up a dead fish." It seemed a little intense for 5-year-olds, but I was impressed and Riley was excited. Later that week I passed the science teacher and asked her about it. She denied ever having given Riley any reason to hope for a fish dissection. She emphatically stated that there was no way she was "cutting up" anything with kindergartners. She added that they do have a beta in her classroom though. I suggested she keep an eye on the fish, since Riley may just be biding her time, waiting for the little guy to die.

Then this week I learned from a friend who has older children at the same school, that every year the second-graders dissect cow eyes. I don't think the kids do any actual cutting, but they break into small groups, watch while a parent-volunteer does the dissecting, and then the kids get to touch and handle the different parts of the eye. I knew Riley would be interested, so I told her what I'd learned when she got home from school. Five minutes later she told me the following story (which I'm sure was another piece of fiction):

"Mom, today Mrs. Rosh (her teacher) needed to talk to Mrs. Vastin (the science teacher) so she let me and Evie and Sarah come with her. But Mrs. Vastin wasn't in her classroom. [dramatic pause] I'll be she was out hunting cows!"

He Says . . .

I haven't been very good at recording these funny saying lately. Or maybe they're just occuring less often. Riley and Asher are getting past this phase, and Tyson's language skills aren't there yet.

However, Tyson's vocabulary has really taken off recently. Every couple of days he'll use a word correctly that makes us look at each other and say, "that's a new one." At dinner one evening this week Scot was asking each kid which kind of dressing they'd like on their salad. Tyson very clearly answered, "Poppyseed."

Asher was obviously surprised and impressed. "He said, 'poppyseed.' It was magical!"

Asher Man

Asher has grown and changed so much over the last year. It seemed that when we were with other people, he used to be content to hanging out in Riley's shadow. She was the one that would say hello to strangers, and he would look at them with a shy smile. When asked questions like how old he was, he would gladly let her answer for him. I wouldn't say those days are completely behind him. Just today someone said hi to Riley and then asked Asher his name. He stood there quietly while she answered.

But we have seen huge improvements. He has made a new friend in his tumbling class, and will occasionally strike up conversations with adults while we're waiting in checkout lines. Also, we've had reports from his teacher at church that he doesn't seem a bit shy in her class. Hooray!

At his four-year checkup, we learned that Asher is in the 12th percentile for weight and 15th for height. He has quite an imagination, and will play by himself with his action figures and cars for quite a long time. He told me today that his favorite foods are macaroni & cheese and green beans. In fact, he asked me if he can be in charge of planting the green beans in our garden this spring. Asher has a few pairs of inexpensive stretchy mittens that he often wears around the house. And he will not play any type of ball until he has them on, as he insists they help him catch better, just like the real football players. He enjoyed watching football with Dad during the season, and can't get enough of Wild Kratts and Angry Birds. I'm pretty strict about TV and iPod time, but that doesn't stop him from asking for it...frequently. Scot is a little more of a push-over, and it hasn't taken Asher long to figure out that he'll probably have better results if he asks Dad.

Asher has started doing lessons in the same learn-to-read program that we used for teaching Riley. It's fun to see how excited he is when he finishes a difficult lesson, or reads a word that he started out thinking was too hard. But his real interest right now is numbers. Whenever he sees two or three digit numbers he'll ask me "what do 1 and 9 and 6 make?" He is good at adding and subtracting small numbers, and he's really close to being able to tell time on a digital clock. He loves counting for no particular purpose. Yesterday he was asking how old Scot and I were, as well as all our siblings. After each answer, he would start at one and count up to their age. That kept him occupied for quite a while. Asher loves his class at church, and often tells us how nice his teacher is. And he is VERY excited to start preschool in September.

