Letter to my son
Dear Son,
All three weeks of VBS are over. You couldn't say which was your favorite. You said, "All of them!" Each offered a variety of fun and learning.
St. Augustine's VBS had a huge amount of crafts, songs that you learned throughout the year at preschool there and individual picture magnets and the kids sang at the Sunday service.
St. Matthews' VBS had cool games and a really nice singing performance for the parents to enjoy and a picture of the kids' groups.
Atonement's VBS sold the CD with the music, which was for both their VBS and St. Matthew's. It's nice to play the CD in the car for you to sing along to. Atonement turned snack time into craft time - kids decorated cookies and cupcakes and made s'mores. (Quick note: TJ used the potty at Atonement's VBS! The teacher asked if he had to pee. TJ said, "No." The teacher said, "You need to pee." and he went to the bathroom! This is a big step in potty training, because it wasn't at my parents' house or with them there.)
All in all, three great weeks with friends, making new friends, learning more about God, singing, crafts and having fun.
Now, we are into the swing of Atonement's summer camp! TJ is going to St. Augustine's summer camp, while you attend Atonement's. TJ is doing great, using the potty, doing crafts, body movement and singing. Some mornings, TJ will start to cry when Oma and Opa drop him off, but by the time they are out of the door, he has stopped crying and started playing with his new camp friends. This is a great experience for TJ, to make new friends in a preschool environment. Oma is also working with TJ on how to hold crayons in the correct way. TJ is definitely right-handed, but he wants to wrap his entire hand around the crayon. Oma is also teaching TJ how to spell words. He picks up on it quickly!
For you, this week is all about soccer camp and cooking camp.
Soccer is in the morning. You learned the game of red light/green light - where you have to stop the ball and yourself quickly. You are learning to kick the ball to your partner. You said it's a lot of running and sometimes you get tired. The soccer camp gave you a t-shirt, water bottle and a red soccer ball. This camp is run by Soccer Shots, which you did once last year. It's a great camp to learn more about the sport.
Cooking camp is in the afternoon. It follows the CHOP program by Ochsner, where it's about making healthy choices and teaching children to learn to prepare meals rather than going to fast foods. Mommy picks you up in the afternoon, so I get a glimpse into the class. I enjoy taking the opportunity to take pictures. Yesterday you learned how to make scrambled eggs and a yogurt/fruit cup. Today it was Mexican food with salsa and chicken quesadilla. It was fun to watch you and the other kids get so serious when cutting the vegetables. You also go to the stove to stir, though today you had a little burn. You picked up the spoon, which was resting on the pot - you jumped back from the heat on the spoon, but you were okay. It's good to learn lessons. You were a little shy about going back to the stove after that, but you did a good job.
You have a lot of friends from St. Augustine that attend the camps: Carsen, Eli, Elijah and Preston. (I believe Scarlett goes too, but maybe in a different camp?) If all continues to go well this summer, I will enroll you again at Lutheran Atonement's camps next year. I really like how they are divided up in the day by a specific theme.
After the cooking camp yesterday, you and TJ had swimming lessons. Julia is a great instructor! You are making advancements in swimming. She taught you how to cup your hands and make big arm movements. You are able to jump in the deep end at Oma and Opa's pool and swim all the way across. When you are tired, you still want to dog paddle, but you are doing less and less of that. TJ is making good progress too. He used to cry a lot when getting in the pool. Now he is jumping towards Julia in the pool, kicking his legs, willing to jump into the pool (and holding his breath while doing so) and he just learned the monkey crawl. Knowing that you need to turn around and do the monkey crawl is pool safety. If a child accidentally falls in a pool, he or she needs to know how to safely get out.
Yesterday you went to sleep at 6:30pm (very early for you) and you slept until 6am! Since this past Saturday, you have made SUCH progress in staying in your own bed ALL night. It used to be that you would fall asleep in your bed and then in the middle of the night, would wake up and come to my bed... I call you a helicopter sleeper... because you move around and around and kick and hit.
Oma is teaching you how to tell time on a clock. She has one that you move the hands. We needed this lesson, because when Mommy and Daddy told you, "Don't come into our rooms until after 4..." you said that 11 comes after 4. Umm, 11pm and 4am, not the same. Then you said that 3:04 is 4. Nope. Telling time was something we continue to work with you on.
Oma and Mommy were trying to come up with ways of getting you to stay in your own bed. "Not getting a Friday toy" did not work. You literally told me, "Make it worser for me." I corrected your sentence, then said, "Okay, every night that you come to my bed before 4am (that was a cutoff time that your daddy somehow came up with), then you lose a toy. I will throw it away on Friday. But if you stay in your bed for three nights out of the week until 4am, then you can keep the toys."
