Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Monthly Newsletter #45

Dear Landon,

Generally when I start a newsletter I look back at last month’s so that I don’t repeat stuff I already said and I have kind of a cutoff from that to where I should begin this time. I don’t have that luxury today as I write this newsletter 3 days late from a network run by people who don’t want me to blog, but work. GAH!

So this month you have begun your stand up routine in earnest. You are collecting jokes. Some of them are good. (“Why do chickens sit on eggs?” “Because they don’t have chairs!” or “Why do swordfish have swords?” “Because they don’t have guns!”) Some are not. (“What did the big mountain say to the smaller mountain?” “Get a medium mountain!!” [And you replace mountain with just about any other noun and you repeat the joke incessantly.]) I love watching you develop a sense of humor.

Your school also came to its senses and evened out the classes, you are now in a class of eight kids. You have more one on one attention. They dropped the homework for the summer (THANK GOD!) and you are doing two week long units on various “extreme” places like the arctic, the rainforest, or caves. All of this is keeping you much more interested in going to school and having a good time and much less interested in figuring out a way to get out of it. I think your new teacher is also a big part of that. Although she’s a little bit stricter, she’s much more interactive, so I’m hoping that this new found enthusiasm will continue through the school year.

You went on your very first field trip ever. At first you told me you didn’t want to go. You had to be talked into going to school that day. But when I picked you up I got all kinds of details out of you that day. You knew what color your seatbelt was, what color your teacher’s seat belt was, the texture of the potato chips you ate (bumpy, or for those of us who remember “Rrrruffles have rrridges.”) You are STILL talking about the park you went to and how awesome it was and which bus you rode in. Today you are on your second field trip. They took you to the movies. They are very brave. You have never been quiet while watching TV or a movie, in fact you are the opposite of quiet when watching a movie. But I told you that if things go well today and you have fun, that we will pick another movie and go see that together.

For the fourth of July this year we went to Grandma and Grandpa Logan’s Lake house. We had fireworks two nights in a row. You do not like how loud they are, but we found ear plugs for you and you relaxed enough to enjoy them. On the second night after a full day of playing in the lake and running around with no nap – you fell asleep less than 40 feet from where fireworks were being set off. You have to be seriously tired to fall asleep while fireworks are going off that close to you.

You have also developed a habit of taking my camera from me. You actually take some interesting pictures. Much better than the ones you took of Shane and Elizabeth’s wedding. In fact I’m thinking of getting you your own camera. Or better yet, giving you mine and getting me a better one – I haven’t done it yet, because the rational person in me can’t reconcile the fact that you would then as a 3 year old be in possession of a $150 camera (granted, it’s not worth $150 now, but it was when I bought it.)

There’s not a lot to work on this month. Partially because you’re in my favorite age right now, and partially because I’m letting a lot of stuff slide due to my being overwhelmed with work. So keep up the good stuff, and know that the stuff I’m letting you slide on will probably come back to bite you in the butt one day.

Love,
Mama