Preschool Graduation

At Gabriel's preschool graduation, they called up each graduating student and announced what he or she wanted to be when they grew up. 

There were a number of princesses, some doctors, a couple of mommies, but only one dad. Gabriel said he wants to be a dad when he grows up. :)

Gabriel and his Primary class teacher, Ms. Karima. They started out as Fireflies and then changed their class name to Dandelions when they moved to building 2.

Gabriel and his Pre-Primary class teacher, Ms. Tracy. He started at Sunrise as a Doodlebug with Ms. Tracy. 

After the graduation ceremony, there was an all-school carnival. I didn't get pictures of the jumpy house, the balloon animal clowns, or the snow cones, but G got to ride a pony and he enjoyed the animals at the petting zoo. 

Gabriel and his buddy Grant Michael.

Oh, and today, about a month later, G told me "Mommy, when I grow up, I want to be a dad. Actually, I want to be my dad. I want to floss kids' teeth....Maybe I want to be a dentist."

First Bike!

Gabriel's birthday present from us was his first big kid bike.

This video is from the first day he got it. He had taken a small tumble earlier, thus the bandages on his knees. Luckily, they didn't deter him much at all.  Every time he rides he shows more control and less fear. :) He does donuts in the living room. (Let's not talk about that.)

Galveston Trip June 2016 in Pictures

Last month we spent a couple of days in Galveston with Jordan, Cory, and Will.

The first day we were there was kinda rainy, so we stayed inside and played games. Gabriel and Will practiced being Robot Turtle programmers. They were pretty good at it!

The next day we took a trip to Moody Gardens.

First we pretended to be frogs.

Then Gabriel fell into one of the ponds in the Rainforest Pyramid, but I didn't get any pictures of that. He was soaking wet from shorts down and panicked because he thought he had creatures all over him. It was both hilarious and terrible.

Then we sized ourselves up against penguins.

Then we saw a few films including a 3D-movie about sharks.

We spent that evening in downtown Galveston where we walked around, saw some "big boats" at the dock, and watched them make salt water taffy at the candy store.

The next day we went down to the beach and played in the water and the sand. Gabriel is still not a fan of water splashing in his face...and that's hard to control at the beach...so he spent most of his time on the sand and in water no higher than his calves. But he let mom or dad carry him out into slightly deeper water a couple of times to bounce up and down in the waves.

All that play at the beach made for a tired kid who found a way to get some rest. I think he was pretty comfy!

We had a lot of fun and hope we get to go back!

Things said lately

On the way home from school the other day:

G: Mom, if you want to ask me what I did at school today, I'll say "Please leave a voicemail. I'm not available. Beep."
Me: Should we try that?
G: Yes
M: G, what did you do at school today?
G: Please leave a voicemail. I'm not available. Beep.


On the way home from a long afternoon at Moody Gardens in Galveston:

G: All I want to do is lay down on the couch, suck my finger, and watch a LOT of Paw Patrol.

Birds and Bees, Part 1

On the eve of his fifth birthday, Gabriel asked me where babies come from.

Well, actually, he asked me how the workers make the people.

It took me a few rounds of questioning to make sure I understood what he was asking.

G: How do the workers make the people?

K: Do you mean how is a person's body made?

G: NOOOOOO!!!!!! How do the workers make the people, and how do the people make the workers?

K: Are you asking how people decide what kind of work to do?

G: NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <aaaaaaghhhhhhhhhhh> I said how do the workers make the people?

K: So, how was your body made?

G: Yes

K: Your body was made in mommy's tummy.

G: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! <aaaaaaaaggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!> I want to know how the workers make the people. Like how do they build a person?

K: Ok. I can tell you how a person's body is made.

G: How?

K: Every person's body was made in a mommy's tummy. A special part of a daddy and a special part of a mommy mix together. They're called a sperm and an egg. When they mix together, it starts to grow tiny, tiny things called cells. The cells grow and grow and grow and more cells grow until they grow so much that it makes a baby's body. And when the baby's body has grown enough, the baby comes out of the mommy's tummy and everyone gets to see the baby and hug the baby and hold the baby and kiss the baby.

G: One time on PAW Patrol, Rubble didn't want to get wet just like Rocky doesn't like to get wet. He didn't want to take a bath.

And that's how that went down.

Dramatic...

G just called from the bathroom:

"Mommy! I'm surrounded by poo-poo!"

I'm afraid to find out what that means. 

Counting for Sheep (and Mouse and Bunny)

Gabriel couldn't quite make himself stay in bed tonight. I went back in his room with him, gave him a stuffed mouse, a bunny, and an elephant and told him they needed to know how to count to 100. 

I told him to hold his mouse, tell mouse how to count to 100, and then put mouse on the floor. I told him to count slowly so mouse could understand. Then he should hold bunny, tell bunny how to count to 100, and put bunny on the floor. Then elephant. 

I was hoping that counting to 100 three times would lull him to sleep. But I think he took his job too seriously. He popped back out of his room in just a few minutes to report that he had finished his counting. 

So I handed him several more animals and told him to count for each of them, too. 

I guess it worked? 

There are a bunch of animals on the floor and a sleeping boy in the bed...