This worked for the first week, for three nights. It was a start. Then Oma said, "If you wake up in the middle of the night, it's okay if you tell your Mommy and then you go back to bed." You took this to heart just a little too much. That night, from 11pm to 3am, you woke me up SEVEN times. At 3am, you went to sleep and Mommy was wide awake and mad. I took a BOX of toys and put them on my dresser. When you woke up at 6am and wanted to come to my bed, I said, "We need to have a talk. I'm very upset right now. Can you tell me why I am upset?" You immediately knew, "Because I went to your bed too many times." The reason for all of this was for Mommy to get sleep, not have to go to work the next day on one hour of sleep. "See that box of toys? If you don't sleep in your bed tonight, the entire box of toys goes in the trash."
After our morning conversation, I thought about it some more. I asked Daddy to move one of the Alexa's into your bedroom. I told you that when you go to sleep, Mommy will turn on soft piano on Alexa. You fall asleep sometimes to watching TV or the iPad. You are like your Daddy with finding it soothing to fall asleep to sound. You even practiced how to tell Alexa to turn on the soft piano music in case it stopped in the middle of the night and you woke up.
This was the turning point for you on Saturday night. You had Alexa music and you stayed in bed Saturday night, Sunday night, Monday night. I'm praying it continues. I'm so happy for us both to get good night's sleep. You're growing up so quickly and I'm very proud of you; you are learning so much!
With all the camps, VBS and swimming lessons, you still manage to get some schoolwork done too. Oma has a neat math program on her iPad. One program was a story about the number 14. It was a lesson on ones, tens, etc. The number 14 wanted to seesaw. 14 went up to the number 4, but number 4 said that he didn't have a ten and 14 did, so he couldn't make the seesaw go down. Number 14 found number 54 and asked 54 to seesaw. 54 agreed and "puttered over to the seesaw." You asked Oma what puttered meant. Oma explained it to you. You said, "You mean like how Opa walks! Opa putters like a penguin!" Oma busted out laughing.
Oma and Mommy did a lot of research for TJ's birthday party. There are a number of indoor party places in the area. Some of them are for older kids and we didn't think TJ would get too much from them. We were torn between Rock the Spectrum and Bounce Around. Oma decided on Bounce Around, because TJ's Mommy wanted to bring food to the location. Many places don't allow food other than what they are willing to serve. You and TJ played at Bounce Around for two hours, having a blast. Then both of you did bungee jumping. I was thrilled when you were willing for the guy to help you flip all the way around, twice. You were very hesitant at first, but then you said "I'll do that again." Your confidence builds up quickly.
Mommy set up TJ's birthday invitations on Facebook. You are so excited to go to TJ's 3 year old party at the end of July. You love going to parties to celebrate and sing and, of course, run and have fun.
Praying you are making a summer of memories.
Love Always,
Mommy
All three weeks of VBS are over. You couldn't say which was your favorite. You said, "All of them!" Each offered a variety of fun and learning.
St. Augustine's VBS had a huge amount of crafts, songs that you learned throughout the year at preschool there and individual picture magnets and the kids sang at the Sunday service.
St. Matthews' VBS had cool games and a really nice singing performance for the parents to enjoy and a picture of the kids' groups.
Atonement's VBS sold the CD with the music, which was for both their VBS and St. Matthew's. It's nice to play the CD in the car for you to sing along to. Atonement turned snack time into craft time - kids decorated cookies and cupcakes and made s'mores. (Quick note: TJ used the potty at Atonement's VBS! The teacher asked if he had to pee. TJ said, "No." The teacher said, "You need to pee." and he went to the bathroom! This is a big step in potty training, because it wasn't at my parents' house or with them there.)
All in all, three great weeks with friends, making new friends, learning more about God, singing, crafts and having fun.
Now, we are into the swing of Atonement's summer camp! TJ is going to St. Augustine's summer camp, while you attend Atonement's. TJ is doing great, using the potty, doing crafts, body movement and singing. Some mornings, TJ will start to cry when Oma and Opa drop him off, but by the time they are out of the door, he has stopped crying and started playing with his new camp friends. This is a great experience for TJ, to make new friends in a preschool environment. Oma is also working with TJ on how to hold crayons in the correct way. TJ is definitely right-handed, but he wants to wrap his entire hand around the crayon. Oma is also teaching TJ how to spell words. He picks up on it quickly!
For you, this week is all about soccer camp and cooking camp.
Soccer is in the morning. You learned the game of red light/green light - where you have to stop the ball and yourself quickly. You are learning to kick the ball to your partner. You said it's a lot of running and sometimes you get tired. The soccer camp gave you a t-shirt, water bottle and a red soccer ball. This camp is run by Soccer Shots, which you did once last year. It's a great camp to learn more about the sport.
Cooking camp is in the afternoon. It follows the CHOP program by Ochsner, where it's about making healthy choices and teaching children to learn to prepare meals rather than going to fast foods. Mommy picks you up in the afternoon, so I get a glimpse into the class. I enjoy taking the opportunity to take pictures. Yesterday you learned how to make scrambled eggs and a yogurt/fruit cup. Today it was Mexican food with salsa and chicken quesadilla. It was fun to watch you and the other kids get so serious when cutting the vegetables. You also go to the stove to stir, though today you had a little burn. You picked up the spoon, which was resting on the pot - you jumped back from the heat on the spoon, but you were okay. It's good to learn lessons. You were a little shy about going back to the stove after that, but you did a good job.
