Highlights
- Calan loses his first tooth
- Recitals, recitals, recitals…
- Basketball season winds down
- The Gs arrive for their early summer visit
Calan
As Calan inches towards six, we met with one tell-tale sign of our first born becoming a big kid. One of his bottom teeth started to loosen, and after several days of “playing” with it, the tooth came out all on its own. In fact, it had no problem coming out and did so overnight while Calan was asleep. After some pretty good searching around his room, we weren’t able to find the missing tooth, really hitting home the idea of “losing a tooth”. The tooth fairy had no issues with receiving a note that the tooth had been lost, and she left her gift just the same. Calan was quite proud of his new gap in his front lower row of teeth, and was excited to see the new, permanent tooth already making its way up through the gum line just behind the old “baby” tooth. Any chance he could, Calan would show other kids his mouth and talk about his lost tooth–a girl teammate on his basketball team or a small group of a few kids at his new hip-hop class. One funny part to the tooth coming out event is that Calan had visited the dentist just a week and half prior…the dentist said it’ll probably come out in “two months”. It lasted just ten days.
This month was definitely the season of recitals. For Calan, he had his group violin recital in Thousand Oaks, then his first ever solo recital in Moorpark a couple weeks later. Sandwiched in between was Mama’s studio recitals for both voice and piano, which Calan also attended. The group recital was nice as Calan was able to play multiple songs with the large group of other players for the first time. His solo recital was just right for him, as he got right up in front a pretty packed church and played his first individual song “May Song” in under a minute, did a quick bow, and sat back down. Easy as pie. Gran and Grandpa had just arrived for their early summer visit, so it was nice to attend the recital with them too.
Calan’s great basketball season at the Y closed out this month too. His little team, with so many strong players and the fantastic coach, won all their games against the five other teams. We really hope to get Coach Scott back for the next season and keep many of the same players if possible, as Calan seemed to really enjoy his time at practices and of course, the games.
May was also filled with a late spring session at River Oaks. Calan took some classes, including self-defense and improvisation. He had never taken a class like self-defense and was actually a little worried about going to the point of telling us he didn’t want to go. We talked about it to where he felt comfortable enough, put his brave hat on and went for it. It was a great example of how you can try something you’re not entirely sure about, and you find that it’s something you really like. Going into the class he actually cried a little, but after the first class (and each of the five classes actually), he would come home and talk about and show the different moves he had learned in the class. After day one, he even voiced how he was looking forward to going again. 🙂 It helped that the instructor is just right with the kids; making it fun, upbeat and educational all at the same time. Can’t beat that…
Notable quotes this month:
Calan was asking when we can do something. Dada said, “We’ll plan for it and do it someday…” Calan quickly responded with, “But today is someday, and tomorrow is someday… every day is someday.”
As he shakes his head slowly with a slight smile, Calan said, “People change and grow all the time. You can’t make it stop.” This was after Dada looked at his loose tooth and said he’s growing up and gave him a big hug.
“Before my life ends, I’ll give you hugs always,” to Mama one afternoon.
When first learning about homonyms this month, Calan liked to bring up examples he discovered. In the beginning some of his examples would be the same meaning, and others would be actual homonyms like “two” and “to”. But one in particular caught us off guard, when he said, “Chicken! The chicken that we eat and the chicken that’s like on a farm.”
With the peanut dosing just about to get underway in early June, we talked a little more in-depth about his overall OIT treatment. While he truly seams completely fine with it all, there was one moment where he responded back with, “Why did you sign me up for this?”
Dada: Calan, how hungry are you?
Calan: I’m not hungry, I’m starving.
Evan
This was Evan’s last month to be “one”. It’s hard to believe that it’s been two years already that we were anticipating this little guy coming into the world. Nonetheless, he’s getting ready to turn two. When Calan was this age, he was a full inch shorter than Evan is now…so our “little” baby is definitely growing fast, as if he wants to catch up with his bigger brother who is almost four years older.
This month, Evan decided to up his skills when it came to descending stairs, and started walking down the stairs on his own with regularity. This as opposed to sliding feet first on his tummy. The only problem though is that every five times or so, he misses a step toward the bottom and takes a tumble. This usually happens when he’s carrying something. Perhaps he can’t see the last step or two and tries to walk as if he’s on the flat floor. At any rate, he’s learning, and Mama and Dada have learned to help coach him to use the railing.
In other news, Calan is good at “coaching” Evan NOT to enter his room. A couple months ago Calan’s room at gotten really clean and tidy when we got his new desk. But as the days went buy, more things like trains and other toy sets were taken out. Evan loves to investigate and pick up pieces that are lying around. We’re in a phase right now where this really bothers Calan. So… for the time being, Evan is just not allowed to enter his big brother’s room. This sets up some pretty stressful moments if Evan makes an attempt…but the alternative is definitely worse. 😉
One activity that came out this month that Evan really showed a likeness for was coloring…specifically, markers. In the past, he’s been drawn to markers, crayons, pens, etc. but we had to end up putting them all “away” so he wouldn’t walk around the house and turn any surface into a art canvas. Funny, this is definitely something different from when Calan was really little. There probably isn’t a single item (a book, a wall, etc.) that Calan did toddler graffiti on. We were just lucky in that department. This month though, we made designated times to use markers and crayons with Evan, and he always loves it. If you even say the word “makers” he’ll quickly come running repeating, “markers!” He’ll sit at the art table and pick up marker after marker and scribble to his heart’s content. Little by little, he’s understanding the more structured approach to using markers and even water color paints. Now, if we could just teach him to put each of the caps back on the markers. One step at a time.