Letter to my son
Dear Son,
The teacher invited parents to come to share their work with the children. One parent works for a judge. The classroom became a court house. Kids took turn as either a judge or an attorney. One of the mommies took pictures and sent me text messages, with the comment, "Gregory looks cute as a judge." You were wearing the judge's gown and had the gavel in your hand. You looked adorable. Your daddy said, "Supreme Court Justice Gregory O'Brien has a nice ring to it."
When it was your turn to be an attorney, you had to defend your teacher, Mrs. Kim. Mrs. Kim had a toy and didn't want to share. It was your responsibility to represent her. Instead, you looked at the judge and said, "Mrs. Kim should share her toy." Mrs. Kim tried to explain that you needed to help her with her defense. You would not budge. It seems that we have raised you a little too right. Mrs. Kim had to find a new attorney. Your classmate, Preston, became the new attorney and immediately said, "She doesn't have to share her toy, because she paid for it."
At home, we roll played. You were my attorney. Oma was the judge. I was the defendant. I said, "Gregory, I hit someone. Can you give Oma, the judge, a reason why it would be okay for me to hit someone?" You couldn't think of a reason. You asked me for help. I said, "Tell Oma that someone was going to hurt you with a weapon and I had to hit them in order to protect you." You said, "Your Honor, Mommy had to protect me." It took a while to convince you that some bad actions can be defended. Though, I'm sure I want to delve into that with you too much. It's good for you to see various aspects, but within the scope of doing the right things first.
You might not defend someone's actions, but your own speak volumes. During your last basketball game for the season, you had people laughing. I love the Upward program and will be signing you up again, if possible, next year. Below is my post of Facebook...
You know when you use two fingers and point to your eyes then point the two fingers to someone else, in essence saying, “I’m watching you”.... Gregory did that to the boy he had to guard during the game! It was so funny. Shortly after that and still during the game, one mommy came by us and exclaimed, “I saw when Gregory did that with his eyes! It would be different if it was a six year old doing that to a child just turning five but this was the opposite. It was so funny!” Another parent came up after the game and said, “I saw what he did and almost fell out of my chair!”
It was adorable to see how many parents enjoyed your personality. As your daddy said, "You don't back down to bigger kids." You aren't afraid. But, you do get your feelings hurt. In the beginning of the season, if you got hit with a ball, you cried and said, "The boy didn't even apologize!" See, we are raising you correctly. I had to explain that some children might not say they are sorry, but you just keep playing. You cried for a few of the games when hit with the ball, but towards the end of the season, your skin thickened and the ball to the face didn't cause any tears.
Basketball season with Upwards is over, but your game is still on and stronger than ever! A week after basketball lessons ended, you started being able to throw the ball in the hoop at home. You were so excited and we were too! I love how your confidence has grown in leaps and bounds. I might have introduced you into the sport earlier than the age field for the program, but I'm very happy with the results and will definitely enroll you in the program again.
I wonder how much you will learn with the summer camp with Upwards. I signed you up for Flag Football, Soccer, Baseball and Basketball - each sport is one week only.
I also signed you up for art (which you love) and cooking. I'm praying that the cooking camp will help to broaden your horizons with food. You are still a picky eater. I had to ban you from fried chicken and fries and mac and cheese for a week. You had to try grilled or baked chicken and other foods, which you did - including hamburger, grilled cheese sandwiches, meatloaf and broccoli. After a week of banned food, you were allowed to have fried chicken. Oma tricked you though.
Oma and Opa had food on their plates. They said they were eating different types of chicken, both fried. You tried each and said you liked the chicken on Oma's plate and ate the rest of it. Oma told you afterwards, "That wasn't chicken. It was fried fish." You said you liked it (but you didn't like the grilled fish daddy cooked a few days later). At least you are willing to try new things. You are also trying small bites of pork and you will eat a good portion of red beans and rice (plan though, not spicy).