You have a lot of friends from St. Augustine that attend the camps: Carsen, Eli, Elijah and Preston. (I believe Scarlett goes too, but maybe in a different camp?) If all continues to go well this summer, I will enroll you again at Lutheran Atonement's camps next year. I really like how they are divided up in the day by a specific theme.
After the cooking camp yesterday, you and TJ had swimming lessons. Julia is a great instructor! You are making advancements in swimming. She taught you how to cup your hands and make big arm movements. You are able to jump in the deep end at Oma and Opa's pool and swim all the way across. When you are tired, you still want to dog paddle, but you are doing less and less of that. TJ is making good progress too. He used to cry a lot when getting in the pool. Now he is jumping towards Julia in the pool, kicking his legs, willing to jump into the pool (and holding his breath while doing so) and he just learned the monkey crawl. Knowing that you need to turn around and do the monkey crawl is pool safety. If a child accidentally falls in a pool, he or she needs to know how to safely get out.
Yesterday you went to sleep at 6:30pm (very early for you) and you slept until 6am! Since this past Saturday, you have made SUCH progress in staying in your own bed ALL night. It used to be that you would fall asleep in your bed and then in the middle of the night, would wake up and come to my bed... I call you a helicopter sleeper... because you move around and around and kick and hit.
Oma is teaching you how to tell time on a clock. She has one that you move the hands. We needed this lesson, because when Mommy and Daddy told you, "Don't come into our rooms until after 4..." you said that 11 comes after 4. Umm, 11pm and 4am, not the same. Then you said that 3:04 is 4. Nope. Telling time was something we continue to work with you on.
Oma and Mommy were trying to come up with ways of getting you to stay in your own bed. "Not getting a Friday toy" did not work. You literally told me, "Make it worser for me." I corrected your sentence, then said, "Okay, every night that you come to my bed before 4am (that was a cutoff time that your daddy somehow came up with), then you lose a toy. I will throw it away on Friday. But if you stay in your bed for three nights out of the week until 4am, then you can keep the toys."
This worked for the first week, for three nights. It was a start. Then Oma said, "If you wake up in the middle of the night, it's okay if you tell your Mommy and then you go back to bed." You took this to heart just a little too much. That night, from 11pm to 3am, you woke me up SEVEN times. At 3am, you went to sleep and Mommy was wide awake and mad. I took a BOX of toys and put them on my dresser. When you woke up at 6am and wanted to come to my bed, I said, "We need to have a talk. I'm very upset right now. Can you tell me why I am upset?" You immediately knew, "Because I went to your bed too many times." The reason for all of this was for Mommy to get sleep, not have to go to work the next day on one hour of sleep. "See that box of toys? If you don't sleep in your bed tonight, the entire box of toys goes in the trash."
After our morning conversation, I thought about it some more. I asked Daddy to move one of the Alexa's into your bedroom. I told you that when you go to sleep, Mommy will turn on soft piano on Alexa. You fall asleep sometimes to watching TV or the iPad. You are like your Daddy with finding it soothing to fall asleep to sound. You even practiced how to tell Alexa to turn on the soft piano music in case it stopped in the middle of the night and you woke up.
This was the turning point for you on Saturday night. You had Alexa music and you stayed in bed Saturday night, Sunday night, Monday night. I'm praying it continues. I'm so happy for us both to get good night's sleep. You're growing up so quickly and I'm very proud of you; you are learning so much!
With all the camps, VBS and swimming lessons, you still manage to get some schoolwork done too. Oma has a neat math program on her iPad. One program was a story about the number 14. It was a lesson on ones, tens, etc. The number 14 wanted to seesaw. 14 went up to the number 4, but number 4 said that he didn't have a ten and 14 did, so he couldn't make the seesaw go down. Number 14 found number 54 and asked 54 to seesaw. 54 agreed and "puttered over to the seesaw." You asked Oma what puttered meant. Oma explained it to you. You said, "You mean like how Opa walks! Opa putters like a penguin!" Oma busted out laughing.
Oma and Mommy did a lot of research for TJ's birthday party. There are a number of indoor party places in the area. Some of them are for older kids and we didn't think TJ would get too much from them. We were torn between Rock the Spectrum and Bounce Around. Oma decided on Bounce Around, because TJ's Mommy wanted to bring food to the location. Many places don't allow food other than what they are willing to serve. You and TJ played at Bounce Around for two hours, having a blast. Then both of you did bungee jumping. I was thrilled when you were willing for the guy to help you flip all the way around, twice. You were very hesitant at first, but then you said "I'll do that again." Your confidence builds up quickly.
Mommy set up TJ's birthday invitations on Facebook. You are so excited to go to TJ's 3 year old party at the end of July. You love going to parties to celebrate and sing and, of course, run and have fun.
Praying you are making a summer of memories.
Love Always,
Mommy
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