He and Tyson are slowing learning how to work and play together, but Asher and Riley really get along well. Although that's really nothing new. We had a huge snowstorm last weekend, and when it was all over, had two foot drifts in some parts of the backyard. Asher and Riley would bundle up and play out there for an hour or two each day while Tyson napped. One day he was ready to come inside before Riley was, but she bribed him to stay out there until she was ready to come in too. I knew that some sort of deal took place, but I didn't know the details, so I asked about it at dinnertime. Asher explained to us that if he stayed outside with her, Riley promised that he could play with a particular doll of hers every day that week. As soon as he was done telling Scot and I what the deal was, he turned to Riley, pointed a finger at her, and told her, "You better write that down, Riley." Smart boy.

Preschool Graduate

The kids all looked so excited as the entered the room.

Riley announced that she wants to be a gymnastics teacher when she grows up. The screen behind her shows her balancing on a beam.

Receiving her certificate from her preschool teacher.

The happy graduate with her cute brothers.

He Says . . .

Asher was holding my hand in both of his and playing with my fingers. He told me he was going to take my finger off and put it on his hand, and then he started pulling on my middle finger. When it wouldn't come off, he tried another, then another. Then he explained very matter-of-factly, "God put glue on them. A lot of glue."

After playing with Cody & Landon (his cousins in Albuquerque) all week, Asher said in his bedtime prayer, "Thank you for my friend-cousins."

Just before our move from Fort Collins:

Me: Asher, we're moving to our new house in two days.
Asher: I can't aweeve we're moving in two days! I can't aweeve dat. Can you aweeve dat, Mommy?

She Says....

Soon after Thanksgiving last year, Riley was talking about Santa constantly. After hearing her bring Santa up again, Scot asked her what the most important thing about Christmas is. She quickly responded, "We celebrate Jesus's adoption. Er, birth."

One of the valentines Riley received from a school friend was a paper heart attached to a glow stick. The message on the paper was: "You make my heart glow." Riley must have thought it was extremely clever because I overheard her saying it to herself a couple of times that afternoon. The next day she made a cute collage at preschool and wrote Mom *heart* Dad on it. When she handed it to me after school she told me, 'You make me glow my heart out."

After preschool one day: "You wanna know what I said to Tyler (a boy in preschool)? I said, 'My dad can beat your dad up.'" Tyler has older siblings, so I suspect/hope that he's the one that started this conversation.

He Says . . .

I asked Asher a question that he didn't know the answer to. He started tapping his forehead and said, "Tink, tink, Winnie Pooh."

Riley was putting away toys while Asher sat close by and watched. Riley told him, "Asher, I need your help." He responded in a very cheerful voice, "Wiwey, you doing a gweat job."

Asher's prayers have been like menus lately. He thanks Heavenly Father for each thing he ate that day, specifically and individually, that he can remember.

She Says . . .

One afternoon Riley was playing in the backyard while Asher napped. A sudden rainstorm forced her inside. After she watched the rain through the back door for a minute or two I overheard Riley say the following prayer: "Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Thank you that this rainstorm can pass over us." She waited a few minutes, and then said the same prayer again. Fortunately her prayer was answered soon after the second one.

Riley was sitting on her balance bike at the top of our driveway, waiting for the neighbor's van to finish pulling out of their driveway and head down the street so she could show me that all her recent practice on the bike is paying off. As she waited, she said to no one in particular, "I'm all saddled up and ready."

Scot held Riley and tickled her as she laughed, squeeled, and finally started to whine. He set her down and she caught her breath. Then she told us, very matter-of-factly, "That was too much. I peed a little bit in my panties."

He Says...

I started writing down Asher's funny phrases and comments a month or two before his second birthday.

He went through a phase about that time where, instead of calling for me when he woke up from a nap, he would just lay in his crib and yell, "Hewp! Hewp!"
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I peeked over his shoulder to see what Asher (barely 2 years old) was doing on my iPod. He was online and had googled "poo".
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Asher loved riding the monorail during our trip to Las Vegas in January. We loved that he called it the "mamawhale."
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According to Asher, George Washington kneeling in prayer at Valley Forge is really kneeling and playing iPod.
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Asher was playing with his Bullseye (the horse from the Toy Story movies) toy on the stairs and would holler, "Help me down, honey!" everytime he moved the horse down a step.
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After hearing Riley announce "I have a question" so many times, Asher made the statement his own. He'll tell me at least a dozen times a day, "I found a question for you." What follows is rarely a question, although he has been known to ask, "I have ice cream?" afterward.

