Aston Lately

"Aston Lately" is a breath of fresh air! I really do see a change in him albeit slight. I know this because I can read an email or 2 without having to referee. I would like to attribute it to all our hard work at home with some stricter discipline and such but there are additional factors. It seems he is maturing slightly to the point where he's sort of starting to appear to understand that it's not so much fun to be a pain in the neck to his friends and family. It's also been uber-helpful that his teachers at school have a TIGHT handle on the 3 year old class and Aston in particular.

H.O.W.E.V.E.R, there was one incident this past Wednesday at school that threw us for a loop. I picked him up, all excited to take him to his first playdate (sans Mom) at Griffin's house. His teacher walked him out to me and with disappointment in her eyes she told me Aston bit a friend at school and it was not going to be tolerated again. The news flipped my world inside out. The confidence I had so cautiously built up over the last month had so suddenly wilted away. Mrs. Gabriel went on to explain that the friend had teeth marks on her shoulder. She said she was perplexed because Aston had been so good otherwise that day and for the days leading up (for the most part). I walked away with an ill feeling and now I had a big discipline debacle. Should I still bring him to his playdate with Griff? Or is that SO the wrong message I should be sending? I knew I had several hours at least to officially discipline him (according to Rosemond's book:)) but was concerned about the big privilege of the playdate coming right after the crime.

I opted to let him go to Griffin's house...and I am so thrilled that I did. As soon as we rolled up to the Brown household Aston was out the car door before I could say goodbye. He, Griffin and Noah raced inside (Aston's been wanting to go inside the Brown house for months now...he remembered, since Griffin's birthday party in May, that these Brown boys have the most awesomest toys on the planet!) Brooke took some really funny/cute/adorable shots and just recently posted them here. The photos are a must see! We can't wait for our next "date". Btw...the punishment later was that he had to help me package up his racetrack the Brown boys helped him put together and put it away. He absolutely LOVES this track but I'm not sure it was enough of an impact because he was only upset for a minute and then otherwise was over it.

In other news:

-On Friday Aston returned to school after the biting incident. I wanted to throw-up for the 3 hours he was at school...I was that nervous. At pick up Mrs. Gabriel walked Aston out to me, shaking her head. My heart sank but for no good reason. She was shaking her head in praise and disbelief. He had a day of perfection she said! I was shaking, sweating and rendered speechless. The proud mama was back and the desperately worried mom melted far away (well...at least for the moment). Apparently he was a great friend to all his classmates, he helped clean up without being asked, he helped Gracie Myers open her lunchbox because she was having trouble and he listened the first time to all requests (~insert Mom happy Dance~). She did explain that she and Mrs. Haenlein threatened him when he walked in the door that he would be sent to Mrs Merchant's office, the director, if he did any hitting, biting or pinching. So we shall see if this good behavior persists!


-One thing they learn in the three year old class is to say the Pledge of Allegiance. Aston is a proud pro now and I finally caught it on video...see below...it's at the very end. I made this video as a tribute to his Halloween costume (Race Car Driver Super Hero Guy)...he loves watching it:) (BTW: this is my first video using iMovie '11):

Pledge Allegiance Race Kid 2010 from kate Lee on Vimeo.

-He started taking Karate/Taekwando with Jacob about three weeks ago. I love the idea that this could really help him with discipline, structure and focus. He loves going mostly because they usually have "big kid" helpers that do some awesome jump kicks and other cool demonstrations. We hope to go more days that Jacob goes now that soccer is over.



-Aston loves to attempt "Knock Knock" jokes. The "orange you glad I'm not a banana" one is a fave. He also retain some joke that he and Babs read in a book at Beebs house. Goes something like "What kind of underwear does a weatherman wear?" answer: "thunderwear".:)

-Aston can recognize his name in the written form but we still need some letter practice.

-He's been diaper-less at night/nap for 10 months now and 2 days ago we had our first accident. The poor guy drank bunches of juice before bed and by 11pm he woke up super upset. Normally he wakes up and goes in his potty but this time he was just in a dead sleep. He felt so bad about it but we made a little midnight party out of it and he was fine in no time.

-It seems like he comes home from school singing a new song everyday. I caught this one on my cell today "Oh The Lord's been good to me" (notice how his sister is trying her best to sing along:))



-Aston and Mei both don't skip a beat when it comes to monitoring the construction process in our backyard. Aston gives me hourly updates on the progress and the machinery that made it happen.



Bob (our general contractor) put him on the Bobcat on day one. He was late for school because of it. He was on the thing with Benson (a worker) for an hour. I had to bribe him to get off. Bye Bye old deck!



btw: this was the scene out the back door yesterday... and today we have a roof! Bob and his team are super speedy...just waiting for our first incident...I don't mind the wait:)



Asty Funnies (there are so many more but I am forgetting them now):

-Me: "Aston put your shoes away where they go please" Aston...in the most unenthused manor: "Of course mom. WhatEVER you say mom." ....I am serious when I say I have no idea where that came from. TV I'm sure but man to Jeff and I it was pretty dang funny at the time.

-Aston: "Hey Mom I really really really want a Buzz Lightyear". Me: "Well maybe you could ask Santa for one for Christmas" Aston: "Do you think he has the kind that lights up and makes noise and has wings?" Me: "I think he could make that happen" Aston: "So Mom...can you text him right now and tell him?"...then i explained that we need to write Santa a letter because he doesn't get good cell phone reception in the North Pole:)

So we had to immediately come home and create our letter. He insisted that there be a detail illustration so Santa could see all the parts required (notice the red laser shooter and the green and purple wings:)). I am so proud of this because otherwise he would never choose to do an art project or if he did he would just make squiggly lines and call it a racetrack or mountains. He really applied himself here right down to the colors! It's just good to know he can draw if he wants to:)