"Hey Momma, I lost my tooth at school today!"

Yep, that was the email I received at work yesterday afternoon.  Now, the tooth had looked a tiny bit wobbly, but no where near ready to come out, so this came as quite a surprise.  Then came the picture from Nanny's phone with my smiling boy minus one front (bottom) tooth.

Last night, he was SO excited to put it under his pillow and had a million questions about the Tooth Fairy (surprise, surprise).  I tried to set expectations appropriately by telling him that the TF used to leave me $2 or $3 for each tooth.  To which he replied that his tooth was "really beautiful" and so he would likely get more.

At about 2 am he woke to find the Tooth Fairy had left him $10 and a little note under his pillow.  I'm not sure I've seen him this excited (yes, at 2 am) other than maybe Christmas morning...he was running between my room and Nanny's room telling us all about the money, the note, and the fact that the Tooth Fairy also left Mommy with his tooth (so I can keep it and treasure it always...lol).  Needless to say, none of us got a lot of sleep last night...

To catch everyone up, Jake is now about 4' 3" and around 74 pounds (and when those 74 pounds hit you, you know it).  I just reread my last post from about 5 months ago when he was around 65 pounds, so he continues to grow in leaps and bounds.  Back in November, he tested into the Gifted and Talented Program (GATE) at his school and is enjoying the accelerated work on subjects like Simple Machines and Inventions...subjects very close to his mommy's heart (as an engineer).  He's reading at a 3rd grade level and is doing a great job learning about how you spell words with a new approach which doesn't involve spelling lists/tests.  He continues to struggle with anything that involves drawing as he's quick to tell me that he shouldn't have to draw because "Momma, I'm not going to grow up to be an illustrator".  But he's getting better at at least doing his best to complete the assignments he's given, rather than debate them...or should I say, AFTER he debates them.

He still continues to butt heads with his teacher (regular, not GATE teacher) and we're working on this.  For example, she told me that there was an assignment the class was given to read a one page story and answer a series of questions...  Jake, insisted on reading the questions first, then reading the story and finished ahead of the other kids.  He probably would have been OK, but then when asked why/how he was already finished, he started to "teach" the other kids how it was much more logical to read the questions first, then reading the story since you will already then know what to look for.  As you might imagine, his teacher was not at all happy with him offering his classmates a different approach.  It's easy to see how his approach links back closely to his time at Montessori, where this was encouraged, but it does pose somewhat of a challenge for a teacher with 21 children of differing abilities.  Of course, discussing this with him is also a challenge, because he has really good rationale for WHY his approach is better (or at least he believes he does)!  Something tells me he's never going to be one of those kids who just does what he's told without asking why or proposing a different (better) approach...a teachers dream (not)...actually tough for mommy and nanny too.

Jake continues to excel in Taekwondo and has earned his Jr Orange Belt and is on his way to earning his Orange Belt.  The best part, by far, is that he really loves it.  Master O is fantastic with the kids and they work hard, learn a lot and have a lot of fun.  Can't ask for more that that!  He also continues to do well (most weeks) in T-ball and still seems to really like this as well.  He started in a short, 5 week, class on basketball skills and considering his size, I'm hoping that he continues to really enjoy this as well.  Funny part, he continues to draw, write, eat, etc. with his LEFT hand, but plays all sports (batting, fielding, basketball) as a RIGHTY.  Go figure?

I'm happy to report that he hasn't yet been expelled from CCD and actually seems to be learning a lot and (almost) enjoying it.  He also continues to do FANTASTIC in Piano and has just started with a new teacher who has a much stronger connection with him that the last one.  She's found some select pieces of music that challenge him and he seems to be getting more and more confident with each passing week.  He also continues to amaze us in his ability to learn a song on the piano and then translate it to his little saxophone or clarinet all on his own.  Blows us away!!!

That's it for now!