This Says It All

This was Lucas's reaction to Monster Jam 2011. His first Monster Truck show. It was loud and it was cool. He got autographs from every driver. He now wants to BE the Gravedigger.

He had quite the day of things little boys dream about. It was a good time for mom and dad too : )

Identity Crisis

My son has decided we are spelling his name wrong. And must have been his whole life : ) Now that he can read words and spell things, he has decided that since he has friends named 'Luke' and 'Luke' is short for Lucas in his opinion, that he shall now spell his name LUKAS, because " Mom, its spelled this way, why didn't you know that?" How could I ? LOL

Not only has he decided this, a paper came home from school yesterday with his name spelled "Lukas", he sure is headstrong and insistent with what he thinks is his right way. Cannot imagine where he got that from ; )
*SIGH* I told him that we spell it 'Lucas' but if he wants people to call him "Luke" we can do that, but if he is writing his name, he needs to do it the right way (We have parent-teacher conferences next week, now I know what things will be addressed ) he kills me, only my son would decide this and go ahead with it.

In other school news, he got his first report card a couple weeks ago. Kindergarten only gets two a year, other grades get 4, and they only do Satisfactory, Needs Improvement, etc not letter grades. Lucas excels in Music class and Computer class getting an S+ in those. He does well in a lot of areas, areas needing improvement would be taking his time and listening and following directions. No surprise there. The boy is not a fan of doing art, he never has been. he has only just started to kind of tolerate coloring, and that is only when he feels like it. Some days his pictures are the usual scribble and other days we question if it was really him that did the picture or if someone helped him cause they are SO good. Obviously he CAN do it neatly, IF 'LUKAS" feels like it. Sounds about right for kid.

He is back to giving me a hard time about GOING to school. He has a lot of years ahead of him of school and I am already exhausted arguing with him. it is not that he is not fine the second he gets to school, cause he is. its having to get dressed and go. I deal with constant "I HATE school!" or "Its stupid" or " I hate you for making me go to school" I don't want to go to before care/ aftercare/wear a belt.....etc" and the list goes on and on.

Now I have talked to him, his teacher, the aftercare teachers, there is nothing going on I need to know about (they are really really good at bringing things up if there were), it really boils down to he does not feel like getting up, getting dressed, especially when he has to wear his regular uniform which is the pants, polo and belt, he despises the belt. its less hassle if its gym day cause he loves the cozy gym clothes. Well, you know what kid? I went parttime and make lots less money now than I did before and we still could not get ahead, SO HE COULD HAVE AN EASIER TIME ONCE SCHOOL STARTED. I am doing everything I can and he really does need to suck it up, do one or two days a week of before and after school care, which is not torturous, they are excellent programs, especially afterschool care. I don't WANT to go to work every day but I do so we can eat, and have a place to live, and buy the brat all the stuff he has, so it makes it really hard for me to listen to the bull every single day. I need to come up with something, but I am so bad with starting, maintaining things like behaviour charts, I would rather smack him, but that does not work either lol.

But of course we went to Open House last week, and every teacher and faculty memeber just RAVED about how sweet Lucas is, how good Lucas is, how he is always smiling and is such a joy cause he always is doing what he is supposed to do. he was the perfect tour guide thru the school as you can imagine him being, he beamed the whole time and was so proud of himself. but then he gives me the workout of my life trying to get him there everyday, down to two days in less than a week I had to walk in my crying child. He confuses me and drives me crazy, but at the same time noone likes to drop off their crying child anywhere, he is trying to kill me. The teacher then sends me a note telling me how he was fine as soon as I left. I know that. Evil.

Thats the latest

Florida!!!!

Our trip to Florida has come and gone, it is good to be home, but back to really missing the Fischer family. It was wonderful to get to spend a couple of days with them.

The kids, of course, cute as ever. that Morgan is always dancing, hopping, jumping and happy (unless strapped in anywhere to car seat, high chair etc) then not so much : ) She called us all by name immediately, especially Gucas. Such a sweetie. Michaela is smart as ever and we know she never in her life has forgotten any of us, and her thrilled reaction to see Lucas was priceless. it was quite a scene at the daycare thursday, those people working there were probably ready to call the padded bus to get us. but we did not realize how emotional it would be, especially seeing their reactions. it was wonderful and heartbreaking all at once.

Lucas hugged and kissed on his cousins most of the trip, at one point saying "Michaela is so sweet", so we know he had REALLY missed her. And by saturday they were all delirious, and fighting, which made perfect sense. It was obviously time to go home lol. We all got a kick out of Miss Suzie, esp how she loves to sit in laps, she weighs as much as I do, so it was humorous. She also does not take no for an answer, you get pretty quick in figuring out how to maneuver attempts ; ) But what a sweet baby (horse) of a dog, she is gorgeous. Lucas adored her and it was mutual. Lucas loves his puppy dogs.

