My Brandon is Growing Up .... Too Fast!

The past two months Brandon has had a lot of first, which means I have also had a lot of firsts.  Brandon started kindergarten!  This was a big deal!  He is in the dual immersion Spanish program, which means half of his class speaks Spanish as their first language, and half of his day is spent completely immersed in Spanish, teacher, classroom, students, everything in Spanish.  He was a little nervous at first, but then, while at the open house, he saw how many of his friends from church and preschool were going to be in his class and he wasn't scared anymore.

 Rachel is one of his very best friends. :)

 In honor of September I really wanted a wreath for my door and some new décor for the entry way.  I like how my two projects turned out.  School supplies make me happy. :)

 First day of school photos. :)

 A few weeks after the first day of school it was Brandon's 6th birthday, and the Walk-a-Thon.  So I spent a good part of the day in his class room, reading stories to the class, sharing Brandon's birthday treat (brownie bites) and walking with his class.  It was a fun day for me and Brandon, and it was great to get to know his teachers Mrs. Mason and Senora Sabey a little better.

 I was also able to meet some of Brandon's newest friends.  Antonio is one I hear about a lot, they sure had fun doing the walk-a-thon together. 

 Cute story about Antonio; one Friday I had debated whether or not to send Brandon to school, he seemed like he might have been getting sick, but I wasn't sure, so I sent him.  While he was working on centers, he wasn't feeling well and just didn't feel up to doing the writing assignment.  His substitute (a good friend of mine) told me that when Brandon started to cry, Antonio came over and said "It's ok dude, I'll help you do the writing."  How cute is that!  And I was worried that he was getting Brandon into trouble, with their playing during inappropriate times - I am not nearly as worried now.

 Brandon loves his teacher Mrs. Mason the best, as do many of the other children. :)  He is learning to like Senora Sabey as well, even if she "talk's funny".

 The next day was Brandon's official birthday.  Grant gave him three model airplanes from the movie "Planes".  Brandon was very excited to have some toy planes.
 I gave Brandon an Imagenex Castle, which he was excited about, but he wanted to know where the dragon was that goes with it.  Fortunately his last present was from Jared and it was the dragon.  :) He had his eye on both the castle and the dragon for several months and hoped to get it for Christmas, but I was not convinced it would be a good gift so I put it off, after months of asking for it, we decided to get it for him for his birthday.  I am so glad we did.  After opening presents we went to his second soccer game and then came straight home to play with the toys again.  We had plans to go to a dinosaur museum, or some other fun place, since we were not doing a friend birthday party this year, but Brandon was so engaged with his castle and dragon, we couldn't tear him away from it, and why should we.  He was so happy with his toy.

 To be fair, Jared and I were also completely enamored with the toys, they are so fun!! Then Chandler (Brandon's cousin) came over to spend the day, which added to Brandon's fun play, and his friend Elias also came over to visit.  The four boys had a great time playing together.  It was a wonderful day!

 Lunch at McDonalds made it even better. :)

 And to top of a wonderful day, we spent the night doing and ice cream cake with our friends the Brosnahan's.

 The next day (Sunday) my family came up for dinner and more celebrating.  I am so grateful that both of my grandma's and my grandpa live close and are so healthy that they can be a part of all our family celebrations.  Brandon is very lucky!

 Grandma Julie and Grandpa Ron as usual spoiled him rotten and gave him a scooter, which he and Grant are thrilled with, new books, and a very fun golf set.  And Chandler gave him a very fun build your own car race track; it was a hit with all three boys!!

 Brandon in gratitude gave everyone several hugs, but Grandpa Ron managed to get the most. :)  I adore this picture so much, even if it is poor quality.

 I made Brandon a crocodile cake (cupcake style) it was so much easier, and it was still super cute and fun.

 I think he liked it. :)

 Man oh man I love this darling boy!!!!

 As if starting kindergarten and turning six wasn't enough, Brandon lost his first tooth (legitimately) a month later.  It had been loose for a while, but finally on boys night it just fell out while he was eating pizza, he was thrilled - it was much less traumatic, that pulling out your own tooth (which was perfectly healthy and intact) by chewing on the chord to grandma's blinds.  I think his new smile is positively adorable!  His bottom two teeth are also loose, so he is going to have a darling hole in his mouth real soon. :)

I am in awe of how big my little boy is getting.  I am sure I will never get used to his growing up.

