My coworker’s daughter, Bailey, has recently become Connor’s classmate again.  Connor was very excited when I told him about her birthday party on Saturday.  He wanted to help me wrap the present and write a birthday card to Bailey, and he wanted to personally bring the present into the car as well.  When he found out that the party was at Chuck E Cheese, he was even happier, but he did say that he did not like Chuck the mouse.  We arrived the same time as Robyn and Peyton.  When we were inside, we looked around for the birthday girl.  I spotted Bailey and called her name.  She looked at me but did not give me any expression, until she looked down and saw Connor, she gave out a very happy smile.  She was glad to receive the present from Connor.  Joyce gave Connor some tokens, and he said thanks and went off to go play.  He walked around for machines and often asked me if it was ok before he put in the tokens.  He enjoyed playing with a simulated roller coaster machine; he played it again with Tyson later too.  After a round of games, we joined the party for some pizza.  Connor wanted to try the celery that I was eating, and to my surprise, he said “Yummy!”. During the meal, Chuck E came out to do his skit to celebrate with the birthday girl, Connor immediately jumped and called out to me “I don’t like him”.  He was genuinely scared with tears almost coming out.  I picked him up and walked farther away from the action.  He kept telling me “Take me away!”.  I managed to keep him calm while staying with the party but with some distance.  We could finally return to the table to eat after Chuck E left.  It was funny that when Chuck E passed by again like 5 minutes later, Connor let out “Not again!”.  But he was ok this time as Chuck E was just returning to the back.

    We returned to play in the game room to use up our tokens.  While he was playing, one of the workers there handed him a bunch of tickets.  So Connor and I cashed out his tickets and he chose a pencil and a plastic frog to take home.  We said our thanks to Bailey and Joyce, and we left the same time as Robyn and Peyton.  Connor had a great time at the party and he was happy to hold on to his toys and the party favor.  But when I was strapping in in the car, Connor suddenly said “I am sad”, then he told me that it was because daddy and Logan did not come with us.

     I was wondering if changing instructors for Logan may help with his swimming progress, so I decided to call the swim school and discovered there was an opening on Monday late afternoons.  The class was a newly added one, therefore, Logan would be the only student until the class got filled later on.  I also checked to see if there was an opening for Connor at the same timeframe, but unfortunately nothing was available. 

    So on Monday afternoon I was excited to pick Logan up from school but both Stuart and I were concerned how Logan would react.  He is always a boy that needs pre-warning.  When I arrived to his class earlier than the usual pick up time (by at least 1/2 hour), Logan did not really question and just packed up to go.  I told him our swimming lesson plan then; he immediately asked “Why?”.  To my surprise, Logan did not really react after I simply told him about the switch of days.  Since this new class starts at a later time than the last one, we had to pick up Connor too to come with us to the swim school.  Logan once again asked “Why are we picking up Connor too?” and once again he did not mind after my explanation.

    All three of us went into the changing room to get Logan changed and we waited a few minutes at the lobby before he was called.  Connor was familiar with the waiting room by now, and he was busy looking through the box of children’s books.  The instructor called for Logan and he just followed the lead into the pool area without any hesitation.  They talked a little bit, then the teacher had Logan doing different exercises.  The teacher was very new as he had to refer back to his clipboard for information.  But I was happy to see Logan receiving one on one instruction and that he seemed to be having fun.  The instructor had him try different things, and toward the end of the class, he even had Logan trying to catch him or playing tag in the water which was definitely up Logan’s alley.  Afterward, Logan told me that he likes this new teacher more than the other one.  Hope the Monday class continues to go well.

     On Superbowl Sunday, we gathered at the Gopals with the Merons too to watch the game.  Logan was happy about seeing Rohan, but he was keeping it quite low key.  Connor on the other hand had been asking to go since we told him about it yesterday.  When we arrived, Rohan and the boys did not need any warming up, and started running after each other.  Shortly later, Rohan started playing with his Wii U game, and both boys were happy to watch him.  The adults were in the other room watching the game while enjoying drinks and foods.  When the Merons arrived, Bar and Raz joined in and played with the kids.  Connor came sat with me every now and then, so I tried to tell him about football which he seemed interested in.  During the entire game, the kids came over to munch on some food and then returned to playing with each other or with the Wii games.  Connor was eyeing some cupcakes from the get-go; he certainly had his share of different desserts tonight and so did the rest of the kids.  We chatted some more after the game, we finally had to wrap up to go home as it was another late night.

  We went to a park on Saturday morning for some exercise.  We started on one side of the park and let the boys rode their bikes around the lake to the other side with playgrounds.  There was another family who seemed to have the same idea as us, and were riding nearby us.  After some good fast walking following the boys, we got to the playgrounds and they started playing.  Shortly after we arrived, we heard someone calling out “Logan” then “Colton”.  It turned out that Logan’s buddy at school was at the park.  He was hanging out with a family while his mommy’s out of town, and they were the family who just rode their bikes along side with us.  The boys immediately started playing together, and Connor was happy to play with them too.  After playing for quite a bit, it was time for lunch.  That family brought their lunch with them and so did we.  We ended up sitting side by side at the picnic tables.  I thought it was cute when Colton tried to persuade Logan to go sit with them by saying “Logan, we are eating your favorite lunch, peanut butter sandwich”.  I did ask Logan later what Colton’s favorite lunch was, and Logan said “Colton likes peanut butter jelly sandwich, but I don’t like the jelly.”  They all had a great time at the park together.

   On Chinese New Year Eve, I only had to work half a day, so Stuart and I went together for Logan’s swimming class.  This time we took Connor along to check on the environment and see if he is interested to take lessons too.  It had been awhile since I watched Logan in lessons.  He was a little bit more tolerable and putting his face in the water for longer now, but he had not advanced to float or do any strokes in the water yet.  I guess Stuart and I had to make a decision soon regarding continuing his swimming lessons.  Connor was interested and enjoyed watching all the actions at the swim school, but he seemed indifferent about taking lessons yet.

     After the lesson, we drove up to the Kaos to join them for a hotpot dinner in celebration for Chinese New Year.  The boys had been excited for a few days about visiting their house and playing with them.  They were happy to wear their Chinese outfits too.  We were welcomed by the family and with Mckayla and Marcus in their Chinese outfits too.  The four kids quickly ran around the house and played.  Ted and Michelle also got the dinner started for all of us.  The kids enjoyed some meats and vegetables, then they were excused from the table.  The rest of us could then become more relaxed and enjoyed the big feast of seafood and meats.  Mckayla came to us periodically to let us know that there would be a show for us when we finished eating.  Connor also stopped by to check on the status of the cake as he knew I had made one. 

     When we were all finished with eating, the three boys were quite hyper running around.  Mckayla had complained to us that the boys were too noisy and not listening to her.  We finally sat down for a show which was the kids all giggling and running around in front of us.  Just after a few minutes of that, the adults suggested moving on to desserts as it was getting late.  Mckayla was sad that we did not spend enough time watching the show, but she calmed down soon and joined us for the cake.  Then it was time to go home.  The boys were happy to receive belated Christmas presents from Mckayla and Marcus, and they held on to them all the way home.

     On Friday, the New Year day, we all had school and work as usual.  I taught the boys how to use “Gong Hay Fat Choy” and they were happy to shout it out to my mom and my sister during our phone calls.  The boys were happy to open all the red envelopes they received and put all the money in their piggie banks.  For school that day, Connor had an event “Small World Day”, so he could wear his traditional Chinese coat again.  He was quite pleased wearing it all day.