One, Two ... SIX

As we led up to the the big birthday last week, we looked back at a couple of our favorite videos of Almost Two Declan. We wanted to see 2yo D sing Happy Birthday to himself ... but we also found a gem of him counting "one, two, six ... SIX." And you guys, that's exactly how it happened. He's so suddenly - and loudly - six!

It's crazy to think that our baby is six. Six feels SO BIG! But it is amazing to see what a kid he is becoming. Dec is growing more independent and responsible. He is helpful around the house, especially when it comes to cooking. He mostly wants to be a big kid - until we want him to do something he doesn't want to. Then he'll happy play that Baby card to see if one of us will snuggle him ... and do it for him. It still works on occasion, but the girls and I are getting better at making him do it.

Kindergarten was amazing for him. He was developing such a sense of bravery and confidence. When we watch him play with the neighbor kids now, he is easily just one of the gang - whereas last summer, he was still working hard to keep up! Dec is never happier than when he is with his boys. He has the sweetest little group of buddies and is a really great friend. Life at home has been hard on D. He misses his boys, he misses being wild, and he's tired of playing family, babies, and barbies. It was clear when he saw his friends at his birthday parade that he both misses them so very much and has completely forgotten how to interact with them. We are confident he will quickly readjust to social interactions!

Declan really enjoyed hockey this winter and has turned into quite the sporty guy! He loves soccer right now and is disappointed that soccer and summer hockey seasons collided - leaving no room for baseball. So baseball in the back yard continues, along with pick-up soccer games, driveway hockey, and some lacrosse thrown in for good measure.

Some things remain constant year after year. He still gets up at the crack of dawn and I usually find him snuggled in a blanket on the couch as soon as he is allowed to leave his room at 7am. From morning to bedtime, he sings and talks constantly. There is always a story to be told - or a song stuck in his head! Fruit remains his very favorite food, but steak is moving up the list. We are also slowly finding a few vegetables that he will eat. Raw cucumbers and cooked bell peppers and onions are new options. He's quite intrigued by the spaghetti squash growing in our garden.

D and I headed to his well check (in masks) on Monday morning. He's 44.5inches tall (32%) and weighs 39.9 pounds (15%). His height percentile is exactly the same as last year, but he's doubled his weight percentile. Overall, he's super healthy and growing just as Dr. H would hope!

To officially mark the entry into Six, here are his answers to the annual birthday questions:

   Favorite color: Red

   Favorite friend: Jonah

   Favorite show: PAW Patrol

   Favorite book: any dinosaur book

   Favorite movie: Mulan

   Favorite song: Man Out of You (from Mulan)
   Favorite food: Corn dogs

   Favorite thing to do: Build Legos

   Be when you grow up: Hockey player

Birthday Parade

Even though some of the lockdown restrictions are being lifted, I did not feel like we were ready for a full-on birthday party. That was a bigger widening of our circle than was comfortable. Luckily a few weeks ago, our sweet neighbor had a birthday parade for her quarantine birthday, which Declan had found to be really cool. So when I pitched a birthday parade, he was totally on board. Hooray!

I had so much mom guilt over a canceled GR birthday party with his cousins (which was all he wanted) and a sorta friend party disguised as a parade. But honestly, I didn't need to. Dec was delightfully happy with everything. In fact, I think the parade was actually less overwhelming for him than a full-on party would have been. We have forgotten how to be around people, after all.

Birthday proper, we made lemon poke cake with a blueberry cream cheese filling - per his request. We also had a family Zoom birthday party, where grandmas and grandpas and aunties and cousins got to say hello, sing Happy Birthday, watch him blow out a [jar] candle (virtual party rookie!), and oooh and aaaah as he opened a couple presents. Then Auntie came down for dinner and cake - and brought laser tag as a birthday present. After steak tacos (again, his request) on the deck, we had a few exciting laser tag matches in the yard. And both Q and D tested out the new goalie pads that we gave him.

Saturday morning was the first soccer practice of the season. Dec came home red-faced and immediately told me that soccer was more work than hockey. There was a lot of running - and he loved every minute of it! While Q was at soccer practice and D and F were eating lunch, we heard a honking horn in the driveway. I told D his birthday surprise was here ... and he discovered Grandpa V had come down (with donuts!!) to be part of his birthday parade. He was SO happy!

