Trying...

So, I'm still not feeling 100% but I'm back on my game enough where Jason could go back to work today. But boy did he have fun with those boys while he was off. Just yesterday they started off with breakfast and playing at McDonald's followed by a short trip to the grocery store and then a short trip to the park. Apparently the weather was beautiful. I wouldn't know.

After naps and quiet time Jason took them to play at Chuck E. Cheese's for a bit:









Then they all came back and told me about their fun and Jason made us all dinner. Easton ate more food than we've seen him eat in a long time...was it because Daddy cooked? I tried not to take offense. :)

This morning Jason stayed home with us but that was always the plan as we had Easton's very first parent teacher conference today. First the boys and I made muffins:


Easton wanted to be sure we saved two for Grammy and Grandpa John who would be coming to stay with the boys while we went to school. Easton thought that was so cool. He was telling us what to expect with our school day (sit criss-cross legged, play on the playground, wear the necklace when you're in the bathroom, don't rock in the reading loft, what it means when we hear Mrs. M's music box). Then he told us both, "I know you'll do a great job!" and that if we didn't cry we could watch Batman. Ha!

My grandma arrived (no John) and proposed the park. Dalton figured out that we were gonna leave and he wasn't too happy about that but Grammy said it only lasted a minute and he was fine. Pretty good for not having seen her since May, eh? Easton did just perfect...apparently he even went to get Dalton his milk to cheer him up after we left. My Eastie has got one of the sweetest hearts. You should have seen him taking care of me when I was in bed the other day. There was nothing left for Jason to do! When I got home from the doctor Easton had a made me a beautiful "card"/project and it was taped up next to my bed.


Jason said he picked out each sticker very carefully...Jason got some foam shapes out and Easton said, "I only want the hearts". He wanted to find an elephant sticker because they're my favorite and lucky for me, they found one. He picked out lots of purple stuff, the blue squiggle going across the page is supposedly my name. He threw in some E's. All his choices were very deliberate and specific to make me feel better.

Then he told me I needed to get in bed ("for four weeks") and he tucked the covers under my chin, asked if I was comfy, then decided to add two extra pillows behind me. He said he needed to check my temperature and where was the thermometer? Jason reminded him he has a pretend one in his doctor kit so he rushed down to get it and put it in my mouth. I was "8". But E was far from done taking care of me. He then turned on the CD player in his room for some pleasant music. Tucked a soft friend (his Pablo) in next to me. He brought some of those Chuck E. Cheese sketches we get done and propped them on my night table so I'd be surrounded by the faces of those I love. Then he said, "Now I'll go make you some lunch". Jason and I exchanged a bit of an "Uh oh" look but he came back with a string cheese and a box of crackers for me. Perfect! He turned on "Little Bear" for me to watch and then I told him I was a little bit thirsty and could he please bring me a water bottle from the fridge? Apparently he had an even better idea: he climbed up and got a festive pumpkin water bottle instead, then he pushed a chair over to the sink (which made Jason sneak down to observe). Eastie then filled it up about 3/4 of the way looked inside and told himself, "That should do it", he screwed on the lid and put the cap on the straw before coming up. About halfway up the stairs J said he stopped and uncapped the straw so that it would be ready for me, I guess. It was the best water I'd ever had and I told him so. What a sweetie poo. And what a tangent! Sorry... all that to brag on what a great kid I have. There's even a tiny bit of video:

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

So, goodness...I guess him being sweet to his brother while he was sad is what brought that on? So yeah, Dalton got over it and Grammy pushed them in the double stroller to the park while Jason and I headed over to E's school. Mrs. M had lots of great things to say about Easton starting with how proud she is that he's starting to adjust to things or at least how he only cries a little but that he walks in willingly each time. We're all very proud of him for that! She showed us this coloring project he did:

I guess she gave it to him to sort of "grade" him on some of his fine motor-ish, pre-writing skills. She said he didn't want to do it at first and cried about it but once he started he wouldn't stop till he was done. Apparently it took him a long time because he was, like, the only kid in the class who colored every single object on the page. Most moved on after 2 or 3.

Then she showed us the front of his report card:

Those red scribbles are apparently what he did when she asked him to draw a picture of himself. I can tell you right now he was being very lazy with that. He has done much better in the past but you can't force "art", can you? She was saying how she could see a round head and some eyes (which she pointed out)...she's watching for when they start drawing the stick figures and stuff. He's not there yet.

She told us that Easton was very smart which I'm sure she says to all the parents but (since I'm in a "bragging on E" mood) also said that he is ahead of some of his classmates in several areas. What Mama wouldn't want to hear that? "Separating well from parents" is not his forte, however. But we all already knew that, didn't we? In fact...that was the first thing on the progress report:


When she got to the part about "takes care of personal needs independently" she told us that basically means the bathroom and stuff. Then she said what they notice he does is goes into the bathroom and cries. Almost like he thinks no one will know if he does it in there. My eyes most definitely welled up with tears when she told me that. She said they'll hear him in there and the assistant teacher Mrs. L will go to the door and ask if he's okay and he'll come out having pulled himself together. She said it doesn't sound like he's having trouble in there or anything, just that he goes in there because I think he thinks that he can't cry out in the open classroom so much so he goes and hides to do it. Isn't that the saddest thing you've heard all day? Totally breaking my heart...my boy already hiding his emotions because we've stressed so much how we want him to not cry at school. My poor sweet boy. :(

Also when she got to the part about "Challenges self" with his choice in work she said he does that and he's doing very well at math. I was like, "What??? Math???" and she said, "Yeah, I think he is" and pulled out her gradebook to make sure that what she was telling us was correct. She said he's ahead of a lot of his classmates in that regard (Go E!!!) and said that in addition (get it???...addition? math?!?! Ha ha ha!) to knowing all of his numerals (or maybe she said numerics? All I know is she didn't say NUMBERS) he also is doing some fancier math stuff that I don't exactly understand. She showed me how only a few students had marks next to their names for a few of those skills in the whole class and E's was one of them! I must've stopped paying complete attention while the Hallelujah Chorus played in my head because I just love hearing from a teacher that my boy is smart.

Then she went on to the next page of the report:

You may notice--because it was the first thing I noticed--that he doesn't have a "check" next to "Coloring" but has the polite "very nice start" comment next to it. Okay, after she seemingly raved about his above super-orange color page I had to ask..."what is he missing and what do we need to work on?" so that he could get that check next time! She told me, "Oh none of the kids are getting "checks" on Coloring." Whew! But she did tell us some things to work on but it's what we do already so I guess it'll just come in time, and with more exposure.

This was the last page:

Good to know that he's doing well in "Snack". :) She says he fits in well in the class and she's especially careful to observe them on the playground when they can really let loose and play with the others. No one is left out, they all have a nice time. It sounds like he's doing really really well. We're so proud of him! Even if he didn't get a single "check" we'd still obviously be so proud of him...he's ours! But it sure nice to have the reminders that he's doing what he's "supposed" to be doing, ya know?

Anyway, Jason and I parted ways after the conference...J went on to work and I came back home. The house was still empty as Grammy was still at the park with the boys but they came home after not too long. We ate some cookies Grammy brought and then she headed home. The boys and I goofed around for a bit:




And now they're both taking naps (I think).

We plan to go to the library later and we need to get some more Halloween candy. My Grammy brought me a ton of her coupons! Woo hooooooo! And I'm sure there's gonna be some candy stuff in there somewhere, right? I just hope the stores have stuff left! I'm cuttin' it a little close, eh?

Anyway, I should go but tune in tomorrow for a walk down Halloween memory lane. Buh bye!

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