Daddy posted this to Facebook:
"Gregory and Aleta and I were just family dancing to "Could it be Magic" by Barry Manilow. Gregory went to the piano and started picking at the keys... and came VERY close...
now Aleta is giving him his first lesson. Love that. He was inspired... then it inspired Aleta to teach."
I am eager and nervous about teaching you piano. I taught piano during my college years. The youngest student I taught was 8 years old. You are only 5, so I don't have high hopes of the information sticking. I don't expect you to practice, but .... it's a beginning. Like most people, your ring finger and pinky are weak. We are focusing on your right hand first, which is the weaker of the two for you, my little lefty. I love playing the piano and it would be a beautiful gift to teach you.
You are continuing with your home schooling with Oma and Mommy. Oma told Mommy about the Dolch Sight Words. I printed a list for 1st graders and 2nd graders (roughly 50 words on each page). You were able to read all of them, quickly. Oma found some great subtraction work pages and you do 3 or 4 per day from the pages. I know you are becoming confident with subtractions when I'm driving and you ask, "Mommy, what is 100 minus 99?" After giving you the answer, your response is, "Correct, now give me a question." This is your confidence!
Each day you read, write, add, subtract, spell and match - using fun games. Oma and Mommy are looking forward to going to the library book sale, in the hopes of finding "books with facts" - which was a suggestion from a teacher at Airline Park. We are going to search for books about animals, science, history, etc. on a child's reading level, but with fun facts to learn from.
Mrs. Catherine invited us to tour Airline Park. She knows a lot of the teachers and staff, because her children attended Airline. This was the first time we went on campus and I was grateful for the opportunity to look into the classrooms and get a feel for the area. Everyone was friendly and the classrooms looked fun. (I especially loved the Dr. Seuss room and the Where The Wild Things Are room - lots to look at. I could easily picture you in the rooms, learning and growing.) I continue to pray that this will be a good fit for you. In the meantime, Oma and Mommy will continue to teach you at home. Oma said, "We might have taught him too much. What if he is too advanced?"
I answered, "We will teach as much as he is willing to learn. If they want to move him up a grade level, I won't agree to that. A year makes a big difference in maturity level. His personality is well suited for the kindergarten level."
A friend warned me, "Even though it's an advanced studies program, you are going to have a culture shock going from a private school to a public school." Hopefully Airline is a good fit all the way around. As for the culture shock, I grew up in the public school system. That said, St. Augustine's has really spoiled me :)
You love your speech therapy at Airline Park. There was another boy, Eric, who just started attending speech. I spoke with his mommy, Erin, and come to find out - they live on the same street as we do! We live on a small street that most people don't know, so to find someone out of the blue where we live.... how neat! I enjoyed talking with Erin and hope to set up some play dates for you in the future. Her son is a year younger than you and seems like a very sweet boy. Eric was tested for Airline for prek4 and he is on wait list number 8. She hopes he can get in this year, but if not, will test again for next year.
I hope to have playdates set up during your spring break. We met Daniel and his mommy and his brother at Chic-fil-A for a "Family Easter Event." We fortunately sat at a table next to a ledge. On the ledge, we saw easter eggs, so you were ready to grab them when the egg hunt began. Even though you knew about them, you only got three eggs. When we found Daniel, he was crying because he was trampled on in the Chic-Fil-A play room when kids went in their to find eggs.
He didn't have any eggs. You gave Daniel a hug and gave him one of your Easter eggs. I love the friendship that you have with Daniel. It's not based on competition. It's based on kindness and fun. I think that's a reflection from our families too. Because of the experience, though, I wouldn't go to another one of those events at Chic-fil-A. Too many kids, too few eggs, too small of an area for the event. Live and learn.
You are learning good behavior from school and Sunday school. This past Sunday, Mrs. Liz taught the class for Palm Sunday. You colored a picture of Jesus on a donkey and people with palms waving Him into Jerusalem. Mrs. Liz read the story and we put stickers on the leaflet. One of the stickers showed the angry crowd of people that didn't like all the noise of welcome. The other picture was of the crowd welcoming Jesus with palm leaves. I asked you, "If you were there when Jesus arrived, which crowd would you be a part of, the angry crowd or the welcoming one?"