It was a low-key "parade" and I had just told people to swing by between 1 and 2. Our sweet neighbor Mary did not approve of my lackadaisical approach - and organized the neighborhood into an actual parade, complete with honking and signs and cheering. Dec loved it - and also loved the more casual drop by visits from some of his favorite people. His buddy Andrew came and they tackled each other in a hug. His buddy Grayson came and they couldn't stop smiling. And of course, his bestie Jack (who is 16 now! HOW?) came - complete with a nerf gun that is almost as tall as D!

After the parade, we had cake and ice cream with his neighborhood friends and then they were off to play laser tag, beyblades, and who knows what else. Between soccer, cake/donuts, and lots of outside time, Saturday night showers were necessary! After everyone was tucked into bed, I texted Cheryl: "Turns out, throwing Not a Party is just as tiring as throwing a Party." Who knew!?!?

Even though birthday number Six looked different than we had expected (is anything in 2020 as expected?), it was a really special and memorable birthday. That's about all you can want for a milestone that requires adding a second hand to show how old you are!

The Brink of An Adventure

The weather forecast for Saturday looked about as perfect as could be. So Mike and I decided that we were going to take the gang on an adventure. We hadn't decided exactly where to go, and were volleying some ideas back and forth. The kids were super curious and wanted details. So I looked at them and said (in my best English accent): We're on the brink of an adventure, children. Don't spoil it with too many questions. It's a line from Mary Poppins Returns and they were sufficiently unimpressed by my wit.

We decided to head over to Afton State Park in Hastings to go hiking (and maybe put our toes in the St. Croix river). It was the perfect distance away - only about 45 minutes - and we figured we'd grab lunch on the way. Fiona and Dec were excited, but poor Quinn had a bit of an anxiety attack. Remember, years ago when I would write about having to peel her off of me to get her to participate in anything? And how hard new things were for her? Well, sweet girl has been home for 3 months and all those "try new things" muscles we developed - they are out of shape!

After Q and I looked at pictures and the park map on my phone so she felt better about what to expect, she begrudgingly got on board. [Parenting note to selves: we need to do more "new things" this summer to help re-condition those life skill muscles.] We grabbed some McDonald's on the way and arrived right around 1:00. There was a long line to get in and we debated bailing - but decided to stick it out. It actually only took about 10 minutes before they let us in. So glad we didn't give up! [Second note to selves: don't arrive right at lunch time to state parks. Bad plan!]

The park was pretty crowded, but we found an "off-road" trail that was muddy and slippery - and required a lot of tree grabbing every few feet. Those qualities made it delightfully fun for us! We navigated down the bluffs to the river - and despite her best effort to not have fun, Quinn clearly loved it. Impersonating a mountain goat is really her happy place!!

We climbed down to the river's edge and threw some rocks in. Then hopped over to a sand bar beach where the kids and I took off our shoes and waded in. They wished for their swimsuits, but enjoyed jumping in the waves and throwing more rocks. We found a couple agates and Q found an anchor point that she carried for the rest of the hike ... so it now lives at our house.

We hiked back up the off-road trail when we were done. Up was easier than down - but holy smokes, you could feel it in the glutes! Two out of three back seat occupants fell asleep on the way on home and five out of five Vs were happy for an adventure beyond the borders of Shakopee! Mike bought a year pass to the state parks - so we plan to go back to Afton and explore a few more parks this summer.

We Survived School

Three cheers for Teacher Daddy!!! Mike - and the kids - have survived the Spring 2020 Homeschool Adventure. I cannot say that no feelings were hurt in the process - but everyone seems mostly unscathed. The girls were even surprisingly sad that the year was over, although we think it is more that they wanted so badly to go back to school and be with their friends and teachers again.

The official last day of school was Wednesday, so Tuesday night was a "reverse parade" at their school - where the families drive through and wave at the teachers/staff on the sidewalk. Except that huge thunderstorms rolled through Tuesday night and the parade was canceled. The kids were really disappointed. The teachers were too - and inundated the principal until he rescheduled it for Thursday night. God bless those teachers and their dedication to providing some closure for their students (and themselves)!

School year artwork

Dec's teacher stopped by each of her students' homes on Wednesday to say good-bye in person and drop off a little summer gift. Q's teacher hosted a "parade" at his house on Wednesday afternoon where the kids could come by and say good-bye (and get a cookie). F's teacher doesn't live in town, so he hosted an online class meeting to say good-bye. We were so glad the parade was rescheduled for her - so she could say good-bye in person. It was clear she needed that!