She Says...

It's been way too long since I've done one of these posts. Some of these go as far back as Christmas-time.


Riley's response after she heard me tell Scot that I found out a woman we know from church who is in her mid-seventies goes down to Denver one day every week to work in the temple: "Good for her!"
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After I made an enchilada recipe for dinner that Jessica had shared with me, Riley exclaimed, "We should tell Jess her enchiladas were a hit!"
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Not long after Christmas Riley's new doll and its bed were taken away from her for a day as a consequence for telling a lie. She had a meltdown and cried (hard) for several minutes. Scot told her we'd take care of the doll until we gave it back to her.

Between sobs she told me, "Mom, she has a blankie, but she doesn't like to use it at night. Will you tuck her under the covers with you? And don't forget her little pillow."
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Riley told me that when she lays on her stomach at night time she can feel things crawling on her back. I told her that there wasn't anything crawling on her back that it was just her imagination.

"No Mom, I feel crawling, and imaginations don't crawl. They just lay there."
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Riley is in love with The Nutcracker. The other morning she was showing me how the "Sugar Plump Fairies" dance.
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Scot: Who are your friends in preschool?
Riley: Elliott. He says he's Optimus Prime.
Scot: Oh, you could marry him (we had just been talking about why she couldn't marry Asher).
Riley: No! I don't want to marry him because he pretends he is Optimus Prime!
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Riley thinks the more she runs, the more energy she GETS. I'm afraid she might be right.
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When I picked Riley up from preschool one morning she told me excitedly, "Mom, I'm Supergirl! Supergirl can turn into a robot! And a car!" I think someone has been playing with the boys in class more than the girls.
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Riley, to Scot : "When I grow up, I'm going to be a nicer mom than my mom."
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In a conversation about possible new pets, I suggested finches. Scot responded that they're very annoying. I'm pretty sure Riley didn't know what a finch was, but she had a solution. "If they get annoying we'll just slap them."
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On her birthday: "I'm happy and sad." "Why? Was 3 a good year for you?" "Yeah, but 4 will be even better!"
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Riley has been calling the crab apples from the tree in our backyard, "crap apples."
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During a family night lesson about manners...

Scot: We shouldn't say mean things about people, but we can give compliments. Do you want to try giving a compliment?
Riley: Daddy, you need a haircut.
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Riley: Mommy, are you leaving the kitchen?
Me: Yes. Why? Do you think I should be chained to the kitchen?
Riley: No, I think you should use glue. (to Scot) Daddy, you should glue your wife to the kitchen.

Hidden in Plain Site

Riley was enamoured this year with the pumpkins and gourds we gathered at the pumpkin patch in October. She treated the small ones like pets, and even claimed a couple of them for her bedroom. I knew I'd have to be stealthy about getting rid of them. So as soon as Thanksgiving had passed, I started tossing a couple in the trash outside every couple of days, making sure she wasn't around to witness it. My plan went off without a hitch, and I thought I had disposed of all of them. Until I noticed this in her bedroom this morning:

She Says...

When Riley brought her plate and cup to the sink after lunch she set the cup on the counter, then balanced the plate on top of it. She was pretty excited about her creation, and said to me, "Mom, look what I did. Have you ever done that before? Try it today!"

We were joined on our trip to the farm by the kid's cousin Brady as well as some of Jessica's friends and their kids. That evening Scot was asking Riley about her day.
"Was Brady there?"
"Yeah."
"Were there new friends there?"
"Yeah."
"Were they Brady's friends?"
"No, the friends are for everyone."

Riley and I were explaining to Courtney that she is going to keep growing her hair until spring, and then get it cut short.
Courtney: Are you going to donate it?
Riley: Yeah, to a wig. For someone who doesn't have hair. [Then her eyes got big and it was obvious she'd just had a "light bulb moment."] Papa (Scot's Dad) doesn't have hair on the top of his head. I should give it to him! Yeah, I'll give Papa my hair!