I didn't know which you would pick, because sometimes you like the "bad guys" in a movie. I was happy when you said, "the welcoming one." You also enjoyed the Sunday school activity. Beach blankets were put on the floor to create a path. Palm leaves where given for the kids in the crowd. Each child had an opportunity to be Jesus, greeted by the palms waving.
The Sunday before last, Mommy was the teacher. The lesson was about Noah's Ark. What a fun lesson to have! I drew the ark on some thick paper, then we (me, you, Oma) colored it, rushing to finish it before the lesson. You had animal masks from TJ's party, which the Sunday school friends (total of 6 kids in the class) loved. You read the lesson and we talked about God's promise in the rainbow.
A few days after the lesson, you found puzzles at Oma's house. One of the picture puzzles was Noah's Ark. This isn't the first time that you saw the puzzle, but it was the first time you were very eager to put it together. You talked about the animals that went into the ark and how God promised not to flood the earth again. I love how you enjoy the classes and understand them. But.... some times you are remembering things a little too well. Such as that it rained for 40 days and for 40 nights... and this stuck with you....
One day you told me, "Mommy... I'm soooooo hungry. Because I haven't eaten in 40 days and 40 nights!" I busted out laughing. You are a character.
And your character shows, even when you don't want mommy to laugh. You told Oma, "I'm UPSET with Mommy, because she laughed at me." Upset thus became a new vocabulary word for the week for you, for spelling and writing. I shared the full story with Oma, "Gregory pulls on his shirt at the collar. He stretches out the collar and I've told him time and time not to do this. I told him that if he did it again, I would throw a toy away. Sure enough, he did it again within minutes. I told him to go pick out a toy for me to throw away. He wasn't happy about it, but he brought me a toy. He begged me not to throw it away. I told him not to pull at his collar. Of course, it happens again. So, he begged again! I said, "If you want to save your toy, you have to do 5 jumping jacks, properly!" He did the jumping jacks and as he did, he gave me a look under his eyes and I busted out laughing." Yes, I laughed, but you are too cute, even when mad. This wasn't the only set of 5 jumping jacks you had to do. Eventually you'll stop that collar pulling!
You learn things... and then you use the information in creative ways. One day you hid some toys. You gave instructions to me and to Oma, "I hid toys and I want you to find them. Mommy, you have to look for yourself. Oma, I'm going to help you. You are blind, so I'm going to play the you are hot and you are cold game, to help you to find the toys."
You did exactly as you promised. Oma was only able to find the toys, because of your guidance. She later asked me, "Did you explain my vision to Gregory? What did you say?" I replied, "I've told Gregory on a number of occasions that you don't have good vision and you might need his help." How you realized that Oma is legally blind (even with extremely strong prescription glasses), I'm not sure.
Today was your school Easter Egg Hunt and Easter Party. I love how the teachers handled the eggs. Each egg had a child's name on it. Each child had 8 eggs to find. As the kids went to find the eggs, there was no "I have to race to get them all" feeling. Everyone had to literally hunt at each egg to see if it belonged to them. Towards the end of the hunt, 3 or 4 kids still didn't have all 8 eggs, so the rest of the class helped those children find their eggs. I love this! A simple egg hunt turned into a team effort, filled with kindness to help a friend. This is the character building you get from St. Augustine's!
I hope during the spring break that you are able to have play dates. I know it can get "boring" at home for you, without having siblings. However, you did tell me, "Mommy, don't have another baby, okay?" I asked you why not. You said, "Because if you have another baby, then that baby will need all of your attention and I will be lonely. I don't want to be lonely." Oh, my sweet boy, you will always be my baby. Daddy and Mommy were blessed to have you. We weren't supposed to be able to have children. You were our miracle. God given. For me to even contemplate asking for another miracle, well that would feel spoiled. You already spoil us with so much love.
