in with the new

School Update

This morning when we left Mason at school, he was playing with a building toy with Gabe. He asked me not to go, but smiled at Will and me as we left the classroom.

When we picked him up, Courtney and Miss Debbie were excited to report that Mas had had great leaps in social development. Courtney was happy that when we left this morning, it wasn't a teacher engaging Mason, but other kids. And she said that he played on the playground with them, instead of weatching them from the sidelines. She and Miss Debbie also said that he sang loudly during circle, and at some point told Gabe that he needed his space. Yay Mas!

Foto Friday Week 53

Onto a new year of Fotos! It's the Bath Math Edition! I left the bathroom during bathtime. When I returned, Mason was placing his foam numbers (a "new" toy that has sat in a drawer forever) on top of numbers I'd drawn with bath crayon. Smarty!

Dreams

Mason woke up screaming yesterday, "MY JUICE!". It was 5:45am. I asked him where his juice went. He told me he threw it. I explained that it was just a dream, and his juice was downstairs in the refrigerator. We both went back to sleep. When he woke up at 7am, I asked him where he was when he threw the juice. He told me in his car seat, and Daddy was driving him to the "car pwace" to see Steve. (We're having the car fixed from the accident last month.) He got sad again when he remembered the thrown juice dream.

Last week he woke up and asked me, "Are we gonna play baseball?" He dreamed that we were playing at the baseball field (a park Will takes him to). "I was hitting off my tee. You were pwaying outfield." Again, he got sad when he realized that he couldn't get back to it.

A couple of weeks ago, he woke up and proclaimed, "I want to pway basketball at Aunt Shannon's house!" I forgot that he played a lot of Little Tikes basketball in Shannon's basement when we were in NJ in August. He didn't forget. I told him that her house is far, and we couldn't play there now. I was met with a barrage of "Why"s as I tried to explain. End result, sad Mason.

Old And New Friends

We spent the weekend making new friends and spending quality time with our dear "old" friends. Saturday, Mason and I went to the City Market. I talked to one of our new "Farmer Friends" (she actually bakes, hence the quotes), Amanda, for a long time, and Mason and her daughter Emma played. He was shy at first, but warmed up when Emma wanted to try on fun hats and crab walk with him. Then they played chase, Emma was way faster than Mas! She tried to teach Mas Hide & Go Seek, and they played a two-man Duck, Duck, Goose. Emma's dad, Michael cracked Mason up playing "Boo!" through the car window. The cute kids played for at least an hour, and when it was time to go, Mas was not happy. "I want to go back to Amanda's" was repeated for about 15 minutes. We'll see them another time! New friends, yay!

After lunch, we took a trike ride around the block. A walk that should have taken 15 minutes took a couple of hours. We stopped at neighbors' houses to say hi and collected leaves to send to our people. Then when we got to RJ and Robins' house (they live around the corner from us). Robin was outside with their twins (they're 17 months old). So Mason and I hung out, talked, and played with Abby and Charlie's toys. It was so nice to be outside and to be getting to know our neighbors better!

Sunday we got to hang with Tara, Tessa and baby Kate. I'm so glad we've seen them two weeks in a row! We miss them. Mason and Tessa played at our house for a little while. They play so nicely together. They are both such sweet little people. For a while, they were in Mason's room with no parental supervision, doing puzzles. Then we packed up our lunch and headed to the Biltmore farm. We had a picnic lunch, saw, petted, talked to a bunch of farm animals, and then headed to the creamery for ice cream.

When we were up in the area by the creamery, "Santa" was sitting there (a hired man, not a crazy person) talking to kids. Mason wanted nothing to do with him. "Santa's not going to come over here?", he nervously asked. He really doesn't like people in costume. I felt bad that he was on edge, but Santa never came over and the day was as nice as could be.

Tessa snuggling in Mason's bed.

Fancy and crazy looking Biltmore chickens!

Pals. I LOVE that sweater dress. Look how much taller Tessa is. She's almost 4 months younger than Mason.

So happy.

"I Can Open Da Wock!"

Look out everyone! Mason can unlock on the back door now. He was SO proud when he realized he could do it. That is great for us lazy parents who don't like to get up to let Basher out. Mason loves that task. Now he loves it ever so much more. But that is not so great for us parents who want to keep the child INside. He can almost open the backyard gates, as well. Get your Amber alert ready.

Foto Friday Week 52

I Heart My Trike Edition! Mas has gotten so good at pedaling his trike. Steering, not so much yet. Thank goodness for the handle! It helps with steering and helping him up hills. Here he is this week and last year on it.