I find that the people there were SO nice, I didn't quite know what to do with all that. you don't get that in Cleveland, or any surrounding area. They are just genuinely NICE. it was difficult for a person like me to handle and respond to hahaha. i did not get road rage once either. everyone drives at the speed of lightning and the speed limits are much higher than here, so it was right up my alley.

Aside from some meltdowns and tantrums related to not getting food fast enough or not napping when tired, it all went well.I feel like I accomplished a lot by conquering my fear of flying. My ears were pretty much fine. A little discomfort in my GOOD ear on landing on a couple of the planes, but none any other time. I took my antivert and the dizziness stayed away, as long as I could look out a window when necessary I was fine. Now I am ready to travel, too bad that requires money I don't have : ).

But Lucas is now quite accomplished in travelling. he too had some ear pain landing a couple times, and it was heartbreaking cause it really upset him, esp when he was tired already from travelling, but all in all he did well. he hustled in airports and rode the planes like he has always been doing it. getting of course, all the attention from pilots and flight attendants and random airport people along the way.

We certainly would love to go back when its nice enough to stay at the beach and hang out. Poor kid though it was magically going to be hot when we got to the beach, but it wasn't, it was cold, and he was done fast. he imagined it was always hot at a beach. I promised we would be back again someday

Oh yeah, now I remember

Earlier when I was doing my new post I could not for the life of me remember what funny story I had been meaning to post. I remember now, better type it out before it goes again, stupid mommy brain : )

it was Christmas Eve, I had worked til 3pm and was meeting Larry and Lucas at church for the 4:00 mass. it was our first time going to church for christmas, I imagined it got really crowded, and I was right. We did manage to get a seat, but it was crazy packed.

Anyways, after being packed in like sardines for an hour in front of a guy with bad BO, hoping that little gesture of faith did not get us all deathly ill being so close to a million people in cold and flu season, we left for home. Lucas insisted on going with me, and Larry drove his truck home.

We are almost down Ridge rd to our street and Lucas is in the back yelling" Come on you idiots, drive the speed limit" (where does he get that from? the world will never know) and I said to him " Oh Lucas, its Christmas, we should try to be a little more patient with people tonight.............(and in the same breath cause it was not 10 seconds later, some asshole tries to run me off the road not even looking to see I am right next to him in the turning lane, no blinker on even, and my horn is beeping, beep, beeeeeeeeeep, and the expletives are flying *&%^&*(((() get off the road if you cannot drive *&^%$#%^*())"As I turned onto our street I just laughed and said

" And......... patience is gone just that fast"

Holidays

We had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends: ) Once again Lucas has absolutely everything a kid can have at this point. We even managed to find room for it all-again. How do we do it? he even got a Wii, which he loves

He is so good at the sports games, he is getting cocky about it, which is funny, especially the bowling. too bad he does not bowl as good on saturdays as he does on the Wii lol

He had a little fever for a few days this past weekend, but it did not keep him from going back to school on Wed. Still complaining about his throat hurting a lot, and when we were at the dr's the other day they said his throat was fine and clear, not even red. So that concerns me more that there is no obvious reason for the pain he is having. I am going to revisit the reflux thing and/or insist he goes back to the pediatric gastro at this point. Not sure what else to do.

Toby is limping again, and since he had xrays a few mos ago showing no issue, short of sending him to an orhopedic vet (how much would that cost????can you imagine?) the vet really believes its Pano, or Panoteitis, which is pretty much growing pains for puppies. Their bones get inflamed from the growing they are doing and the excercise they get or sometimes diet and its very common in dogs that have german Shepard in them and more common in males. The good news is it usually is better by 12 mos and rare after 18 mos old. Toby will be a year in a few weeks. it is common for it to reappear like it did and has no long lasting ill effects, it just causes pain and tenderness and has to be waited out like a virus. So we got him some more anti-inflammatories and he is doing better, not crying about it anymore, thats for sure. My poor little baby.

Lucas's new favorite song is anything off Pink's greatest hits-so far cd and its not uncommon to find him with his shirt off dancing and singing about 'dirty little freaks'. I love that kid

The Cuteness

Cuteness is how I describe Lucas's class Christmas party. I cannot imagine how any mom could NOT want to be present for these fun and games. I know not everyone has such a flexible schedule, or a job that allows for this stuff, nor do all parents want to necessarily, or have other kids to attend to, but this stuff is classic. Its also fleeting. It goes so fast and these cute days will be gone before we know it.

This party was a LITTLE bit more organized than the halloween one, very little : ) but its is a great group of moms who are trying hard and I am getting to know them and their kids. I love that when Lucas says something about a kid in his class, I can match the name with the face and even at least one parent from sight. These are most of the kids he will go to school with and be friends with til at least 8th grade at this school, so its nice to know who they all are.

Lucas gets SO excited when I come to his school, I get all kinds of hugs and gratitude. He notices that I care I suppose lol. I am still looking forward to those days of payback when it embarasses him for me to be there. CAN> NOT> WAIT, I am that mom with the sick sense of humor.

