Big Giant Man Boy

My boy is soooooo big =O! Decided to start calling him "big giant man boy" today instead of my usual "baby baby".

We were reminiscing how he was such a serious baby and didn't smile AT ALL til he was a month old. Prior to that he wore the zoolander look with super serious eyes, looking very concerned lol.

Now he's a clown, cracking jokes at every chance he gets!!

I looooove my cutie boy

Reflections of a Beautiful Walk

Thankful AJ got me outside this past Sunday morning. I wanted to stay cozy inside the house, but he wanted to go out and ride his bike.

I step outside and it's warm and sunny... flowers a bloom, peaceful stillness, and the animals singing. My beautiful boy takes his bike out for the first time since a long winter. Within minutes of being outside, I am connected on a higher level and enjoying a serene moment.

He walks it down the slightest hills with caution and has trouble with the regular peddling.

After a few minutes, he's speeding along just fine. He pauses to pick a dandelion puff and make a wish.

He's stopped on a hill and its tougher to get started now than it would have been just to keep keepin' on... is he now stuck?

He

gets off the bike and walks it up the hill; slowly but surely he climbs beyond the challenge.

How I treasure this beautiful boy and the amazing truth found in these simple moments.

Like no other, he can make my heart sing with ecstasy.

Loving the Rainy Days Too

On days like these, AJ gets to pull out his froggy rain boots! What could be better than splashing in a rain puddle with the coolest boots ever?



This season marks the third pair of these boots, originally purchased by Grandma Cheryl (thanks Gramma!) The other two were completely worn out :).

...You can obviously see why!

To lots of fun - even on rainy days! :)

Kindergarten (or Pre-Kindergarten) Worksheets - Perfect for the School Break!

Last summer I made some worksheets to keep AJ fresh by practicing his ABC's, numbers, and writing at my "Mommy School". Christmas break is the perfect time to whip them out!

Winter Break Plan:
He will be doing about one packet every day (he'll get a few days off here and there when we focus on other learning). I find if he doesn't practice, he quickly forgets and starts writing certain letters or numbers backwards.

You can download the Kindergarten Worksheets PDF for free by clicking here. Go ahead and print several copies to have them ready and save you time.

This packet includes 5 Pages:
1 - Write Your Capital Letters (they can trace on the gray letters and write on the lines next to them)
2 - Write Your Lower Case Letters
3 - Write Your Numbers (1-20)
4 - Spell the Colors (fill in each box with a color scribble and have them learn how to spell them)
5 - Blank Lines (I usually write three words on this sheet and have AJ copy the word on the line below each of the words I've written)

A Well-Rounded Approach:
In addition to those worksheets, we have some other activities planned to help AJ grow in all areas. Here is the daily template I came up with during summer school:

Ayin’s Learning and Development Program :: Daily Set Up ::

(For use Monday - Thursday. Fridays are field trips.)

· Sing a Song

· Exercising, Dancing, and/or Stretching

· Word of the Day

· Writing (The PDF Packet above, coloring, and/or drawing)

· Read a Book Together

· Creative Project

Ideas for Projects:

· Creative Projects (ex: recycled materials, making paper)

· Playing at the Park

· Electives

· Photography

· Music

· Exercise Types

· Art

Please share with other parents who may be interested with kids ages of 4, 5, or 6.

Let me know if you have feedback! Would love to see what you do with your little one! :)

An Unforgettable Experience with Real Magic

Here’s an incredible true tale of a magic experience I’ll never forget. While in Las Vegas celebrating my 30^th birthday, AJ (like a typical 5 year old) had one goal in mind: Circus Circus! He remembered the carnival games, circus acts, and arcade prizes from our last trip. Hard to top in AJ’s world, but it was blown away by his first real Vegas show (and mine too): Steve Wyrick’s Real Magic.

One of the professional pics we got taken as we walked into the show.

Housed in the Miracle Mile shops in Planet Hollywood, we had a blast before even getting inside. We had fun walking the beautiful mall with yummy goodies such as Godiva, my favorite. When we checked in to get our tickets, Jet talked to the cashier and mentioned it was my birthday. She surprised us with upgrading our tickets to the fifth row dead center! She was very sweet.

AJ reading the map very seriously as we walked the mall.

