Rocco's Box Castle

Here's what we did with all of the boxes that the strollers, car seat, pack and play, and swing came in.  Rocco and I had lots of fun playing Power Rangers with this Shiba Castle.

5 Years 11 Months Old

My little boy is almost six, and I can't believe it.  So what's going on in Rocco's life lately?  He's doing really well in school.  Jason still gets him ready for school in the morning, and he decorates his apple toaster strudel like a football field.  Then, when they get to school he carries him in on his shoulders. 

He continues to do well in school - making A's on his spelling tests, making 100's and/or not missing more than one question on his AR tests, and hoping to be the leader.  That's right.  Every day I pick him up from school (now that I'm on rest with my pregnancy), the first thing he tells me is who the leader was.  Mrs. Bond randomly picks out a popsicle stick with a student's name on it to be the day's leader.  There are about 19 kids in his class, so once he's the leader he has to wait for everyone else to be the leader before it could possibly be his turn again.  And on the day when he is chosen as the leader, it's like the best day ever!  Rocco enjoys being a car rider.  I guess it beats having to stay at school an extra 30 minutes in my classroom when I was working.

The other day he experienced his first breakup.  It came a few days after Valentines Day.  Riley, his girlfriend since preK, told him that he wasn't her boyfriend anymore.  As he's telling me this from his car seat, my heart just broke.  I looked at him , and he didn't seem to be bothered by it at all.  "Well, who needs her?" was my response, hoping he'd see it was alright.  He told me that he didn't want a girlfriend anyway...and that was that.  Riley had 3 boyfriends (Rocco, Will Cox, and Hayes Gunn).  This was well known; Rocco would often tell me.  At the school Valentine's party a few days prior, Hayes showered her with tons of gifts.  Rocco gave her nothing except a Power Rangers card, which he gave to everyone in his class.  After the break up he decided he didn't want any girls invited to his birthday party...boys only! (Below is a pic of Rocco and Riley.  Riley is holding the bear Hayes gave her.)

We have been so blessed to have a son who is so well behaved and respectful.  The other day, though, we had our first experience this school year with a behavior problem.  As soon as I picked him up he spilled it out.  He wasn't even buckled in his seat when he blurted out, "Mom, it's okay but I got my first minus today.  It was only one though."  I asked him what he did, and he said that he didn't remember.  Well, I knew good and well that he knew.  I opened up his agenda to find that he had been sliding on his knees during PE in the gym.  I told him I was disappointed but that he needed to learn from that and not do it again.  I reminded him that if he got more than 3 minuses he would not be able to go to the good behavior party.  And that's about all we said.  When Jason got home a few hours later, I asked Rocco if he wanted to tell his daddy something.  "No."  Well, I told Jason and we just briefly reminded him to not let it happen again.  That was it.  I couldn't scold him too hard.  For one he was so honest in letting me know and two, sliding on his knees?  There are things lots worse in this world.  Of course, I didn't let him know I thought that.  The bottom line is that he was doing something he was not supposed to, and we ultimately want him to be respectful of his teachers.   A week later I picked up Rocco from school.  "I've got some good news/surprise in my book bag, mom! I got a ticket to the good behavior party!"  I was so proud, and we high fived each other.

He continues to be very sweet with my belly.  He rubs on it and loves on his brother, he even told me the other day, "I can't wait 5 more weeks.  I want my brother now!"  One day he put his hand on my neck and felt my pulse.  "Hey mom!  I feel him kicking!"  I had to explain to him that he was really feeling my heartbeat.  I'm glad he enjoys feeling for the baby.  That makes me feel good because how he reacts to this new baby has been my biggest concern.  I don't want him to feel left out, second best, unloved, forgotten, etc.  That's why I often remind him how much he means to me. "Rocco, you are my first baby.  Maverick (his brother) is the second.  I had you first, and you are the one who made me a mommy.  You are so very special to me, and no matter how many babies I have I will always love you.  I'm crazy about you.  We're tight."  He kids back with me.  "That's not right," he'll say.  He'll point to himself and say, "Second," and point to my belly and say, "First."  We go back and forth laughing at who is right.  Instead of focusing on how "lucky" he is to be a big brother, I've told him that this baby is so blessed to have him as a brother.  I've bragged on him and told him how much Maverick is going to look up to him.  