Some fun things about Brandon:
* He is a great friend. Jared and I are little amazed at how social and popular he is.  I am also a bit exhausted with all of his play-dates.  He is playing with someone nearly every hour of every day, usually 2-3 play-dates in one day.  I am positively torturing him if I tell him it is a calm day with no play-dates.  Some of his best friends right now are: Rachel, Jason, Blake, McKell, Kennedy, Bella, Antonio, Boston, Oliver, Oslo, Nicole, Elias, David, Brock and Cody.  He has standing play-dates every Wednesday with Rachel, every Monday with Oslo, every Thursday with our ward play group, and weekly play dates with his carpool friends Jason, Blake and McKell.
*He is a lady's man.  One of my good friends from my ward who works at the school as an aid to kindergarten refers to Brandon and his friends as Brandon and his little harem, because there are usually 4-10 little girls following Brandon all over the playground playing.
Funny story #1; on the second day of school I was asking Brandon all about how his day was and of course we came to recess.  I asked him who he played with and he said Rachel, I asked what they played, and he said they were just running away from the other girls trying to be alone, I asked him why and he said he and Rachel wanted to go on a date, I wondered what they did on their date, and he replied, "oh nothing, just sat there".  Then I heard from a few other mothers that their daughters were rather upset that Brandon would not play with them. 
Funny story #2; during the summer a large mob of children were playing either at my house or one of the three houses across the street; pretty soon all the kids came running to me to tell me that Brandon and Eden had kissed, ON THE LIPS!  They were amazed and shocked and it was a big deal to them, but I tried to down play and simply tell them not to do it again.  Well they did, Two More Times!!  I still down played it, I mean a kindergartener and a 2nd grader kissing (that right he was going for the older girl :)) didn't seem that big of a deal to me; in fact I completely forgot to mention it that night at family dinner.  Then while we were having Family Home Evening that night on our front lawn one of our good friends (Brock's dad, and a big jokester) drove by, and stopped to tell us that their dinner conversation had revolved around Brandon kissing.  Well Jared was surprised and very proud of Brandon.  After a humorous chat, Pat left and Jared agreed that we should probably talk to Brandon about what is appropriate with regards to kissing.  the conversation goes as follows. Jared - Brandon it is not okay to kiss until you are 12.  Michelle - WHAT!?!?!, why 12?  Jared - you know because when you are12 you start "going" with someone.  Michelle - WHAT!?!?!?  Pour Brandon was probably bewildered, and Jared and I were laughing a lot!  So I pulled out The For The Strength of Youth Pamphlet and we read about dating (never thought I would need to read that with my then 5year old).  Since then I am happy to say that Brandon has not kissed any more girls. :)
Last Funny Story; When I went to volunteer in Brandon's class a few weeks ago one of the girls, Macy, told me that she and Brandon we best friends and they needed to have a play date (not sure I can handle any more!) she then INSISTED that I write down her phone number so that I could call her mom and schedule a play date.  Goodness sakes, really?!  I have yet to call, because I don't trust it to be an accurate phone number, but now every time I go into his class room she is asking me when I am going to call.
*He adores baby's.  If there is a baby in the room, he becomes very uninterested in other children and only wants to hold and take care of the baby.  He is often very good at making them giggle and at entertaining them, but he starting to think he is big enough to pick up these helpless children, and they are less than enthusiastic about that.  I am very hopeful that he will be a great and very helpful big brother when Trent is born, but I fear he is going to be a little "too helpful".
*He still LOVES animals!  And he can tell you just about anything about them, if he has to stay home and not have a play date you will find him watching a nature show on TV, reading one of his many animal books, or playing with his vast collection of animals.  He loves his dogs, even if they do not love him, and he loves all the neighbors dogs - however he will scream and run if a big dog surprises him and is running to him, we are working on that. :)
*He is becoming a great reader.  He can blend, with encouragement any one vowel word, and he know nearly all of his sight words.  It is such a joy to have him read to me, or to listen to him read to Jared when Jared gets home; but my favorite thing is how willing he is to sit down with a stack of books and "read" them to himself, or to watch him "read" stories to Grant.  I am currently reading The Magic Tree-House series to him and Grant and they both love it, YEA!
*He loves fishing and spending time with his dad.  I don't even want to count how many times we have gone fishing this summer and autumn.  Jared and Brandon are in truth the only two fishing, but Grant and I do enjoy being their in the beautiful nature and watching.  Brandon loves to hold the fish and release it when he or Jared catch one.  Brandon loves his dad!!  Boys night, fishing trips, grocery shopping outings, and watching nature shows are his favorite way to spend time with his dad.
*He is very good to remember hugs before he leaves anywhere,  even if it means he has to turn back and walk (or ride his bike) back a few houses to give me hug.  I am so grateful for this and hope he will always be willing to show love.

I love my Brandon boy, our little man, our BCB, toothless slipper foot, animal man, and big boy.  I can't wait to see what growth and change comes to him in this next year; well maybe I can, it is bitter sweet, that's for sure.