Mike is not back to work yet, so instead of another summer with Nanny N, the kids will continue hanging with Dad. Unfortunately, since we've been home for twelve weeks, we are already at August-level entertainment tricks. By August, we might just be handing out ice cream and $20s to survive.

We'll close out the homeschool season with a few favorite memories:

** When distance learning started, Dec was assigned a giant stack of sight word flashcards. The first time we did them, he had probably 1/3 that he didn't know at all and several others that he struggled with. He worked really hard and by the end of the year, he could do all 100 flashcards in under 5 minutes!

** Around the mid-point of distance learning, Quinn and I had a discussion about how "I'm done with it" and "I don't understand it so I didn't do it" are fundamentally different things. Based of that conversation, she came to me to ask for help with vertices. And I had to ask her to show me Mr. P's instructional video. Mike laughed and took over. However, I really nailed it when she needed help with her persuasive paper writing assignment.

** Q's teacher made a sign for the reverse parade that said "Honk to Vote for Mr. P's class as Tug of War Champs." He and Quinn were made for each other - and I'm so sad she didn't get Track and Field Day with him. However, both she and F remain reigning Tug of War champs from last year!

** Fiona's teacher sent the sweetest note at the end of the year - "Fiona is one of the sweetest and smartest girls I have ever had in the classroom. This group of kids will always be so special for me, and Fiona was a huge part of that with her contagious smile."

Fiona's Piano Recital(s)

In January, Fiona strongly expressed the desire to take piano lessons. And I strongly supported that desire. A quick text to a good friend for a teacher referral (thanks, B!) and we were connected with a wonderful teacher here in S-town. 

The first few lessons showed that Fiona has a real knack for piano and the concepts quickly make sense to her. She was really moving along in her lessons - and then everything went into lockdown. Her sweet teacher continued lessons for a bit in her house, but we decided to hit pause. Eventually, her teacher moved to virtual lessons and we were back in the game.

Virtual lessons went well, but basically required me to hover in the background and help her find her hand positions or demonstrate the technique. It wasn't a big deal and I didn't mind - but it wasn't the same as in-person instruction. However, she was learning and it was a shade of normal! When her teacher mentioned the end of year recital, we really encouraged Fiona to do it - and were so proud when she said she would!

She worked really hard learning Beethoven's Ode to Joy and practiced hard to make it perfect (and overcome her recital nerves). Then her teacher sent out an email that the church where the recital was being held had canceled since churches were still not allowed to be open. Fiona was devastated. Mike and I did a quick pivot (we've honed those parenting skills during lockdown) and proposed a family recital via Zoom. It made her feel much better and she agreed. 

Then, because life is ever fluid these days, her teacher said the recital was back on via Zoom. Oy vey! So we went from one recital at a church on Wednesday to no recital to a family Zoom recital on Thursday to a Zoom recital on Wednesday AND a Zoom recital on Thursday. It was dizzying. And yet, there is nothing else on the calendar - so it was fairly easy to accommodate. 

She was very nervous for the Wednesday recital (and I panicked several family members by posting a picture of her all dressed up on instagram and they thought they missed it. So sorry!). She looked beautiful and asked us all to dress up for it as well. Dec was not really on board (but his dad tricked him into it). Quinn was not really on board (but Fiona tricked her into it by offering to let Q wear one of her dresses). It looked like we had actual places to be. Like the basement. 

Between first recital, general nerves, and going first, Wednesday's performance did not not spectacularly well. We were so proud of her, but she ended her song in tears. It's really hard to be the first one - especially after only three months of lessons. I said all the things that a Mom says - but they didn't mean much. So after the recital was over, we called in the pro. And by that, I mean Auntie. Who said the exact same words I did - but this time they sunk in. Fine. As long as they healed the heart. F's friend E was also in the recital and sent Fiona a sweet text over Messenger that also made her smile.

Thursday night was the redemption recital. She had a full house of grandparents, aunties, and cousins. With a friendly audience of people she knew, she was shining! She played four songs and did so amazing. We could not be more proud of her!

Wait, we could! She also submitted a video of herself playing Ode to Joy for the virtual version of the school's end of year talent show. The talent show video was posted this morning and we all watched it together on our big screen TV. SHE WAS IN IT!!! 

She has already asked to keep going with lessons through the summer. Done and done.