New Years 2010

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photos, Aug. - Nov.

first day of school

Boba Fett

With cousins Katie and Aidan

dolphin cruise in Orange Beach

cousin Katie

cousin Aidan

at the zoo

It's been a while

Life around here seems to move at the speed of light. Bo and Ryan started school in August and it has been just one event after another. I can't believe we are a week away from Thanksgiving break. It's definitely very needed. Ryan works about 18 hours a day, with 72 5th graders to teach and multiple administrators to keep happy. Being a first year teacher is hell fore anyone but being a first year teacher at his school has its own flavor of hell. Bo is learning so much in Kindergarten. We have some problems behaviorally but educationally he is progressing quite well. If we could tie large bricks to his feet when he arrives at school each morning it might keep him seated long enough to stay out of trouble. He is an energetic, extroverted, and curious kid who is a bit more than his teacher can handle at times (after observing his class I am not concerned about Bo, it's her first year and she has a hard time keeping all the kids engaged). We are in a special reading program at school and he is doing well, even reading words now on his own! He has many friends and has assimilated quite nicely into his new American life. His favorite things are currently Spiderman and Star Wars. Most days he comes home from school and changes right into a costume, with Spiderman being his favorite. We took a weekend trip over to Orange Beach, Alabama in September and we are planning a Disney trip the week of Christmas. Ryan is getting his wisdom teeth removed Thanksgiving week so we'll be here in town and will probably hit up the LSU - Arkansas tailgating. Bo went to his first LSU football game a few weeks ago v. Tulane. He enjoys going to tailgates and throwing a football with the other boys. Friday the 13th of Nov. was a crazy day as I finally had Bo's 7 teeth removed. We delayed it as long as we could but it was starting to hurt him so we had the procedure performed. Bo was a trooper and I survived a few diabetes related mini-crises before and after the procedure. It's always fun sedating a kid with Type 1. We had blood sugars of 42,57,39, and 35 all in one day. The last one made me pull out the glucagon because he was still under from the sedative. Bo's diabetes control has improved a lot but he's still a growing kid (4" in 8 months) so growth spurts and hormones make it fun some days. I vary from pure bliss to exhaustion throughout the day but wouldn't give it up for anything! I love that Bo and I can now have conversations about things. His vocabulary is amazing. He was progressing quite well but then Kindergarten just completely turned it up a notch. I just read through some of our earlier posts where we mentioned new words he was learning at the time. Now I don't even notice new words, I just assume he knows them all and sometimes I have to stop myself and ask him if he understands me. We spent time with Ryan's grandparents last weekend and they hadn't seen Bo since August so they were amazed at how much he knows. He started asking for a sibling recently (a sister) so Ryan and I are researching where to go next. You can tell when we go out in public that he loves playing with other kids and he almost stalks the girls who live across the street, trying to find opportunities to play with them. You can have a lot of toys but nothing is quite like having somebody else to play with. Bo is begging me to take him to the playground so I need to wrap it up. I will add a bunch of photos. Take care!

End of Summer

Hi All,

This is way overdue but the summer has flown by and life here is crazy. Ryan started teaching last Friday (4th grade) and Bo has been through all of his assessments and will be attending Kindergarten at the same school starting Thursday. Transitions like this are never easy but they are particularly difficult when the to-be Kindergartener still has a low English vocabulary and he is diabetic. Luckily Dad will be in the building should any issues arise.

Bo had his Preschool graduation from LSUCCC last week. It was really cute and we are sad to see all of his Koala buddies head off to different schools. Hopefully Bo will make new friends at Parkview and then he can stay there for the next 5 years (or as long as we live here in LA).

I'll try to take photos on the first day of school but here are a few recent ones for now. Also one video clip with Ms. Carolyn (preK teacher) talking about all the kids in his class

-Alison

Bo's Birthday Party

His birthday isn't until Wednesday (July 1st) but we had an awesome party yesterday, Transformers themed! Three of Bo's friends from school came and he showed them his room and his toys and then we played with water balloons and water guns. It felt very good to get wet because it was almost 100 degrees out. For his birthday Bo got a new bike which he enjoys riding around the neighborhood with us.

May/ June Update - Almost at 4 months

Graduation Day Pictures.

Summer fun: just add sprinkler!

Well, we're almost at the 4 month point and the changes in Bo and our family are incredible. In the past month Bo met his Nai Nai Marsha, Nai Nai Karen, and his great grandparents Tom and Joanne. Ryan graduated from LSU on May 15th and we had a fun time celebrating afterwards with some end of season crawfish - yum! I had two hand surgeries this past month and Bo was very sweet to me and let me carry him with one hand instead of two each time (LOL). He's growing up fast and really becoming his own little person. His English is getting so good I almost forget he doesn't understand it all sometimes. He has been speaking in broken phrases at home and finally started speaking a little at school. About a week and a half ago his teacher told Ryan that Bo had called her Ms. Carolyn for the first time. She was so excited. That was on a Thursday and by the next Tuesday when I asked about it the teachers told me that he's been calling his friends at school by name and he says "OK" and "yes/ no/ no more/ thank you" quite a bit. He acts liek he doesn't want to go to school each morning, which we attribute to general laziness and wanting to play video games all day. Once he gets to school he enters the classroom smiling and he has no issues of homesickness, etc. during the day. So we do whatever it takes to get him out the door in the morning and then all is well. He went through his "aw, man" phase a couple weeks ago where that was his response for everything we said.

Me: "Bo get dressed" Him: "aw, man"

Me: "brush your teeth:. Him: "aw, man"

and so on. Literally 30 times a day, I was pulling my teeth out to not hear any more aw mans.

Now he has switched to "good job", as in I bring him a sippy cup of milk and he says "Good job, mama". This is much sweeter than the aw, man phase and I am truly enjoying it. Such an ego boost to be complimented on every little thing you do during the day. He is also very good at his "thank you" and tonight at dinner after scarfing down two bowls of jambalaya I gave him a piece of sugar free cake and he took a bite of it then kissed me. Such a sweetheart!

Speaking of sweetheart, Bo made it through his first babysitting experience quite well. His babysitter was 12 yr old Ashley (and her mom and dad nearby). She kept him happy for 2.5 hrs and when I picked him up to go home he grabbed her arm and tried to drag her into the car. Seems he was smitten with her and wanted to take this new playmate home with him. He really is such a ladies man and at school he still plays mostly with the girls. It really makes sense when you think that most of the orphanage workers are female. Being nice to women was a survival instinct and it stuck. He's all boy in his play time but when he needs something is when he pours on the charm.

Swimming is still his favorite hobby by far and he is currently in swim classes. He swims very well under water and is trying to learn how to stay on the surface. It would probably help if he had an ounce of body fat because his skinny butt sinks so fast. We'll see if 4 more classes helps. Ryan took Bo to Blue Bayou last week and they both got season passes so I expect they will go there once a week in the afternoon. With my pump water parks are a challenge so I will probably only join them once or twice over the summer. For now, it's a boy activity and I am just fine with that.

We'll be in PA visiting the rest of the Hawkins clan July 2-8th and will definitely attend a softball game while we're there to catch up with the old gang. Hope to see some of you then!