It's difficult to get information from Aden on how his days go because he has forgotten the entire day by the time I pick him up. I know, how is that possible, right? But every single day he cannot recall a single moment. If I press him, I can usually get bits and pieces. And if I press him too hard, he begins to make stuff up just so I'll stop asking.

So it was a bit of a surprise on Monday when he offered, "I was the leader today at school."

I said, "You were? What does it mean to be the leader?" He began telling me all about it, how he gets to lead the pledge, sit at the front of the group and announce the day of the week, month, date, weather, etc. and got to squirt the soap in everyone's hands when they washed their hands. So much fun for a 5 year old!

Today, in an effort to keep the conversation flowing, I asked, "So who got to be the leader today?" He tells me the name and so I ask, "Oh really? How did he do?

(Big sigh)... "Not very good."

I asked what he meant and as serious as can be he said, "Well, he kept crying the whole time and leaders don't cry." I started laughing and he said, "What are you laughing about? I didn't tell a joke." I told him he's just cute.



I don't even know how to begin to catch up. We've been staying busy lately with Aden in Kindergarten and Taekwondo. His first day was great, Adam and I went in late and both walked Aden to class. First to the cafeteria to show him how to get through the line for breakfast, and then to Mrs. Dandridge's class. After day one, he was so excited about "big" school and loved his teacher... but couldn't remember a single story to tell us. We had to pry it out of him, which is pretty much how preschool went too.

After the first day, we had some hiccups with the cafeteria. First, Aden was adamant that he take his lunch - not buy it. I thought he wanted something special and he couldn't tell me what, so I took him to the grocery store to pick out what he wanted to eat for lunch. After circling for a bit, he grabbed some oreos and announced he was done shopping. It was later in the week that I finally put the whole story together - the cafeteria line was too long and by the time he got his food, the kids who brought their lunch were done eating, and he barely had time to finish.

Once we got through that issue, I discovered that he was getting to the school too late to get through the cafeteria line and get breakfast, then eat it. So now he packs a snack, a lunch AND a breakfast. Rest assured that any money we saved in daycare is certainly going towards individually wrapped food items. I'm only just now getting the swing of this.

Beyond food issues, he's having a great time. One little boy told Aden on day 1 that they were best friends, which made Aden's whole year. That's apparently all he needs, as he's decided not to make any other friends. I keep telling him that it's perfectly fine to have more than one friend but it falls on deaf ears. I worry about the fickleness of youth relationships and how hurt he'll be when the one friend decides to pick someone else to hang out with for a while.

Shortly after starting school, Aden lost his first tooth.

Taekwondo has kept us busy also. Aden has been learning so much. A couple of weekends ago, he participated in a demo on a large stage...

Ethan has been having some firsts as well. He started a new class, and had to say goodbye to our beloved Mrs. Oana. We all loved her a lot, but he had to move out of her room at some point. He has Miss Kameka now and while she's as sweet as can be, I don't think she has quite the patience and understanding for children like Ethan. Or maybe just for Ethan. Apparently the teachers whisper to each other that he's "a handful." Well, what can I say about that? He is.

One big change is that he now sits on the potty each day for practice. So far no action, but he's pretty excited about the naked sitting anyway. It's new. He is also talking like crazy. I can't believe how much he communicates. He speaks in whole sentences and really knows how to get his point across. His teachers always say they are very impressed by how well he speaks.

Ethan has a wonderful imagination. Aden never really got into imaginative play, he's always been a logical thinker (see tooth fairy thoughts), but Ethan loves to imagine and pretend. Just today, he created a whole game with Lola about the bears that were around the side of the car (you're safe as long as you get in the car). I love to see his imagination grow.