Love Always,
Mommy
The teacher invited parents to come to share their work with the children. One parent works for a judge. The classroom became a court house. Kids took turn as either a judge or an attorney. One of the mommies took pictures and sent me text messages, with the comment, "Gregory looks cute as a judge." You were wearing the judge's gown and had the gavel in your hand. You looked adorable. Your daddy said, "Supreme Court Justice Gregory O'Brien has a nice ring to it."
When it was your turn to be an attorney, you had to defend your teacher, Mrs. Kim. Mrs. Kim had a toy and didn't want to share. It was your responsibility to represent her. Instead, you looked at the judge and said, "Mrs. Kim should share her toy." Mrs. Kim tried to explain that you needed to help her with her defense. You would not budge. It seems that we have raised you a little too right. Mrs. Kim had to find a new attorney. Your classmate, Preston, became the new attorney and immediately said, "She doesn't have to share her toy, because she paid for it."
At home, we roll played. You were my attorney. Oma was the judge. I was the defendant. I said, "Gregory, I hit someone. Can you give Oma, the judge, a reason why it would be okay for me to hit someone?" You couldn't think of a reason. You asked me for help. I said, "Tell Oma that someone was going to hurt you with a weapon and I had to hit them in order to protect you." You said, "Your Honor, Mommy had to protect me." It took a while to convince you that some bad actions can be defended. Though, I'm sure I want to delve into that with you too much. It's good for you to see various aspects, but within the scope of doing the right things first.
You might not defend someone's actions, but your own speak volumes. During your last basketball game for the season, you had people laughing. I love the Upward program and will be signing you up again, if possible, next year. Below is my post of Facebook...
You know when you use two fingers and point to your eyes then point the two fingers to someone else, in essence saying, “I’m watching you”.... Gregory did that to the boy he had to guard during the game! It was so funny. Shortly after that and still during the game, one mommy came by us and exclaimed, “I saw when Gregory did that with his eyes! It would be different if it was a six year old doing that to a child just turning five but this was the opposite. It was so funny!” Another parent came up after the game and said, “I saw what he did and almost fell out of my chair!”
It was adorable to see how many parents enjoyed your personality. As your daddy said, "You don't back down to bigger kids." You aren't afraid. But, you do get your feelings hurt. In the beginning of the season, if you got hit with a ball, you cried and said, "The boy didn't even apologize!" See, we are raising you correctly. I had to explain that some children might not say they are sorry, but you just keep playing. You cried for a few of the games when hit with the ball, but towards the end of the season, your skin thickened and the ball to the face didn't cause any tears.
Basketball season with Upwards is over, but your game is still on and stronger than ever! A week after basketball lessons ended, you started being able to throw the ball in the hoop at home. You were so excited and we were too! I love how your confidence has grown in leaps and bounds. I might have introduced you into the sport earlier than the age field for the program, but I'm very happy with the results and will definitely enroll you in the program again.
I wonder how much you will learn with the summer camp with Upwards. I signed you up for Flag Football, Soccer, Baseball and Basketball - each sport is one week only.
I also signed you up for art (which you love) and cooking. I'm praying that the cooking camp will help to broaden your horizons with food. You are still a picky eater. I had to ban you from fried chicken and fries and mac and cheese for a week. You had to try grilled or baked chicken and other foods, which you did - including hamburger, grilled cheese sandwiches, meatloaf and broccoli. After a week of banned food, you were allowed to have fried chicken. Oma tricked you though.
Oma and Opa had food on their plates. They said they were eating different types of chicken, both fried. You tried each and said you liked the chicken on Oma's plate and ate the rest of it. Oma told you afterwards, "That wasn't chicken. It was fried fish." You said you liked it (but you didn't like the grilled fish daddy cooked a few days later). At least you are willing to try new things. You are also trying small bites of pork and you will eat a good portion of red beans and rice (plan though, not spicy).