Just the day before AJ got a magic wand and his first magic trick at the Houdini shop in Caesar’s Palace. His dad being a natural magician since he was very young, showed him the tricks and taught him the basics of magic. AJ couldn’t get enough and was very excited about the magic show. He made sure to bring his wand. Well actually, he brought that wand everywhere during the whole trip.

Waiting for the show to start - AJ and daddy, very excited.

On our way there, AJ had told us that there would be popcorn at the show. I disagreed and told him, “honey that is at shows like the movies. I don’t think they have that there.” He was certain and said confidently, “yah there is mom. God said.” To my amazement this boy was right! This wasn’t the first time he’s done that.

There's the popcorn. Our other professional shot as we walked in.

The show was amazing. Steve Wyrick is like a big kid with a very big budget. His personality is great and his show is a lot of fun. I had just as much of a good time with his comedy and natural ability to work with the audience as I did watching his incredible magic tricks. He made a huge jet appear out of nowhere, a motorcycle disappear, and had lots of other fun illusions and magic tricks.

The flyer for the show.

On one part of the show, he appeared in the seat right in front of where AJ was seated. As he stood up, he saw AJ’s magic wand and took it. He asked AJ about it and AJ said it was just pretend. So Steve put some real magic in it that will stay there forever and handed it back to AJ. J

Later in the show, he asked for a young helper. He wanted someone with a brown shirt and a magic wand. AJ was pretty much the only person in the audience who didn’t know he was asking for him! We helped enlighten him and told him to that Steve was asking for him!

AJ bravely went up on the stage – all by himself. No wasting time to look back for mom and dad’s help, he was ready. He sat next to Steve on a boat that was part of the set.

Throughout the show, Steve talked about how he got into magic at a young age and how he grew with it. By pulling up a youngster on stage, he was sharing what changed his life – very up close and personal for one lucky kid each show. It was moving in many ways. In this part, Steve recalled his memories of fishing with his dad.

He asked AJ some questions about his trip while sitting on a boat with the fishing line out. AJ answered well in front of the whole audience on stage with the famous magician. I can’t imagine how he felt in that moment, but he was great.

“So have you lost money here?” he asked.

“Yeah,” AJ responded.

“What have you been doing?” he questioned.

“Playing at home,” AJ said.

“Where’s home? Where have you been staying?”

“At the Sahara.”

They went back and forth for several minutes. It was adorable.

They chatted while holding the fishing pole over the stage. Steve reeled it in to check the bait. He baited the hook with a worm. He took a bite of one of the worms and told AJ to do the same. Without a pause, he did. I’m pretty sure he knew they were gummy worms. They chewed them up and then he told AJ to spit it out. I believe he thought AJ wouldn’t want to spit out candy, but AJ did… right into his hand. Steve surprisingly dumped it out of his hand and wiped his hand off on AJ’s shirt. Yuck!

They got a bite after a bit and reeled in the line to see what kind of fish it was. It was a shoe. They unhooked it and then Steve asked AJ to wring it out. He did several times and each time a loud sound effect was played that echoed in the whole theater – and surprised AJ.

Then he asked AJ for water bottle next to him. AJ handed him the glass that was there. So he sarcastically asked AJ for the glass and AJ handed him the water bottle. It was really funny. He poured the water in the glass, did his thing, and made a goldfish appear in the glass!

AJ was amazed. Steve then told AJ to talk with the goldfish. He did and each time a beautiful woman would stand up behind him and respond like she was the goldfish. Before long, they showed AJ their “trick” and showed him that the goldfish wasn’t really talking.

He asked AJ which he'd like to take home: the goldfish or the beautiful girl. AJ excitingly said, “the goldfish!” without a pause. He carried the fish in the glass back to our seat – without spilling, thank God!

AJ had a lot of fun up there and did a great job. I was nervous and did not want to get called up on the stage myself – it was a very intimidating environment – but when AJ was up there, he was a natural. He was unbelievable!

Throughout the show, Steve would check in on AJ. He asked how the fish was doing. He later told AJ to come up and get some fish food for when the fish got hungry. He handed AJ a HUGE (and heavy) fish food bag – as big as AJ! AJ carried it back strongly and handed it to us.

At the end of the show, Steve threw AJ the hat that he wore when he was young in the story. He also gave AJ a lifetime pass to come see Steve’s show for free anytime he wanted!

