Walking to end Alzheimer's

My mom and I participated in the Walk to End Alzheimer's a few weeks ago. We thought Rai would enjoy a morning in the park with the live music, so we signed up for another walk when Rai could go. I got a good work out since I carried him after the first mile. He had a good time though and spent some well-earned time at the playground afterwards.

Serious Lego Building

Balloon Festival

New Car Seat!

Ninja Go Lego Week

It has been a busy week. Rai picked out Ninja Go Legos with Tony last week and spent most of the week putting them together with only the picture directions (and the occasional tip on a few tricky parts).

First Week of Kindergarten

This week, Rai started Kindergarten at the local private school.  Although he is still 4 1/2 years old, he can attend Kindergarten at the private school this year.  (Next year, he will be old enough for public school.)

 

Last week, the school told us he would have weekly homework and monthly school projects, so I decided to set aside time for "homework time" each day after school.  There was no homework this week, but we started a few new routines that I thought might help with school:

 

Daily Journal:

There is a really cute journal made by Leap Frog which has an area to draw and lines for learning how to write.  Rai doesn't always remember what he did when you ask about his day, so I thought a daily journal might be a fun way to draw a picture about his favorite thing that day and practice writing.

 

We are still adjusting to the new routine, but here is his first journal entry: Playing tag with his friends and the teacher.

 

Flash Cards:

This year, Rai will learn how to recognize more numbers and read, so I picked up a deck of reading flashcards and made number flashcards (1-39).  Each day, we timed how many word flashcards and number flashcards he could recognize in 2 minutes.  This week, his best numbers were 15 words and 20 numbers.  :-)

 

Computer Time:

Rai now knows how to turn on his computer, open his programs, close his programs, and shut off his computer by himself.  That being said, he knows he has to ask before he uses it, and he can only use it for 15 minutes a day.  On Tuesday, he took a break from Diego Dinosaur to pay with Word Pad.  Last week, I taught him how to change the font size (so he can see the letters better), and this week, I taught him how to change the font colors.  Here is his 15-minute fascination with turning the letters purple and pink.

 

Mazes!

Since we moved Rai's Pororo table into his room, he has had a blast coloring and completing the mazes in his coloring book.  I think he talked Tony's ear off one night telling him what he colored and what everyone was doing.  His favorite coloring book?  Princesses!  His second favorite? Clone Wars!

 

I had the privilege to talk to a soon-to-be adoptive mother one night this week and answer questions about bringing home an older child from Korea.  Her son is 20 months old and will come home next month.  Talking to her brought up so many memories of 17-month-old Rai running down the aisles of the airplane and playing with EVERYTHING within reach.  Now, two and a half years later, Rai has grown up into such a sweet guy.  I am forever thankful he is in my life.