Checking In and Catching Up...

Where did the summer go?  Seems like it was here and gone in the blink of an eye!!  Last I checked we were getting ready for Kindergarten graduation and "blink", it's the first day of 1st grade.  Personally, I think that's taking this whole "time flies" thing a bit too far.  So, where to begin...

I signed Jake up for 2 weeks at Rambling Pines Day Camp, which is this unbelievably awesome camp on 120+ acres of open fields, 4 pools, ponds (including one fully stocked to teach fishing in), streams, rivers, tennis courts, street hockey, basketball courts and a hundred other sports fields.  I was excited for Jake to try this as it would be his first experience at a camp where 90% of the activities were outside.  I was also a bit nervous because his past camp experiences have all been in what you might call very "pampered" places where this was a place where kids really did have to rough it a bit.

Well, to my surprise, the first day he walked off the bus he couldn't wait to tell me that he wanted to go the WHOLE summer.  I waited till the end of the first week to see if maybe this excitement would wane, but it only seemed to grow with each passing day.  So, he ended up attending 7 of the 8 weeks of camp and loving every day!!!  (there was one week where he, Nanny and La La came on a business trip with me to CA and visited with Jake's cousins, Darian and Shay, while I worked)  I know this will come as quite a shock, but he even ended up with a tan this summer...yes, my little casper the ghost with a tan!!  lol

As I mentioned, in the beginning of August, we took a trip with Nanny and La La to CA.  Jake had a good time visiting his cousins and we all spent quite a full day at Disney where he rode every roller coaster in the entire place, including space mountain.  Of course, I still wasn't able to go on any rides that went "around" without feeling sick, but luckily he had his cousins and Aunt Mahsa and Uncle Mike to ride with for those.

Later in August, we held Jake's 6th bday party and it was a rock'in time at his favorite Bounce U place.  We took everyone over to our pool club after bouncing and had a great time swimming and eating pizza all afternoon.  A week earlier, Jake finally PASSED his deep water test at the swim club!!!!!!!!!!!  I could NOT have been more proud of  him...he did it with ease this time!!!!!  (This was his 3rd try)  So he spent all day going off the diving board and down the two water slides with all of his friends.


Gotta love those handsome Bilotti Boys!!!



Lotta love going on here!!

For his birthday, he got a very cool basketball set up for our driveway (from his Aunt Bear and No-No) and we've spent hours and hours out there playing.  He's becoming a real good bball player and will definitely have the height to excel at this game should his interest level continue.  One thing we continue to work on is demonstrating good sportsmanship... he loves to play the game O-U-T, but frequently stomps off into the house when he reaches O-U...he says those are his least favorite letters of the alphabet now...lol

He also got a very cool razor electric go-kart and he rides it like a speed demon up and down the sidewalk and over everyone's lawns.  It's very low to the ground, which I'm hoping means he won't be flipping over any time soon...and has a tall flag on it so that cars can see him flying by.  I've got some video of his first driving experience which I'll try to attach here.

We also had a chance to attend one of the Jets pre-season games and as you can see here, he was very happy to hang out with his Nanny and Pops!!!

Today is the first day of 1st grade in his new school and his first time attending Public School (instead of Montessori)!!!  I'm convinced that  I'm more nervous about it than he is... I even had the urge to run after (or drive after) the bus when it pulled away this morning.  I wish I could sneak up there and take a quick peek in on him to see how he's doing.  We met his new teacher yesterday, Mrs. Francescone, and I now understand why they call her "Barbie"... Nanny was with us and the first thing she said was "wow, we didn't have teachers like that when I was in school"  Of course, Nanny went to Catholic school and had nuns for teachers, so that's probably not a fair comparison.  lol

The classroom was AWESOME!!!  Very big room, with a bathroom right there attached to his room (the school is HUGE and we even got lost trying to find his room so I did have some worries about him finding his way to the bathroom and back by himself...but not any more) and little library area and round tables of 4 children each.  And as luck would have it, the one child he knows in his class is sitting right across from him at his table!!!  And his table is front and center in the room, so hopefully this will help him to stay focused and pay attention (and not talk when he's not supposed to).  I actually considered attaching one of those small wireless lapel microphones to his shirt collar so I could listen in on how his day was going.  Thought I could park out on the street within range and monitor the situation...it's the electrical engineer and mommy combination to blame for these crazy ideas!!

Jakey continues to progress in his Mental Math class, which is a really interesting approach to teaching kids to add, subtract, multiply and divide in their heads by using an abacus to start.  He's able to quickly add and subtract now to sums under 100 and is one chapter away from finishing the first level.  He's also continuing on with his piano lessons and still amazes us on a daily basis with the songs he can play and how he can translate them to his clarinet, saxophone, flute and trumpet.  His teacher feels he has a real talent for music and could one day be a fantastic musician...again, just depends on whether his passion here continues.

