The Journey of Parenthood…

Kye Monthly Summary: January 2016

This post covers Kye’s month of January!

The BIG DEAL this month was that we finished Star Wars! We watched them in release date order (4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3) and I do wish we’d ended them with 6 rather than 3. If/when we watch them all again I’d like to do 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, then 6. I like the hopeful ending to 6 rather than the downer of 3. Kye was pretty upset as well at 3 and it was a lot for him to understand at his age. He LOVED watching them all with us and it was SUCH a fun thing! Zach and I equally enjoyed it just as much as Kye did 🙂 And I only fell asleep for like 20 min during one action scene in all 6 movies, not bad! 

On a Saturday this month we got a sitter to come to the house (thanks Jolee!) to sit with the girls and we took Kye to see the newest Star Wars in theaters. It was SO GOOD! We all loved it! I was a little nervous going into it as I decided not to research the movie in advance. Researching them gives away a lot and I wanted to be surprised too! I’m SO GLAD I didn’t have anyone spoil anything for me! We all thought it was great and it was so fun having a “Kye day” together!

Kye brought in his candy from Christmas!

After finishing up the movies it’s been pretty hardcore Star Wars fever in our house. Kye got a few things for Christmas (but will be getting MUCH more this week for his birthday!). He got this puzzle from his stocking (dollar store find, as was the huge Star Wars candy cane!) and had fun putting it together!

All month he would wear underwear on his head and say he was a jedi master. He kept teaching Britt the ways of the force! Clearly the kid needs some Star Wars themed dress up clothes hahaha. 

I found a free game through Toys R Us where Kye could complete 4 “missions” (simple look and finds) and then go into the store and receive medals for each mission completed. It was a very simple little game for him and he LOVED it! We had a date one Saturday morning where we went to get the medals and got some lunch together at one of his favorites (Subway!). 

Even luckier for Kye was that during our date we had SNOW FLURRIES in VALDOSTA! Whoop whoop! We were freaking out. You can see a couple of them on my windshield! I know it’s not much of anything but it was an exciting moment for us 🙂 

Catching snow! (All like 3 flurries ha!)

Medals!

While we were out we went to Toys R Us to add some items to his birthday wishlist! I mean could they have any more Star Wars merchandise?!?!?

Even Subway had a Star Wars themed kids meal! Kid was in heaven!

Love our special time together!

It’s hard to believe Kye is already starting the 2nd half of his 1st grade school year! He’s in such a great groove and was sad to go back to school but also excited. I’m especially SO HAPPY to see how much more he enjoys Discovery! Very thankful that he’s so well adjusted to the new school! 

He came home with his goals for 2016…it says: I want to be a better football player and golfer. I want to try to play bowling. I want to learn art. I want to do play bowling and go with dad (bowling). 

100th day of school!

Kye at 100 😉 Still handsome!

This made my heart SO HAPPY. He wrote his favorite thing about Christmas and he said “Eating cookies. Unwrapping presents. Giving. Spending time with my family. I care about love.” It doesn’t get any more precious than that!

His school PTA (which I’m a member of but have not participated in a single thing…I just can’t justify getting childcare for my other kids so I can go sit at his school?!) sent home candy graham cards for Vday and I told him I’d pay the $1 for him to do one if he wanted. He sent it to his “girlfriend” and told me he didn’t know what to say. I told him that girls really like to hear why you like them. I love what he wrote “Can you come to my house sometime? I like you because you make good choices” I hope that keeps being his main concern when in the world of dating!

This month Kye got off the bus with his head literally buried in a book! He’d gotten his first chapter book from the library and he read the ENTIRE THING in that one day! When he got home he was on page 26 and he finished it all that night and got a 100 on his AR test the next morning. It’s just so crazy to me how just last year I remember feeling like he was the lower end of the reading skill level and now he’s zooming through legit books!

He’s LOVING these Magic Tree House books and they seem to be, so far anyway, filled with appropriate content! I love that HE loves reading!

I really tried to soak up a lot of quality time with Kye over the break. Kye is ALL about family which is so sweet and he truly enjoys spending time with me. I’m so thankful for the bond we share. We played checkers together (he murders me) and he let me sit and watch him build legos (he wouldn’t let me actually touch the legos other than in the beginning when I was allowed to help him organize everything hahaha Control Freak like his Daddy!). 

Zach and Kye built this lego “mat” together over the break! It folds up and can slide under his bed and then he can pull it out and open it and the lego boards are attached to it for play!

Less than a month after Christmas and he completed EVERY SINGLE Lego set he’d gotten! He did these all 100% on his own! I think we will be spending a lot more money on Legos in the future…any good tips on getting them at a discount price?!?!

My friend, Ashley, sent me this as she was a sub at Kye’s school and her son and Kye swept the floor together. I love that Kye has such a helpful heart!

It’s so funny to me how I avoided tablet/phone/computer use for so long and now Kye has homework on the tablet most nights! He plays educational games (XtraMath and Scoutpad) and has had NO problems understanding how to use the tablet. He never used one until 6 years old and it’s been a non-issue so for those parents who worry about their kids being “behind” if they don’t let them use technology…don’t stress it! They won’t be behind one bit! Kye was the first in his class to “graduate” from the addition portion of XtraMath!

This break was probably our best yet. Britt and Kye are arguing less and less and Tess is getting old enough to be really fun! I loved watching them all together…Kye is THE BEST big brother in the WORLD!

Kye very rarely needs to be disciplined. Typically if we have any issues at all with him I can trace it back to him not getting enough rest. Now that he doesn’t usually sleep at nap time (unless he has had a later night up the night prior, like our Star Wars nights) night time sleep is even more vital for him. One day he was overly tired and I told him he was making poor choices because he needed rest. I found this note under my door: “sorry mom I don’t want to play checkers. I’d rather get some rest. I need it. I want to but I can’t.”

More About Kye:

  • Along with checkers Kye and I played Super Tick Tack Toe this month and it was the first time either of us had played it. He blew me away which how he just instantly understood the game and how quickly he beat me!
  • He got his report card this month and a report on his reading level (you can see both here)
  • His favorite song is “Tunnel Vision” by Justin Timberlake
  • His favorite game is Sorry
  • He does the funniest voices…he can do both a British one as well as a very country one! I’m TERRIBLE at voices so this is def something he got from his Dad!
  • He was VERY upset about Aniken Skywalker choosing the dark side.
  • I have to be very mindful of portion control with him (read more about portion control here!) as I noticed with our snack nights while watching Star Wars that he will just EAT and EAT and EAT junk food and not notice that he’s eaten enough. 
  • This month we had an issue on the bus that was very upsetting and concerning for our family. I wrote more about it here and I’m very proud of how Kye and his teacher handled it all. Since then Kye has been allowed to play with the boy again at recess and just recently (almost 2 months after the incident) I did tell him that it’s okay if they sit together on the bus again. Since the incident the boy has been sitting across the aisle from Kye so they could still talk but not be close enough to mess with Kye. I’m VERY proud of Kye’s ability to show love and to forgive in a tough situation. I pray it doesn’t happen again! 

Emily Parker
Latest posts by Emily Parker (see all)

You may also enjoy:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *