I'm Right, You're Wrong

Jammy day at school (Oct '10)

Hailey has always been confident and sure of herself. She's sure she can do anything she sets out to do. Her first words were "me do it" or "Hailey do it" or something like that (I'd have to go back and look :)). These were later followed by "I want to do it" and "I'll do it by myself". All of these were followed by tears if in fact she could not do it by herself. It continues today.

Yesterday however we branched off into a slightly different version. It's definitely not my favorite, though I probably shouldn't be surprised by it. She was playing her leapster game and at one part the women's voice on the leapster says, "phenomenal". So she says...

H: mom, I did Bonominal. What's Bonominal?
Me: The word is actually Phenomenal and it means you did an outstanding job.
H: No mom, she said Bonominal. I'm right, you're wrong.

Outside of being perturbed that she talked to me like that, I had no way of convincing her that infact I WAS right without myself saying or at least implying no, I'm right, you're wrong. So I bit my tongue.

Can't wait to see all the places and times she throws that one out. Yikes.

A little Reading

Sight/Heart Words

At Tyler's teacher conference a few weeks back and we were given the list of sight/heart words they are supposed to know this year. These are the words they are just supposed to know by sight without having to sound them out. It was a bit of a project cutting them all out and putting them on flash cards.

By the end we had quite a stack. Some are duplicates so they get used to seeing the word starting with a capital and a lower case but there is still a good number of words. We have some different games we can play to help Tyler learn and reinforce the words. Tyler really has come a long way since the beginning of the year and I'm very proud of him. But we still have plenty of work to do. It is however fun to watch his confidence grow.

Hailey, the whiz, looked at the stack as I was putting it together. She flipped through and said every single word without hesitation (no sounding out at all). Fortunately, Tyler wasn't watching at the time. I'm not sure how we are going to keep her challenged in reading when she gets to Kindergarten.

Homework

Playing

Tyler at 6

Another year older...it's hard to believe. People have been telling me lately that Tyler looks different, more grown up. It's hard to see when I spend my everyday with him and it doesn't even really show up in my age 5 to age 6 comparison but I know he had changed. He's looking more grown up and acting more grown up.

Age 6

Age 5

Stats:
Age 6: (home stats...no doctor this year (wahoo))
weight: 45.6 lb
height: 46.25 in

Age 5:
weight: 40.2 lb
height: 43 in.

Tyler is much the same boy as last year in many respects. He still loves to snuggle, still loves soft snuggly things, still calls me up to his room for snuggles every morning. He still wants to be carried down stairs to start his day. He still loves his blanket and teddy bear more than anything. Deep down he is still a sweet sweet boy that loves his family, loves happy things, and loves just hanging out at home. But of course there are many changes as well. Tyler is far more independent. He is more able at playing independently (as long as Dave and I are in the room) though his favorite is playing with Hailey. He is fine being with his friends socially and has no problem with me leaving or hanging back. I see the "boy" in him coming out as he makes new friends and finds his way in world of "Kindergarten". He still tests the boundaries and I'm sure like every kid he always will. But thankfully he's still my boy, still a rule follower for the most part, and constantly growing and changing.

Tyler is making big strides in reading. He is starting to learn his sight/heart words and is able to ready some short beginner reader books now. I can't wait for him to learn how to read. He loves being read to so much and I'm sure that will never change. But I know he is going to love reading novels. He just loves stories. Of course when you can sit through your dad reading Harry Potter, it's hard to spend 15 minutes working hard to read "Pat is a cat". It's not nearly as interesting to him. It's easy to see when his heart and mind aren't into his reading and he gets absorbed in the pictures again. Tyler has a broad and vast vocabulary. Sometimes he really makes me smile at the complicated sentences and "grown up" words he uses. He still loves to write and I find him trying to write new words, sounding them out. Tyler loves to draw as much now as ever. When he is motivated he does amazing things. He doesn't draw daily but when inspiration strikes he will site down and work hard on his project.

Legos are still his life and are a part of his everyday. He LOVES kits and can work through the directions of even a very complicated kit all by himself. He also loves making his own creations with loose legos. He gets inspired by something he sees or a lego kit he sees and he makes his own version. He is very creative and very intricate in his designs. His biggest love of all is the lego minifigures.

Outdoors Tyler still loves to run, bike, hit baseballs, hit golf balls, and play tennis. He is an excellent swimmer. He played indoor soccer last spring and outdoor soccer this fall. Tyler is going to try a basketball clinic this winter which is a little different than the YMCA basketball we did last spring. And though Dave is heading up all baseball stuff, I believe Tyler will be doing Tball this spring (he could easily do without the Tee though).

Right now he is interested in Knights, Castles, Bugs, Sea Creatures, Lego videos on the computer, Harry Potter books, Dad's stories, art projects, finding books at the library, ninjas, pirates....just to name a few things.

A list of favorites....I'm asking him this very second and he is six and the answer might be different 5 minutes from now.

Color: black

Movie: Astro Boy (only seen this once)

TV show: Penguins, Electric Company, Word Girl, Miss Spider

Food: Cheese burgers, shrimp

Thing to do: Legos, park

Song: Soul Sister

Person to play with: Mom

Want to go to: Disneyland

Wants to learn: how to build awesomer legos (straight out of his mouth)

Pants: soft pants or dark colored jeans

Tyler's really happy face....one of my favorites

Family Birthday Party

Later on in the day on Saturday (Ty's birthday) we had family over for another birthday. This time around we opted for cake instead of cupcakes and after one homemade failure, I thought Safeway did a great job on the shield.

Tyler opened even more presents The cousins gathered around.

I even got a cute picture of Hailey and Elise.

He ended up with all these kits to add to his collection. He was also very excited to get some big lego boards for building. He has one smaller board that he uses a lot. Outside of legos he got a game (which Hailey and I have been playing while Tyler is engrossed in his kit building) and a rock tumbler/polisher which I know Tyler is going to love.

And ever since Saturday he's been building. We've had to limit him to one kit a day to stretch the joy out a bit. Though he really just wants to sit down and do them all in one sitting.

Tyler's "friends" birthday party

Tyler anxiously awaited the start of his birthday party. He really wanted to build his new lego kit but we had decided before hand that there was enough excitement in the day that it would best to save the kits for later in the week (at least that would give me more peace :)). So while I vacuumed and set out all the food, Tyler looked through his books.

Once all the boys arrived we started the party by creating shields and picking out swords. There were pens and stickers for the kids to decorate their shield. Everyone seemed to enjoy personalizing their shield. Most kids made pictures with shapes stickers or some sort of symbol with pens. Tyler drew two knights and one of them was bleeding....that's my boy.

Ready for battle

The treasure hunt was intermixed with jousting and castle cannon balls. There's a lot of commotion when you have 10 kids running to find clues and treasures all while holding shields, swords, and goodie bags.

Before the jousting tournament, we had some practice time.

Then each child battled King David...or in this case it looks like a group effort.

The kids also enjoyed the cannon ball throwing.

After all the hunting, and jousting, and cannon ball throwing, they were ready for a snack and cupcakes.

The birthday party gang.

The birthday boy and his daddy.

After cupcakes we did Tyler's favorite part....presents. He was so happy with all his gifts. He got a pillow pet (which was a big hit), games, legos, etc. One happy 6 year old.

The party ended up working out great. The activities lasted about an hour and 45 minutes which left them about 15 to 20 minutes to just play around until parents started arriving for pick up. All the boys got along great. Whew! One successful party down.