Mom & Son Days

School was out on Friday and Monday so I took the day off and Samuel and I got to spend some fun time together.  I really do enjoy my job and the people I work with, but nothing beats spending time with my little guy.  We started the first day by going on a breakfast date to his favorite restaurant, Cracker Barrel.

I know that he likes pancakes, but really I think the main draw for this restaurant is the gift shop :)

First Field Trip: Green Meadows Farm

We continue experiencing firsts and this month was the first field trip.  I loved being a chaperon - I am definitely not meant to be a kindergarten teacher, but I love being the mom of a kindergartner and experiencing some days through their eyes.  Plus, it is always fun to watch the little guy interact with his friends.

On the hay ride

Learning how to catch a chicken - although once in there he refused to touch one!

Closest he got to holding the baby chick - I'm sad that this is so blurry

Petting a goat - clearly goats are not as scary as chickens

Milking a cow - after doing this he exclaimed, "I am NEVER doing that again!"

Riding the pony - the highlight of the trip

At the end of the tour of the farm we exited through a pumpkin patch and everyone got to pick out their own pumpkin.  That night we carved our pumpkins.  Little guy's pumpkin is the front left, my pumpkin is front right, and David's pumpkin (this one we bought at the store because David didn't go on the field trip) is in the back. 

Benefits Fair

I don't know about your company, but when Disney holds a Benefits Fair for its employees, it does so with emphasis on FAIR!  Today we not only got to learn about different benefits but we also got to play a little basketball and soccer, get our faces painted, and get balloon animals made to order!

Princess, Superhero, Tiger  - Samuel got to choose what everyone in our family would get

School Nurse

The other night as I sat down to do homework with Samuel we had the following conversation:

Samuel:  I .went to the nurse today
Me:  Why?
Samuel:  My knee hurt.
Me:  I'm sorry you hurt your knee
Samuel:  I didn't hurt my knee.  My knee hurt.
Me:  Oh, well, what did the nurse do
Samuel, somewhat annoyed:  Nothing!  She doesn't have an x-ray machine!

One of the biproducts of having a child with medical needs, he is use to being around doctors, nurses, and the medical equipment.  Silly boy assumed that if she was a nurse then certainly she would be able to give me an xray to find out what is wrong with his knee.  I would have loved to be in the nurses office when Samuel walked in and asked for an xray!

Two days later Samuel was back in the nurses office getting a bandaid for his mosquito bite.

I am happy that Samuel feels comfortable at his school and that he knows there are people there that will care for him, but I do hope he doesn't make going to the nurses office a regular habit!

Not Eating

A few days after starting the new school I received a panicked phone call from Samuel's teacher.  My heart of course almost stopped when I answered the phone and she told me who she was.  Then she said that Samuel didn't eat lunch and now that school is over she is worried about him because he must be so hungry.  She offered him some goldfish crackers and he is scarfing them down!  I took off work to go get him - I wasn't worried but I also didn't want the teacher to think I was a horrible mother because I was just going to let him wait until David normally would pick him up.
When I arrived at the school Samuel was happily sitting with his friends in the aftercare program.  He was eating his snack and laughing so I was relieved.  As we were walking out I asked him why he didn't get a lunch.  He said he just wasn't hungry.  I asked why he wasn't hungry and he responded, "I only want to eat every once in a while."

Unfortunately the cute little anecdote doesn't end there.  I told Samuel that even if he isn't hungry he needs to go ahead and buy the lunch.  He was concerned that this would be wasteful but I told him that he needs to try to eat something otherwise the teacher worries. 
I explained to the teacher that sometimes Samuel just isn't hungry and that even at home sometimes he just doesn't want to eat.  He is not starved - he is growing and gaining the appropriate amout of weight.  Sometimes he eats everything and sometimes nothing.

Well, one week after the first incident of him not buying/eating lunch, I get a phone message from the school that Samuel didn't eat even one bite of his lunch and that he was sitting with his lunch in the nurses office because they are worried about him.  Upon receiving this message (an hour after the message was left because I was in a meeting) I called the nurse.  Samuel had been allowed to return to class.  The teacher had told them to not worry about it that I said sometimes he just chooses not to eat.  Now, however, Samuel knows that the school has a nurses office....a place he will choose to visit whenever he feels he should get some medical advice (see blog post titled School Nurse).

New rule for lunch:  Samuel gets to choose whether he will eat school lunch or pack his lunch.  However, when lunch time comes, if he is not hungry, he at least needs to bite parts of his lunch so that the cute little lunch ladies will not worry about him and send him to the nurses office.

New School Uniform and a Haircut

Well a couple weeks ago we were notified that a spot opened up for Samuel for a good school close to our home.  This was great news.  Samuel wasn't too happy to start a new school after getting use to the other school, but he has quickly adjusted and we really like the school he goes to now.  He is growing so quickly and learning fast too!  Of course, his haircut made him look even more grown up.  Why is it that a haircut seems to make my baby (and perhaps all little ones) lose some of his baby.  In the past couple months he has grown so quickly adding another inch to his height!

 

Serious Pose (as serious as I could get, at least)

Silly pose

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

We got to go to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party and we had a blast.  Samuel dressed up like a fireman, and we went trick or treating through Magic Kingdom getting tons of candy.  We watched the parade twice.  Well, to be truthful, David and I watched the parade twice, Samuel was asleep right before the second parade time.  The parade was great and I have lots of video - I will upload the video to YouTube and then put those in a separate blog post.  I really don't know how well the video turned out, but we really did enjoy the parade.   

 



 

Here are a few more pictures of Samuel modelling his wonderful firefighter costume.  The boy loves to dress up and so he really loved putting on his costume and having me take pictures.  However, he had just gotten a haircut and asked for it to be spikey so he did not want to put on the hat because he didn't want to mess up the hair.

 

Silly face fireman

Serious

I love this face - he is such a great kid!

Oh so cool!

Taking a break from the hard work

Have no fear, he will protect you!

Busch Gardens

We still love going to Busch Gardens, but we like it best when it isn't terribly hot.  We also like it after the summer crowds have left.  We went a couple weeks ago and had a great time - Samuel pretended to be our tour driver :)

 

Building at Lowes

I just really love the workshops that Lowes and Home Depot have for little builders.