Fleur de Aleta

Dear Son, Plenty has happened since the last letter.  You finished the handwriting course during the summer.  At one point, you were doing so well with letter recognition and handwriting that your teacher said "You are on fire!"  This tickled you and you repeated it a few times after that day.  The instructor told Oma, "Gregory had to go to the bathroom.  When he came back, he caught himself up on the work the rest of the group was doing.  He caught up... on his own."  The instruction also said, "He is ready for kindergarten." Oma then told me, "Is it bad that I'm sad he is only going into pre-k4 next year when I think he is ready for kindergarten?"  No, it's not bad.  I understand it.  Oma and Mommy want you to be prepared and ready for pre-k4 and ahead of the game as much as you are ready for and willing to learn, while still having fun. I told Oma, "Basically, other than the breaks where I scheduled courses for Gregory, such...

Dear Son, You worked hard and played hard this summer.  Various instructors gave you very nice compliments. After the art camp, the instructor said you pay a lot of attention to detail and mentioned how serious you are when you paint. This Saturday coming is the last day of the Reading Program.  I'm going to miss it.  The instructor, Mrs. Butler, is doing a wonderful job with engaging the children.  We arrived early one Saturday, as did another parent.  The other parent said to the instructor, "I'm just amazed at how quickly you learned the kids' names."  Mrs. Butler replied, "It's easy with some children.  The children, such as Gregory, who have big personalities, I learned quickly." An example of your "big personality" during the reading program is when Mrs. Butler asked the students to say the new site word as loud as they can - you don't disappoint.  Or when she said to say the new site word like a bear - you have your hands o...

Dear Son, It's been a very busy summer.  June was an active month, including tball (you were thrilled with your tball trophy!), Soccer Shots, Sky Zone play dates, Home Depot kid projects, going to the beach, Vacation Bible School, swim lessons, Jack's birthday party, St Martin summer camp for two weeks (you were camper of the week on the second week) and many play dates.  There was a group play date and then play dates at various times with Daniel (and Jack, Carly, Charlie), Nathan, Jacob, Carsen, EJ, Anthony and your new friend, Adelaide.  Mommy wanted to make sure that you had lots of fun things to do and had the opportunity to see your friends that you made from last school year.   It was a lot of work and a lot of running around and a lot of planning.  It was exhausting.  And... it was all worth it to see your joy. July, the focus is more on arts and it started with this past weekend.  We met Daniel and his Mommy, Cassy, at Posh Paint Pub to pa...

Dear Son, Tball is going well.  You need more practice, but you are hitting the ball (sometimes) when it's thrown to you.  It's fun to watch you and your teammates scamper after the ball when you're playing field.  There aren't as many melt downs with the kids when someone else gets the ball. Your Daddy loves playing first base when your team goes to bat.  He high-fives the kids as they make it to first base and shows them where they need to run next.  Mommy loves taking pictures during the games.  One coach, Candace, shares the pictures with the group and plenty of parents have thanked me for taking them. Daniel is on your team, which I'm tickled about.  It's great that friends from school are doing things outside of school, be it teammates or play dates.  I think that's so important, because it allows for friendships to grow. The last day of school was a picnic.  Mommy and Oma attended.  Mommy had the picnic basket and Oma had ...

Dear Son, You are finished with speech therapy for the school year.  Juli, your therapist, filled out your IEP for next year.  I hope we have Wednesdays again, if possible.  That seems to work out.  I had an interesting conversation with Juli. She said that she ended the school year with starting to work on the "th" and "sh" sounds. I shared, "If Gregory says, "I want the ball over 'air." If I correct him "over THERE", then he will repeat it correctly." Juli explained, "We first practice the sound.  Then we use the sound in words.  It takes a while before the sound makes it into every day conversations.  I notice that the "L" sound is part of his every day conversation now."  She is right. You say "L" words beautifully now, such as when we went to Spudley's.  The restaurant has a map showing all the restaurants in the area, at least when the map was made.  You pretended your hand was a toy c...