I've had 3 baby showers thus far and Rocco has helped me open presents at all of them.  Thankfully, people have been thoughtful enough to give him presents, too.  He really liked that! It was good that not all of the attention was on the baby. 

I've had a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions.  One day I was hurting with one.  I told him I was having a contraction. "Mom, a contraction is like i-s-n-'-t," he explained to me. 

Here's a quick list of things he likes:

1) watching Power Rangers Samurai on TV

2) playing with Power Rangers toys, especially in the tub

3) being called into the "Boxing Ring" and fighting imaginary nighloks with his sword

4)  chips, gum, crunchy (bacon, bread, etc)

5) American Idol tv show(he wants to be one of the judges when he grows up)

And so the next time I take his picture in this blue chair, he may not be an only child. 

5 Years 10 Months Old

Rocco is doing great in school this year.  Mrs. Bond is currently working with his class on money and how much each coin is worth.  He quickly picked it up.  He loves learning and really enjoys school.  On the way home from school (he often comes to my classroom at 3pm and we'll go home together at 3:30), we were talking about coins.  I was asking him how many pennies were in a quarter, how much a dime was worth, etc.  When I felt like I had asked him just about every combination that he could figure out, he asked me, "But mom...what about Mexican pesos?"  That boy is something. 

One afternoon he came in the bedroom asking me to tell him everything I knew about Abraham Lincoln.  Since they were learning about pennies, Mrs. Bond had taught the class about him.  I told him as much as I could think of...the Civil War, the Gettysburg Address, how I had gone to LMU University which was named after him, etc.  After some hesitation, I decided to tell him that a really mean man killed that president.  His eyes lit up and as he pointed his finger in the air and proclaimed, "John Wilkes Booth!"  I nearly fell in the floor.   And then a few days later he was using the word assassinated and pronouncing it correctly.  He is such a little sponge for knowledge!

Rocco also enjoys writing stories.  He is only in kindergarten, but he has learned how to spell many words, and those he doesn't know he will sound out.  On his spelling tests he has made perfect scores and even earned extra points for the bonus words.  He also knows how to capitalize proper nouns/beginning of sentences and punctuate.  The other night at church he wrote me a story.  It said, "Rocco    I love my mom.  I love my cat.  Day is Suday.  2012  tomoro is Monday" 

At night he plays a new computer game we got him for Christmas.  It was just $3 at TJ Maxx and worth every dollar.  The CD goes into the computer and lets him play all kinds of learning games on the kindergarten level.  It is by Jump Start.  His little character is a dinosaur, and he walks that little character all around the Jump Start world and earns gems by playing games with patterns, numbers, calendars, and words. 

One of his favorite things he loves to do is for me to "call him into the ring" to fight different Nighloks.  He takes his soft, sponge sword and beats up on these imaginary foes as if he is Kevin the blue Power Ranger. 

5 Years 9 Months Old

The little boy who used to be just into cars and trains is now into super heroes.  That's what he asked Santa for this year.  He is really into good guys/bad guys.  On TV, he's been watching the Power Rangers; he even has the action figures, which his grandnana bought him for Christmas.  Jason and I also bought him a few.  Now he has the green, blue, red, and golden Power Rangers.  He'll play with them and make kicking, punching, fighting sounds.

The little beanie baby next to him in the above picture has a story to go with it.  All of his life, Rocco has never had a stuffed animal.  I'm very allergic to them so we can't have them in the house.  As we were cleaning out and organizing our rooms for the baby boy, Rocco found some old beanie babies that I had collected.  He began playing with them...and even sleeping with them.  Most boys in kindergarten may be over small toy animals, but to Rocco this type of toy is pretty new to him.  His favorite one is Rhino. 

At night when we say our prayers, Rocco rarely wants to pray out loud.  "I'm saying my quietly."  Within a few seconds he'll be finished.  When I asked him if he prayed for anyone he'll sometime's say, "I prayed for the whole world."  When I do get him to say his prayers out loud they are so sweet.  He prays for various people in our family.  Lately, he's prayed for God to give strength to his grandnana and grandpapaw.  They have not been in good health.  How sweet that he remembers them in prayer. 

