Reid, 5 years +2 months

We've spent most our Christmas Eve out delivering goodies to Church friends. This evening we opened the family gift exchanges, but I'll write more about all this holiday stuff tomorrow. Today, I want to focus on my sweet little boy growing an other month older.

He's been busy building castles, cities, and obstacle courses at wiggles and giggles. He is easily the oldest child there, but still plays well with other kids.

Rick took him to the Lowe's Build and Grow program the weekend he was in Illinois. I'd signed him up for it here in Oshkosh, and Grandpa was kind enough to take him in Illinois when plans changed. He was pretty proud and kept giving me all the details when he got home.

photo

For whatever reason he was a little scared of Santa when we went to see him last week. But I'll write more on that later.

He had his first school program yesterday. He did much better than any of his Church programs. I don't know if it's because the program was suited just for his age or if (daily) school is just more his element than (weekly) Church. Either way, we were pretty impressed with all the songs (they did six or seven total) and the seriousness with which Reid had throughout the whole performance. Between each song two kids would tell us what was on their Christmas list. Even though I only know these 13 kids through Reid's stories, it was so fun to hear each of their little desires. Everything from a dog to a matchbox car. The most common item was a Hot Wheel (or was it Matchbox?) Car Garage (at least three kids (one girl) wanted it). 

Reid had a couple friends come up to him and ask for photos afterward but when I whipped out my camera he acted upset and quickly turned away. He was sweet enough to let me take a couple shots with Nell, who had to dress "fancy" just like him. Speaking of dressing fancy, here's how that conversation went:

Reid: Mrs Bohnert told us to wear fancy clothes.

Me: She did? Okay, we'll put on your Church clothes.

Reid: I don't want to wear my Church clothes to school. 

Me: Why not?

Reid: What if they laugh at me?

Me: Did Mrs Bohnert tell everyone to wear their fanciest clothes.

Reid: Yes

Me: Okay, well what are your fanciest clothes.

Reid: (this time, determined to wear them) My Church clothes!

Ideas really have to be their own. 

At the end of the program he gave us this sweet homemade ornament. I will cherish it forever! I am so grateful his teacher took the time to make it with all the kids. 

Here are some videos from the program. My phone always takes a couple seconds to start recording, even after I hit the button. I wish I would have remembered that and began recording for a few seconds before each song started. Basically, I'm missing the first line of each song. We didn't record all of them. Some were just too nosiy, like when they each had their own instrument to bang/jingle/shake/etc. His was the drum and he kept quite a steady beat and serious face. 

Also, don't mind the wobbly-ness of the videos. I wasn't really watching the screen, as I wanted to make sure I made eye contact with Reid whenever he glanced our way. 

My favorite part of the whole afternoon was just watching him in his own environment. He really treated us like special guests, but also made sure he had my permission to take seconds on the cookies. He was really sweet to make sure Nell felt welcomed. He was also one of the first kids ready to go home, but I talked him into staying the whole afternoon. The teacher in me felt a little guilty about that (most the kids went home with their parents), but I needed my one hour break where both the girls sleep and Reid's at school. About a third of the kids stayed, and he said they watched Rudolph. As I was leaving he was helping clean up, and I just couldn't help but think about how much I love my little helper.