A couple weeks ago it was the 100th Day of School. Your fantastic, amazing, awesome teacher, Mrs Meute, had all kinds of special activities planned for the day to celebrate 100 days of school. Every student brought in 100 pieces of something snack-like (you did Fruity Cheerios) and mixed them together in to a special 100 Day snack. You did math games incorporating 100. Pictures and puzzles about the number 100 (you declined the puzzle bit, claiming you "ran out of time." Ran out of time, my ass, child - I know you hate puzzles.) And you brought home this excellent little paper about all things 100. It makes me giggle. I don't imagine you'd ever eat 100 brussels sprouts. And I agree, having 100 babies would DEFINITELY be a problem.
We maybe need to go to the store to look at the cost of things a bit more. Because I don't think you'd get a very big rocket ship with $100.
A few weeks ago you turned seven. SEVEN! You are 52 inches and 60 pounds huge - you've gained 10 pounds since Kindergarten, and it is mostly solid muscle. And brains. Lots and lots of brains.
You have continued to love space. All things space. We own, I believe, every single space book known to man. Our shelves are overflowing with space books. You know about the phases of the moon (you are currently learning about them in school, so we've been paying closer attention to the moon every night. I think you could likely teach this section of your science lesson.), all the planets, all the moons of every planet, different kinds of stars, black holes. We name it, you know it if it's about space. You got a new bus driver a few weeks ago named Mr. Armstrong. You were excited because "maybe he's an astronaut!" I'm not sure you realize that there are LOTS of people with the last name of Armstrong. They are not all Neil Armstrong.
You love love love school. It took a trimester or so, but finally your teacher is realizing that you LIKE doing extra stuff at school. You love math word problems. You love research projects. You HATE writing, especially "making connections" in fictional books. I get it. I like to read just to enjoy it. I don't, personally, care one bit about WHY the author chose to write about a topic. I'm just happy he did. So I get it, kiddo. But sorry. Making connections is something you're going to have to do for a long long time at school.
 |
| Bedtime Math. Best. Book. Ever. |
Your favorite part of school is lunch and recess. Which - AWESOME! Lunch was something Daddy and I were a little worried about this year - it's loud, there's lots of kids, you have to stand in line to wait for your food. All things you kind of hate. But apparently you are having a grand old time, striking up conversations with other kids, and you're actually playing with kids during recess. It's huge. HUGE remarkable progress for you and I am delighted to see it happening.
This fall you've been part of the swim team at the YMCA, which really deserves a post all its own. It's been so fun to see your swimming improve (you are FAST!) and, even more importantly, to see you so excited about something. I love watching you jump up and down and get all flappy during practice and during swim meets because you're so excited about the upcoming event. And I love seeing you actually make friends, and want to hang out with them. Tomorrow is the last day of swim team for a couple months, and while it will be nice to have those evenings back I am really going to miss having you swim.
Daddy and you just started playing basketball at the YMCA. Daddy is the coach of your team. You LOVE basketball, and you get so so excited to play. Daddy is exhausted after practice and games - coaching a bunch of seven year olds is a bit like herding cats, I think.
You've been super busy with all your activities, but I think what you enjoy most is hanging out at home. You still love playing with trains - we've got a train track gracing the floor of the living room right now, and I don't even know how many tracks are set up in the basement. I try not to go down to look very often. You love LEGO's, and Snap Circuits, and MagnaTiles. You read a billion books a day. And I am quite sure you would play Mine Craft on your iPad all day, every day if we would allow it. You currently have to earn iPad time with good behavior, and Mine Craft has really been pretty good at encouraging good behavior. Want to argue and talk back and be rude? Guess you don't want to play Mine Craft tomorrow.
You are pretty good to your sister. She ADORES you and would love nothing more than to hang out with you all the time. You tolerate playing with her to a point, and eventually find a way to tell her to get lost. You like teaching her about space, and helping her with puzzles (amazing), and listening to music and dancing with her. You play silly silly games together. Every now and then you give her a real honest to goodness hug, and that just melts my heart.
You are still, and always will be, a bit of a quirky boy. It takes a little while to figure you out, break through and find the real Dexter, and figure out what makes you tick (and what makes you explode). But man, when you get it figured out and get a real smile out of you... It's totally worth the effort.
Happy, happy Birthday Dexter. We love you to the edge of the universe and back (and, of course, as you know the universe has no edge. So we love you forever, to infinity. Which, by the way, IS NOT A NUMBER. It's an idea. It's not a number. Can we please stop having that discussion?)