We're still Mario fans.  That's probably Rocco's favorite way to spend time with me.  He thinks we have to play it every day.

Christmas Day

Rocco woke up Christmas morning to find that Santa did indeed come.  He loaded up with super heroes & vehicles, a batman cave, racing motorcycles, a bb gun, some Monster trucks, Defiant trucks and ramp, a couple of books, and a Georgia bulldog stocking full of goodies. 



As soon as he checked out his new toys from Santa, he wanted to open up his presents from us.  This was his favorite part.  Perhaps we need to ask Santa to wrap up his presents next year.   :)  He was thrilled to find that he had so many to open! A few of the presents we got him were Spiderman and Angry Birds pajamas, a Spiderman costume, Mario/Luigi jogging suit, Iron Man transformer, Kindergartedn computer game, and Monster trucks.

Rocco was so excited the next morning to see that Santa ate his Hershey bar / Oreos and drank his milk. All the reindeer carrots were eaten except for one.  It was just nibbled on.  Rocco decided that this particular one belonged to Rudolph.  For some reason he wasn't as hungry as the "black noses." (This picture was taken Christmas Eve before we went to bed.)

 I bought Jason some clothes, and he got me some things for the baby.  We didn't have time for our tradition of eating a big breakfast because we had a worship service at church.  Christmas fell on a Sunday this year.  We headed to church for the 10:30 service.  It was surprisingly crowded.  Many came out to celebrate the true reason for the season...our Savior's birth!  Here we are Christmas day after church.

We thought we'd go out for lunch, but of course nothing was open except for Hardees and Waffle House.  Talk about a crowd!  We came home to eat sandwiches.  Gary and Carolyn came by to see what Rocco got for Christmas.  For supper, the three of us ate our traditional breakfast.  Great Christmas this year - so much to be thankful for...so many blessings!



Christmas Get Togethers

Christmas Day fell on a Sunday this year.  The Monday before the big day, Dec. 19th, we met at my in-law's house for our first Christmas get together.  Gary, Carolyn, Tonya, Ben, Sydney, Drew, Jason, Rocco, and pregnant me were there to celebrate.  Carolyn cooked a big, delicious meal with lots of yummy desserts.  The kids were so excited to open their gifts.  Nana and granddaddy & Aunt Ta and Uncle Ben spoiled Rocco with lots of great gifts.  Here's a picture of Rocco in front of nana's Christmas village. ( My camera went dead within minutes of getting here.  Tonya and her family weren't even there yet.  So...you don't get any big family pic.)

Our next get together was with my side of the family.  We met at my nana and papaw's house on Thursday night, Dec. 22.  My parents, my brother and his girl Daelyn, nana & papaw, and my dad's sister (Aunt Katy) were there with us to celebrate.  We decided to make things easy and just order pizza.  My papaw has not been in good health, and we were just grateful to have everyone here this year.  Being with family is one of God's biggest blessings, and I'm so thankful we were all together this season.   

   

Our last family get together was at papa's house.  Jason's extended family on his mother's side met there for a big celebration. 

 We draw names for this get together.  After our big meal, everyone dives in to see who got their name.  It was a lot of fun.  Around 9pm we all headed out because Santa came that night.  This was our Christmas eve family gathering.  The kids were giddy with excitement!

Christmas Lights

The three four of us (Jason, Rocco, baby Willis, and I) headed to Alabama tonight to enjoy some Christmas lights. First, we ate at a fish and grill restaurant. Afterwards we saw some lights at Noccalula Falls. I felt big and pregnant, and it was a little bit of a challenge at times to keep up with the boys. Baby Nitro (what we've been calling the baby since Rocco gave him the name a few months ago) and I have our own speed. . . and it's not a very fast one. 

Last year, Rocco and I took my mom to Callaway Gardens to see the lights.  We didn't make it there this year, and I'll admit Noccaula is not as nice...but to Rocco it was bigger than life.

 He was so excited to see it all lit up.  We rode on a train around the park to see the lights.  After that we walked to find the hot chocolate.  Thankfully they had a little swing we could rest in. 

 It was a memorable and fun night.  We just love Christmas lights...even if it's just riding around looking at various homes which are lit up.  Noccalula Falls was a great mini get-away.