Just to catch everyone up on how he's growing (and man, is he growing)...we had his 6yr check-up and he grew 3.25" (he's 4' 2" now) and gained 14 pounds (he's 67 lbs now) this past year.  That puts him at the 99+%...which basically means OFF the charts.  When I look at the chart, he's the size of an average 8 year old!!!!  All other things checked out perfectly...eyes, hearing, etc.  And he looked very cute in his little blue gown...lol

While at Nanny's house last week, I was determined to get him to ride his bike without training wheels.  Nanny's street is really flat (which ours isn't) and so I knew this would be our best opportunity.  After convincing him (translation...bribing him) to give it a try, we were off and running (well, one of us was running).  He was able to do it!!!!  After riding a little ways without me holding on, he made the mistake of trying to just put his feet down to stop and as you might imagine, the bike just kept on going and he ended up tangled up in it...seems I forgot to teach him how to stop...bad mommy!!!  That was it for day 1.  The next day, we gave it another shot and although my head was clearly saying stop running next to him, he's got it now, just stop running...my heart just wouldn't let my legs stop and so I spent the entire time running along side the bike up and down the street.  I'd say we're 98% of the way there...with the 2% being left on my side of the equation and not his!

Over Labor Day, we attended the 3rd annual donor sibling reunion in the Virginia mountains (and I mean backwoods mountains) and had a great time.  This year the kids that attended included Hallie, Baby Lea, Ben, Jessica and Jonah.  Unfortunately, Abby (one of Hallie and Lea's moms) wasn't able to attend this year because of work, so Sharon and I made the trip together.  For those who know Abby, you know that she is usually the one who has everything planned out and is ready for any and all eventualities...so I was a little nervous to see how Sharon and I would fare on our own.  I'm happy to report that we managed to return with all 3 children in tact and even managed to keep them fed and rested and happy while we were away...though we did certainly miss Abby a lot!

The kids picked up as thought they just saw each other last week (and not a year or more ago) and it was very interesting to see how much they've all grown and how much they still resemble each other.  We were fortunate that Ben's moms, Rebecca and Claire, hosted the event at their new weekend home as it was an absolutely BEAUTIFUL place with 5 bedrooms and a big pool in the backyard.  It's wonderful to have this connection to them all and for Jake to continue to develop these relationships with his half-brothers and sisters!!

Well, I think that about catches us up now.  As always, here are some memorable Jakey quotes from the past couple of months...

"Momma, it's not fair (which is by far, his favorite thing to say these days) that you and Nanny get to stay up and I have to go to bed.  You told me that you have to sleep to grow and you and Nanny need to grow as much as I do because Nanny says you're both munchkins."

To his sister this past weekend "You're definitely part of my family because your dad is my dad and even though he doesn't know it, we know it so that's all that matters."

To his Nanny while I was away on a business trip... "Nanny, why can't we ride with the top on your car down just because it's raining?  We each have an umbrella and we can put it up while you drive."  To which Nanny replied... "because a policeman will see us and arrest Nanny for being a nutcase".  Which only made him want to try it more.

"Momma, I don't want to go to mental math today.  Why do I need to know how to do math anyway?  Pops bought me my own adding machine and I can just take it with me everywhere and add anything I want."

"Momma, how old do I have to be before I can have my own car?"  To which I reply, "well, you have to be 16 to drive, but even then you don't automatically get a car when you get your drivers license."  And he said... "OK, well then I want to start saving now for my car, ok mom?  I have that jar of quarters that I've been saving for practicing my piano and doing my math homework, so I should be really close to having enough already."  Hmmmm...maybe for a matchbox car?

After asking why his Aunt Bear had to go and ride her bike in the middle of his birthday party... "Why does Aunt Bear have to ride her bike all the time, Momma?  Does she need money for gas for her car, I can give her some of my quarters?  As long as she pays me back when I'm ready to buy my own car."  Wow, if that's all it took, we'd all give her gas money...lol

Walking out of the pediatrician's office after his 6 yr check-up... "Mom, why did Dr P ask me if I knew the alphabet?  I bet she was confused and thought I was only 3 today."  Hmmm, not likely considering you're as tall as an 8 year old.

After passing his deep water swim test (on the 3rd attempt and after significant bribing to even try again)... "Mom, why did you look so worried, it was "easy peasy".  Well, sure, after I had to drag you here kicking and screaming.

To his friend at the pool... "We have to go now because I have to go and meet "MY posse".  To which his friend replied... "what is a posse?"  Then, with a look of confusion, Jake asked "what do you mean, don't you have a posse too?"

After one of our all too frequent debates about him always being hungry... "Momma, I'm starving!!  Why won't you let me have any more to eat?  I know, you're starving me so you won't have to buy me any new clothes."  Hmmm, would that actually work?

Well, that's probably more than enough for now!  Hope everyone enjoyed the summer...or the blur that appeared to be summer, anyway.