School Update

School was rough for Mason for the two weeks after we returned from being away for a week. Last week and the week before, he cried so hard when we dropped him off. Courtney's emails have waned. This one is from 10/27, the first Tuesday he was back after his absence. It could have been from any of the four days, he was so sad.

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Mason was upset for longer than I thought he would be.  He cried and whimpered for about 5 minutes.  He stopped when I sang songs to him.  He was cuddly for a little while after that, which I have to admit I enjoyed--but I could tell he was feeling a little bit vulnerable.  After that he was fine.  Happy Mason just as usual.  I'm really sorry for your loss.  I'm sure that is part of what was going on with Mason.  He probably knows something is going on. 
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On one of the sad days, a boy named Judah tried to comfort him with hugs. Judah acts as if he is Mason's big brother (he has a big brother, so maybe he wants a little one of his own). It's very sweet to hear that a child is trying to make Mason feel better.

This week was better. Mason still cried in the car. "I don't want to go to the Odyssey School". But each morning before that rigmarole began, he assured us, "I'm not gonna cry when you drop me off". He stayed close to me and was clingy both mornings, but distractions worked and he held to his not crying when we left. Hooray, Mason! I hope we don't have another sad regression after he is off for Thanksgiving break.

Health Adventure Class Trip!

I attended my first class trip with the Odyssey School! We went to the Health Adventure (a kids' museum). They had a class where they learned about the body, and then they were free to explore the HA for a little while. It was fun to get to talk to other parents and see Mason and the other kids interact. Trinity Lane (from Halloween) was so sweet to Mason. A couple of the boys were kind of rough with each other, but Mas stayed away from that action. And there's a very quiet girl named Yarrow who won't talk to most people, but talks to Mason. I drove Yarrow, Mason and his teacher Courtney. It was nice to get to talk to her one-on-one.

There's a Grossology exhibit there now. It proved to be a little too much for Mason. Some of the displays are scary (below) and there were some (scary) noisy things. Also, there was a section of smells, and a couple of the smells were armpit and poop. Ew... that's Grossology, I guess. We stayed in the toddler room with a few other classmates where it was quieter. They played on a little slide, with books and toys until it was time for lunch.

We all ate lunch in a big hallway. Pre-lunch hand-washing was an event! So many kids in the bathroom!

Sporty Sunday

We spent this afternoon with Tyler, Tara, Tessa and baby Kate. We played basketball and hockey at Carrier Park, and then we had lunch in West Asheville at Universal Joint. Except for the time when I shot a basket and it landed on Tessa's head, and when I almost spilled an entire cup of water on her, it was a really fun time. I miss our friends. We are spending Thanksgiving with them, and I. can't. wait.

"Sad-urday"

It was another full-schedule Saturday here. We went to the market in the morning (der). We had our last tball game. We celebrated Peyton's birthday. We (ok, Mason) cried for 40 minutes that he wanted the garage door open. Yep. FORTY. You try to repeat a phrase for 15 minutes even, without crying. Just one phrase, I dare you. I love talking and I can't do it. I am too easily distracted. Distracted, as I am from the original point of this post!

Tball was fun! They played a four inning game instead of their standard two! four innings was on the verge of too long, as Mason was daydreaming a bit at the end. He got four great hits, and fielded at least two balls. This first picture is Mason and his coach Frank Parker.

We got home from tball, changed, ate lunch, and headed over to celebrate Peyton's fourth birthday! Mason was most interested in singing Happy Birthday and eating cake. He hearts "birhay" cake so much!

We stayed at Peyton's house until it was almost dark (that happens early these days) and dinner time. Mason conceded that it was too cool and getting dark and came home willingly with me. Then the fun started. OK, the opposite of fun. We were in the garage putting his trike away and he told me he wanted to go around the block again. I told him it was too cold and dark and it was dinner time. We would go around the block tomorrow. He cried that he wanted to go around the block as I carried him up the stairs. Then I asked him if he wanted to press the button to close the garage door. He cried, "I want the garage door open". Will closed the garage. As I typed above, "I want the garage door open" was repeated amidst cries and screams for forty minutes. The last ten minutes were calmer and quieter, every so often he would tell us that he wanted the garage door open. Even at bed time, as he was falling asleep, he got one more, "I want the garage door open!" in there, plus a small cry because we forgot to bring home his red balloon from the party. Poor tired guy. It aint easy being three.