I went to attend Connor’s second conference after work today.  I did not expect to get too much information from this conference, so I did not recruit Stuart to come with me.  The teacher greeted me and started reading off the report card information to me line by line.  Connor basically met “development appropriate” on every item on the form.  I did have a chance to ask her more questions about how he listens to the teachers and he interacts with other classmates.  The teacher reported that Connor listens to them quite well, in English and in Spanish (some simple terms).  He follows the classroom rules and plays nicely with his friends.  Previously when Connor did not want to do something, like diaper change, he would just say no and run away.  Now he still says no initially, but when the teacher tries to convince him, he will walk back toward them and says “Okay”.  For awhile when he first came to this school, he did not always participate in the singing or dancing.  Now he does and he really likes group activities.  But when he does not like the song, he will try to use his limited words to ask the teacher to change it.  He also likes to help out the teachers, and he sometimes reminds them of things too.  He is often the one who helps bringing a tissue box to go out to the playground during their outside play.  She also shared that on the days when Connor brings him books from home, he will always bring them out around 4pm (after majority of the kids left) to ask the teacher to read to him.  Lastly we briefly discussed his upcoming potty training plan.

    It was a sunny warm day today.  I discovered a park/trail from a yelp search yesterday which was less than 10 minutes from home.  So we decided to go for a short hike, and the boys were excited with the idea.  Logan also asked if we were going with Mckayla; it was nice that he brings up his friends on his own sometimes.  When we arrived at the entrance in just 8 minutes, we found ourselves in a beautiful and quiet wooded entrance to the park.  There were flat and steep trails, so we picked a flat one to walk on.  Logan enjoyed walking, and was taking the lead at times.  He did get a little huffy when we decided to make a U-turn back on one trail as he felt like he was suddenly left behind.  Connor walked some on his own, probably half of the way, but mostly preferred being carried.  We were nicely surprised when the trail ended at a local small playground.  The boys enjoyed the change in activity; they had fun playing at the structure for a little bit and had a snack.  On the way back, we saw a woodpecker pecking away on a tree; we all loved this little fun moment.  We completed 1.16 miles (according to my phone GPS) and it was a fun outing.

   We then rushed home to have lunch as I had a planned outing with Robyn at 2pm.  After we ate, I was tired so I decided to lay down with Connor to get a power rest.  I then left the napping Connor with Logan and Stuart and drove to the Los Gatos Creek trail to meet up with Robyn.  I signed up for this Nike 10K run/walk since Robyn was willing to walk with me instead of her usual running.  We walked in a good pace and we talked the entire time.  The trail was beautiful and we basically walked past three different parks.  Toward the end my hip/legs started getting tired, but it did not feel long at all when we completed a 6.6 miles in two hours.  I was happy with our long chat and a great exercise.  I went straight home after saying bye to Robyn.  The boys were enjoying the sunshine in the front yard.  Logan and Connor were having fun playing with a long cord; they told me that they were working on a project. 

   The rest of the evening, my legs were so sore.  It is nice to finally put my legs up after the kids went to sleep.

   March is the month of nutrition, so the Farmers Market at the hospital has a few added activities this month.  Last Friday, Kathy, Robyn and I took a walk there and put our names down for a drawing.  I got a call yesterday that I won the drawing and would receive a bag of produce.  I was so excited about winning, and it made my day.  Robyn and I went down today to pick up my award which was made up of tomatoes, broccoli, onions, potatoes, carrots, green onions and cilantro.  When I spread out the produces to show the boys, Logan actually got excited at the sight of the long carrots.  I peeled one for him, then of course Connor wanted one too.  They both kept chewing on the carrots like rabbits do.  Logan even came back for a second long carrot. 

    While Robyn and I were at the market this morning, we also participated in a quick safety quiz at a booth and I received a little squishy carrot toy.  The boys were in love with it when they saw it tonight.  Logan even went to sleep with it too.  We all were winners today!

     Connor is very fond of his stuffed animals lately, especially two of his bears and a doggie.  He takes Teddy to school each day, and he makes sure Teddy goes to sleep with him at night.  Even in the dark at bedtime, Connor manages to sort through all of his stuffed animals (9-10 of them) in his bed to ensure that Teddy is present.  When we go see him in the morning, Connor will be hugging 2-3 of his stuffed animals and waiting for us to take him out of bed.  A couple of days ago when Stuart was picking him up after school, Connor suddenly went over and pointed at his box of bedding.  The teacher just told Connor that it was not the end of the week and therefore he did not need to take it.  Stuart did not pay attention to their conversation until Connor came back to him sobbing.  They said goodbye to the teacher and left the room.  But Connor continued to look very sad and sobbed even more.  Stuart asked him more questions and it turned out that Connor had left Teddy in the box of bedding.  He was finally happy again when they went back to retrieve him.

    Connor is talking a lot now but his pronunciation on some words is still not very good.  When we ask him how his day is or how he likes something, he always answers “good” but he can’t say the G sound very well.  Yesterday when I tried to have him repeat the g sound.  Logan tried to help and asked Connor “Can you say George?  Can you say George Washington?”.  Connor immediately answered “George Wash My Hand”.  He was so proud with his quick response.

    The little ritual the boys and I have every morning consists of us cuddling together for 15 minutes to watch TV before I get up to make breakfast and to pack lunches.  This morning was no exception.  I enjoyed hugging both of them until one of them tried to fight for my lap to sit on and the other immediately tried to do the same.  The struggle ended with a head bump, Connor’s chin bumped into Logan’s forehead.  I immediately rubbed Logan’s forehead as he is usually the dramatic or sensitive one.  Logan then said that he was still hurting and he would prefer an ice pack.  When I turned back to Connor who was fine initially, but suddenly his eyes started filling up with tears.  His sad look totally got me; and he used his slightly shaken voice to tell me that he was hurt and he wanted an ice pack too.  They both became so happy with the ice packs, and they both placed it on sides of their heads that were no where near their the actual location of the head bump. 

   Logan’s second report card arrived.  At this school, we don’t have any parent-teacher conferences, so this is the only scheduled report of Logan’s progress.  This report card showed improvement compared to the the first one in the fall.  Logan received more "A = all the time” than “M = most of the time” especially in the “Numbers” and “Phonics” categories.  He is learning how to blend two-vowel words now, so he did receive a “WG = with guidance” on that.  Logan also improved in other categories, “hopping” and “thinking independently”.

     After a long break due to the cold weather, Logan’s soccer practice finally resumed today.  We arrived early as usual so the boys could play at the playground and had a snack before the practice began.  Today was probably the best turn out for the practice, over 10 kids.  Logan started out the same as usual, a little clingy and wanted one of us to go start with him.  He was not serious with warm up, but when the drills started, he followed the coach’s instruction quite well.  He seemed happy to participate, and his aims & kicks were fine too.  Connor was excited to start the practice; he was happy when the coach gave him a name tag to participate.  He lined up with his soccer ball along with everyone; however when the warm up started, he just placed his hands in the pockets, not participating.  But then with the first drill, red & green lights, Connor was engaged.  He was very diligent, slowly dribbling his ball whenever green light was called.  He made it all the way and made the goal at the end.  After this run, Connor however was done.  Once Connor makes up his mind, it is not easy to change it.  Connor just wanted to sit on the mat to watch the rest of the practice. 

    After the practice, we had a picnic with the other families.  It was nice to catch up with the others while the kids went back and forth to play at the structures.  We ended up staying at the park for a long time; we finally had to say goodbye to take Connor home for a late nap.