Potty Mouth

Asher's first two word phrase was uttered as Scot was leaving for work one morning. "Bye-bye, [long pause] Daddy." His second came several days later as he saw me heading into the bathroom. "Mommy poop."

Last night Scot and I were talking about how Asher understands so much more than he communicates to us. Less than an hour later I was throwing a load of laundry in the dryer while Riley and Asher played nearby. The conversation I overheard was a perfect example of just how much this boy really gets.

Asher, do you want to play doctor?

Yeah.

Let me get my hearter. (She grabs a plastic necklace that she pretends is a stethoscope.) Does your tummy hurt?

No.

Does your back hurt?

No.

Does your head hurt?

No.

This went on for several more body parts before Riley got tired of guessing and cut to the chase.

What does hurt, Asher?

Bum.

I swear Riley didn't know words like "poop" and "bum" before her second birthday. Well, maybe poop. But I totally blame his bathroom vocabulary on his sister. She was insistent a while back that it was time to potty train Asher. I told her that he isn't ready for that until he can pull his pants down by himself and say the word "potty." Well, he loves to pull his shoes and socks off, but he still can't pull his pants down, and he won't say "potty." So instead she has taught him "poop" and "pee pee."

I say won't, because he probably could, but this boy is very stubborn and will not say a word if you ask him to say it. Ever. I've been working on him for months to say his own name. He has never even tried. Instead, when he sees himself in the mirror, he points and says, "Boy." Actually, maybe that's the word that explains all of this.

She Says...

Riley started crawling onto my back while I was sitting on the floor. I asked her, "What do I look like?"
She didn't even hesitate before she answered, "A pig!"

Riley fancies herself a bit of a rock star lately. She was overheard singing into a toy microphone, ""Oh, say can you see by the dolphins on Earth?" She also points out frequently, "I'm a pretty good singer, aren't I?" And of course we lie and tell her she is.

Riley showed me two long branches she had found in the back yard. I asked her what she was going to do with them. She paused to think, then answered, "Mom, Daddy must be a bad example because he showed me how to hit things with sticks."

Asher was laughing Riley being silly at the dinner table, so I told him not to encourage her. Riley continued being silly, and Asher laughed again. She paused long enough to tell him, "Don't encourage me, Asher!"

Eighteen Months

Asher is 31 inches tall and weighs 21 pounds, 10 ounces. That puts him in the 15th percentile for height, and down to 5th for weight. Head circumference is holding steady at 75th.

He is such a fun kid and is always finding new ways to make us laugh. Asher and Riley play together well, for the most part, and he is usually interested in whatever it is she's paying attention to. He enjoys balls (especially kicking them), feeding himself, babies and dogs, going places in the car, stacking things, looking at books or having them read to him, and anything that he can pretend is a phone. He is definitely a mama's boy, but gets excited and runs to the door every time he hears Scot come in the house after work.

At 18 months, Asher can say quite a few words:

tickle (teeko), hot (his go-to word for describing a lot of things: hot, cold, wet, dark, etc.), hat, bear, doggy (goggy), puppy, go, ewwie (his word for a poopie diaper or anything dirty), ball, car (caw), book, hot dog (goh gog), cookie, thank you (keekoo), two, play (pay), piano (pee), kick, get it, boo, hello (a-wo), kay (as in okay), whoa, that (dat), me, eye, ear, pear, apricot (cot), flower (wow-a), arm, blow (bo), bird (buh), shoe (dee), la la la (referring to our favorite Sandra Boynton book), no, tree, shhhh (with his finger to his mouth), hi, eat, Riley (eye-ee or eye-wee), Mommy, Daddy, Bernie (nee), hmmm (his common response when I ask him a question), balloon (boon)

Sounds effects: beep, boom, pop, eek eek (He always does the squeeky shoe noise when we read “Mr. Brown Can Moo.”)

Animal noises: cow, dog (mmm mmm mmm), cat (mao), rooster (caw caw)