Happy boy showing off his magic fish and lucky hat.

We stayed after and got his autograph on the hat and some cool pictures that we got from the show. It was an experience we’ll never forget!

Steve Wyrick Memorabilia.

AJ got a lot of attention afterwards and was famous for the evening. People fell in love with his adorable being.

We later playfully asked him why he chose the fish instead of the girl and he said, “ I didn’t want the girl because I really want the gold fish!” The amazing thing is that the night before in our hotel room he told us that he either wants a goldfish or a horse. We agreed goldfish to start. I don’t think a horse would fit in our apartment… and within 24 hours this boy had a magic goldfish with a grand entrance!

What an experience it was going to buy fish food (the large bag was just a prop) and a container at midnight after the show, walking around the next day with a goldfish in our hands after checking out of our room (oh the stares we got), and then driving home five hours with this goldfish. It definitely was a magic fish to make it all that way home through all of that.

Update: Icey K, the magic goldfish, is now living happily in our home with two new buddies, Ang the white gold fish and Jet the sucker fish. All names were hand selected by AJ. The fish call a 1.2 gallon tank home and enjoy daily visits from the up and coming pro-magician. AJ performs “magicals” on them often.

The happy fish tank with the magic fish and his buddies.

Tee-Ball Time!

AJ had his first tee-ball practice this week! It was so adorable! I always love watching little kids sports, but it was even more fun seeing my own little cutie out there.

It is a six week class put on by the city parks program. Long Beach has one of the best park programs in the nation. The teachers are great - they are natural with kids and make it a really fun class. It's an intro class for ages 3-5... It was the only one that I could fit in our schedule this season and I really wanted to get AJ started in some kind of sports activity.

The first class had big lessons such as "this is 1st base" and "here's how you throw a ball"... etc. It was so adorable to see these little kids try it out for the first time.

AJ hit the ball perfectly and made it all the way to the home plate. Then he played the pitcher position (although there's no pitching in tee-ball) and was great at getting the ball... perhaps a little too great :).

His big lessons of the day were: let others get the ball too, cover your position rather than running around the whole field chasing the ball, and to pay attention while the teachers are teaching!

Here are some pics:

Learning the basics

Made it to first base!


Check out the pitcher

Looking forward to watching some more!

Love, Mama

A BIG Hair Cut!

We kept AJ's hair long for most of his first five years. We did cut it once before, but even then it was still fairly long.

There were several reasons we kept it long, even though it was not widely accepted by some family members...

First of all, his hair was perfect! Great color, shine, texture, thickness, you name it. I *WISH* I had this kid's hair. He looked adorable. Secondly, he loved his long hair. He wanted to keep it long. Another reason was one that I had read in some books on ancient traditions. I learned how many would not cut a child's hair until they were older as they believed cutting it altered their personality. Something about that stuck with me and rang true inside. I preferred to hold off on making him fit in with the world - a bit - to allow his natural being to develop as much as possible. I know integration with the world is important. I like to be very conscious and selective of how I participate in that....

Well, we finally did it! He got his first real hair cut. We decided to do it for several reasons... One being that he didn't really know how to take care of his long hair and messy long hair does not look the best. Another was that we felt it would be good for him to know what it feels like to have short hair - an exploration of balance. How could he know what he likes if he hasn't really tried the other? It was time for a healthy change.

So just a few months into kindergarten, we took him to a fun haircut place for kids called Cool Cuts for Kids. He was ready and excited. He sat in the race car chair and watched a movie, hardly noticing that he was getting a hair cut. The woman did a great job. Thanks to Jami, I knew to request that she use the scissors rather than the electric razor. She cut it very short. He came out with a very cute custom look. And best of all, he liked it.

Upon his return to school the next day, everyone thought they had a new student. Some of the teachers and students hardly recognized him. It was a BIG change.

Here are some pics of the big day:

Before: Getting ready to go inside (with Daddy)


This place is cool!!! Can we come back!?


After: All done!!! He looks like a whole new boy!!! Well... kinda!

It was hard not to stare at him for several days after. He looked GREAT and sooo different.

He does miss his long hair (and mommy does too at times), but he looks great. He can grow it out again if he wants to - when he knows how to take care of it! :)