I got assigned to be in charge of the Snowball relay game. Basically I had to explain the game every time a new group of kids was ushered over and kind of help. yeah, I am not THAT mom, its kind of a free for all with me, but the kids had fun I think. its was funny watching the kids that were in such a hurry to be back to their bucket that they don't even bother to go all the way around the cone they are supposed to : ) and then there were those who were SO careful with the 'snowball' on their spoon it took them days to get back to the start lol too cute!

Then it was snack time, there was a lot of opening waters and peeling oranges and cleaning up, but thats where I get to watch Lucas interact with the kids and I get to have conversations with them as well.
My conversation with a little boy named Kristian went like this
"So, Lucas's mom, I hear you are off today" (obviously, I was standing there talking to him)
"Yes, I took off to come to your party'
"My mom is off today too"
"and she is not coming in today?"( I meant to the party, his mom was not there)
"She will pick me up at the North exit"
LMAO O-KAY then!

Then there was Lucas every time I moved he was up my rear end, not unlike every other moment of the day we are together and he says
"mom, I am going to follow you around ok?'
" Lucas, you always do, what would be different today?"
"I am going to tell Mrs Hopkins I am going to follow you around " O-Kay again lol

And ultimately I got annoyed as I usually do with a little boy named Anthony. he is cute and the tiniest one of the class, but this child cannot keep his hands to himself, and I know him and Lucas are really good friends. His mom and I have even had a conversation where the teachers have told her has has to stop hugging and touching faces etc. Ugh, I cannot tell you how many times I had to tell him to please keep his hands to himself if the teacher missed it (she was really on the ball about it though) because the kid's hands were always on MY kids face! Oh the OCD in me freaks the **** out! it is cold and flu season! And the week before Christmas and all I get every other day is a note someone has the flu or Strep in his class, and this kid cannot stop touching Lucas's face. So gross. And after I saw how Lucas rolls around the gym floor acting the fool and him trying to get me to eat pretzels he had strung in HIS own dirty fingers, I was done, the boy needed a bath and so did I haha. GOOD TIMES : )

But it was fun, I got a few pics and will get them up soon

Time

Time seems to be going so fast. I have stuff to say, then time gets away from me and I don't post.

Lots of goings on in the past month or so. Some hightlights:

Most have heard the story of Lucas doing Show n tell that we learned at this parent-teacher conference, for those who don't........While some kids stand meekly and scared of public speaking behind their toys they bring in, our son does not have stagefright : ) We have always called him 'our politician' for his ability to work a room, and this further proves the point. When its Lucas's Show n Tell day (every Monday) he not only puts on a full demostration of what his toy does, telling the class anything and everything he can think of about it, when he is done with the presentation he takes questions and comments. Yes, that is Lucas

other important things we learned about Lucas at this conference is that Lucas is doing really well. He not only gets along well with his classmates, he is the first to offer to help someone in need with anything and shows lots of empathy whenever someone is upset or hurt. That made me very proud, those are very important skills. He sometimes does not want to sit still as long as he has to, but when that occurs his teacher gives him odd jobs to do for her to occupy him. I LOVE that she is willing to do this for him rather than give him the opportunity to get into trouble instead. And knows how to do all his work, but when he does not feel like it, he scribbles and hurries, but when made to do it again, he does it perfectly. Go figure, that seems to be a lesson we all take a lifetime to learn, do it right the first time hahaha.

But he is doing great in school. He loves going to the extra classes(gym, music,omputers) and has been getting 100% on all his computer tests : )and the librarian is finally letting the Kindergarteners take out library books, he feels very accomplished to be allowed to do so. he is learning to add and loves math so far and his spelling and reading are coming in leaps and bounds every day. Almost gone are the days of spelling things he does not need to know about ; )

I really feel like we made a great choice by sending him to St Anthony, its a great school with lots of wonderful people working there, really well run, not to mention I think Lucas got an awesome teacher for his first year in grade school, could not be happier with my choice!

I got to volunteer at his Halloween party, that was cute and intend to do so for the Christmas party. next week i am helping out at the Secret Santa Shop as well. So many opportunities for parents to be involved, so i am getting it in before Lucas decides its embarassing for mom to come to school, now it makes him happy. I will still volunteer when he is embarassed though,thatwill be fun torture, I am that mom.

Its been a month since Faith, Joe and the girls have gone to Fl : ( Its still sad but the time has really flown. I am glad they are adjusting and enjoying the new home, but I miss them so much that sometimes when I get off the phone after speaking to them, I cry. Esp when Michaela asks me if I want to come to their house : ( Of course I want to come to their house! Soon, I hope, soon. Lucas misses them a lot too and still asks if they are coming or going to be somewhere we are going, but he does like the idea he will probably need to take a plane to see them; )

Just gearing up for Christmas now, trying to get the shopping done and start on wrapping. This weekend we are making the reip to Bass Pro Shops to see Santa and do the Winter Wonderland activities. Looking forward to it and will undoubtedly have to run and speak to Santa when Lucas leaves his lap cause my darling son will not tell us what he wants from Santa. "I am not telling you" is his answer. GRRRRRRR