Daddy posted this to Facebook:
"Gregory and Aleta and I were just family dancing to "Could it be Magic" by Barry Manilow. Gregory went to the piano and started picking at the keys... and came VERY close...
now Aleta is giving him his first lesson. Love that. He was inspired... then it inspired Aleta to teach."
I am eager and nervous about teaching you piano. I taught piano during my college years. The youngest student I taught was 8 years old. You are only 5, so I don't have high hopes of the information sticking. I don't expect you to practice, but .... it's a beginning. Like most people, your ring finger and pinky are weak. We are focusing on your right hand first, which is the weaker of the two for you, my little lefty. I love playing the piano and it would be a beautiful gift to teach you.
You are continuing with your home schooling with Oma and Mommy. Oma told Mommy about the Dolch Sight Words. I printed a list for 1st graders and 2nd graders (roughly 50 words on each page). You were able to read all of them, quickly. Oma found some great subtraction work pages and you do 3 or 4 per day from the pages. I know you are becoming confident with subtractions when I'm driving and you ask, "Mommy, what is 100 minus 99?" After giving you the answer, your response is, "Correct, now give me a question." This is your confidence!
Each day you read, write, add, subtract, spell and match - using fun games. Oma and Mommy are looking forward to going to the library book sale, in the hopes of finding "books with facts" - which was a suggestion from a teacher at Airline Park. We are going to search for books about animals, science, history, etc. on a child's reading level, but with fun facts to learn from.
Mrs. Catherine invited us to tour Airline Park. She knows a lot of the teachers and staff, because her children attended Airline. This was the first time we went on campus and I was grateful for the opportunity to look into the classrooms and get a feel for the area. Everyone was friendly and the classrooms looked fun. (I especially loved the Dr. Seuss room and the Where The Wild Things Are room - lots to look at. I could easily picture you in the rooms, learning and growing.) I continue to pray that this will be a good fit for you. In the meantime, Oma and Mommy will continue to teach you at home. Oma said, "We might have taught him too much. What if he is too advanced?"
I answered, "We will teach as much as he is willing to learn. If they want to move him up a grade level, I won't agree to that. A year makes a big difference in maturity level. His personality is well suited for the kindergarten level."
A friend warned me, "Even though it's an advanced studies program, you are going to have a culture shock going from a private school to a public school." Hopefully Airline is a good fit all the way around. As for the culture shock, I grew up in the public school system. That said, St. Augustine's has really spoiled me :)
You love your speech therapy at Airline Park. There was another boy, Eric, who just started attending speech. I spoke with his mommy, Erin, and come to find out - they live on the same street as we do! We live on a small street that most people don't know, so to find someone out of the blue where we live.... how neat! I enjoyed talking with Erin and hope to set up some play dates for you in the future. Her son is a year younger than you and seems like a very sweet boy. Eric was tested for Airline for prek4 and he is on wait list number 8. She hopes he can get in this year, but if not, will test again for next year.
I hope to have playdates set up during your spring break. We met Daniel and his mommy and his brother at Chic-fil-A for a "Family Easter Event." We fortunately sat at a table next to a ledge. On the ledge, we saw easter eggs, so you were ready to grab them when the egg hunt began. Even though you knew about them, you only got three eggs. When we found Daniel, he was crying because he was trampled on in the Chic-Fil-A play room when kids went in their to find eggs.
He didn't have any eggs. You gave Daniel a hug and gave him one of your Easter eggs. I love the friendship that you have with Daniel. It's not based on competition. It's based on kindness and fun. I think that's a reflection from our families too. Because of the experience, though, I wouldn't go to another one of those events at Chic-fil-A. Too many kids, too few eggs, too small of an area for the event. Live and learn.
You are learning good behavior from school and Sunday school. This past Sunday, Mrs. Liz taught the class for Palm Sunday. You colored a picture of Jesus on a donkey and people with palms waving Him into Jerusalem. Mrs. Liz read the story and we put stickers on the leaflet. One of the stickers showed the angry crowd of people that didn't like all the noise of welcome. The other picture was of the crowd welcoming Jesus with palm leaves. I asked you, "If you were there when Jesus arrived, which crowd would you be a part of, the angry crowd or the welcoming one?"
