Friday, September 23, 2011

Sleepover

Blog by Grammy

“Grammy? When will we get there?” Matty asked while we drove to my house for his first sleepover away from home without his parents. 


When I picked him up I went inside to sneak in some time with Samantha but Matty kept yelling from downstairs, “Grammy? Are you ready to go yet?”  Laurie looked a little melancholy as he ran out the door with his suitcase and not a second glance back.

During this car ride I was informed of all the star wars toys he has, wants, and wants to know more about. I told him that we had to make a quick stop at the barn to give my horse Dakota some hay and water for the night. 

He told me that there is a Darth Vader costume at the Halloween store, that he wants me to buy for him.

“How much money do you have?” he asked.

“$20.”

“That is how much the costume is!”

Imagine that!


I knew he was anxious to go play Star Wars with Uncle Kevin so at the barn I tried to hurry through our chores. 
At home I told him he had to wash his hands because they were muddy from outside. This got us talking about how we both like mud pies and he invited me over to make mud pies with him the next time it is a “muddy day”.

Kevin surprised us by decorating our living room with a S.W. theme.  He even put up a poster with the whole cast of characters. They spent a lot of time looking and naming the characters on that poster*.
Decor

While they talked Star Wars I sat on the couch to read a book. Grammy? Grammy Who? They settled into a video game and at one point when I went downstairs to put some clothes in the dryer I heard Matty shout, “Wait! Wait!”

Frozen in my tracks I grinned like the Cheshire Cat.

It turns out that he was talking to Kevin about the game instead of to me. Now I understood how Laurie felt earlier! 

Grammy who?

I let Matty stay up late until 9PM.  When I brought him upstairs to my room, I plugged in the baseball shaped night light he brought from home and tucked him in. 

“Goodnight Grammy,” he called to me when I was going back downstairs.

My niece Laurel was also staying over and when I got downstairs to chat with her for a bit I heard little footsteps from above and then coming down the stairs. Matty came strolling into the living room with a big smile on his face. He wanted to say goodnight to Laurel.  He came down a second time to ask if he could bring one of his S.W. toys upstairs to bed with him. He came down a third time to ask when I was coming up to bed?
Anyone going to sleep at this sleep over?

 The best part of the night for me was getting to snuggle with Matt!  He was still babbling on and on (I’ve never heard anyone talk as much). When we were drifting off to sleep, he said, “ I wish that I could live here and bring mommy, Samantha and daddy too. “

My last though before drifting off to sleep was how lucky I was to have him in my life. 

*Note to self: remember to take down the poster in the living room. 

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Dreeeewwww!

On Saturday we went to Drew Bledsoe's induction into the Hall of Fame at Patriots Place. He is the quarterback responsible for our generation of Patriots fans so it felt important to be there.

“Dreeeewwww!”

We chanted along with the crowd when he was being introduced.

“Is he a bad guy?” Matt asked. To someone who had not been born when Foxboro Stadium was still around it sounded like the crowd was booing.

“No,” I told him, “We’re saying his name, Drew.” 

“Blueeeeeee!” Matt joined in.

Close enough.

Drew began his speech with an inspiring quote by Nelson Mandela about sport having the power to change the world.

“Who is Sport?” Matthew asked to the amusement of us and the people standing nearby.  

Fans on the stairs

Drew making his speech

Sleeping

Matt getting a better view

Still sleeping

A second view on the screen

Picture taken by Matt

Friday, September 16, 2011

Playing School

Matthew carries his desk chair out from his bedroom. He drags it to the spot in front of his chair exposing the underside of the front door rug in the process. 

“It’s circle time,” he announces.  Dutifully I sit on the floor with Samantha next to me in her bouncy seat. As class helper I had been instructed to fill out the attendance sheet. 

Aside from Samantha and I the other classroom pupils are of the stuffed animal variety. Matthew takes out a red sword to show us and in a bossy tone asks, “Now what is this used for? Does anyone know?” 

After a long visual tour of swords we move on to story time. He takes a book called 1, 2, 3 Pop off the shelf and ‘reads’ it to us.  The book pages are illustrations with sight numbers but he makes up the words to go along with the pages.




The teacher

Circle time

Attendance list

 Matthew tapes a line made  cut from construction paper to the wall. “Now it’s time for below the line.  What are some things that are above the line and some things that are way at the bottom of the line?” This is an exercise they do at his real school to set expectations and rules. 

After a brainstorm session on this topic Samantha is starting to get hungry and starts to suck on her hand.  “We need to take a break now, “ I glance at the clock to see that it’s already past dinnertime.

“Okay,” Matthew puts his scissors down. “School is all over but come back tonight for our opening house.”

Friday, September 2, 2011

Sweet Endings


Today I took the kiddos apple and raspberry picking.








After the farm we stopped for ice cream. Matthew told me that he wanted chocolate. 

“With jimmies?” I asked.

“What are jimmies?” he asked.