I didn't know which you would pick, because sometimes you like the "bad guys" in a movie. I was happy when you said, "the welcoming one." You also enjoyed the Sunday school activity. Beach blankets were put on the floor to create a path. Palm leaves where given for the kids in the crowd. Each child had an opportunity to be Jesus, greeted by the palms waving.
The Sunday before last, Mommy was the teacher. The lesson was about Noah's Ark. What a fun lesson to have! I drew the ark on some thick paper, then we (me, you, Oma) colored it, rushing to finish it before the lesson. You had animal masks from TJ's party, which the Sunday school friends (total of 6 kids in the class) loved. You read the lesson and we talked about God's promise in the rainbow.
A few days after the lesson, you found puzzles at Oma's house. One of the picture puzzles was Noah's Ark. This isn't the first time that you saw the puzzle, but it was the first time you were very eager to put it together. You talked about the animals that went into the ark and how God promised not to flood the earth again. I love how you enjoy the classes and understand them. But.... some times you are remembering things a little too well. Such as that it rained for 40 days and for 40 nights... and this stuck with you....
One day you told me, "Mommy... I'm soooooo hungry. Because I haven't eaten in 40 days and 40 nights!" I busted out laughing. You are a character.
And your character shows, even when you don't want mommy to laugh. You told Oma, "I'm UPSET with Mommy, because she laughed at me." Upset thus became a new vocabulary word for the week for you, for spelling and writing. I shared the full story with Oma, "Gregory pulls on his shirt at the collar. He stretches out the collar and I've told him time and time not to do this. I told him that if he did it again, I would throw a toy away. Sure enough, he did it again within minutes. I told him to go pick out a toy for me to throw away. He wasn't happy about it, but he brought me a toy. He begged me not to throw it away. I told him not to pull at his collar. Of course, it happens again. So, he begged again! I said, "If you want to save your toy, you have to do 5 jumping jacks, properly!" He did the jumping jacks and as he did, he gave me a look under his eyes and I busted out laughing." Yes, I laughed, but you are too cute, even when mad. This wasn't the only set of 5 jumping jacks you had to do. Eventually you'll stop that collar pulling!
You learn things... and then you use the information in creative ways. One day you hid some toys. You gave instructions to me and to Oma, "I hid toys and I want you to find them. Mommy, you have to look for yourself. Oma, I'm going to help you. You are blind, so I'm going to play the you are hot and you are cold game, to help you to find the toys."
You did exactly as you promised. Oma was only able to find the toys, because of your guidance. She later asked me, "Did you explain my vision to Gregory? What did you say?" I replied, "I've told Gregory on a number of occasions that you don't have good vision and you might need his help." How you realized that Oma is legally blind (even with extremely strong prescription glasses), I'm not sure.
Today was your school Easter Egg Hunt and Easter Party. I love how the teachers handled the eggs. Each egg had a child's name on it. Each child had 8 eggs to find. As the kids went to find the eggs, there was no "I have to race to get them all" feeling. Everyone had to literally hunt at each egg to see if it belonged to them. Towards the end of the hunt, 3 or 4 kids still didn't have all 8 eggs, so the rest of the class helped those children find their eggs. I love this! A simple egg hunt turned into a team effort, filled with kindness to help a friend. This is the character building you get from St. Augustine's!
I hope during the spring break that you are able to have play dates. I know it can get "boring" at home for you, without having siblings. However, you did tell me, "Mommy, don't have another baby, okay?" I asked you why not. You said, "Because if you have another baby, then that baby will need all of your attention and I will be lonely. I don't want to be lonely." Oh, my sweet boy, you will always be my baby. Daddy and Mommy were blessed to have you. We weren't supposed to be able to have children. You were our miracle. God given. For me to even contemplate asking for another miracle, well that would feel spoiled. You already spoil us with so much love.
Love Always,
Mommy
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