🏆 The End of the First Grade 🏆

I have to brag on my squishy, middle-child for one post. So bear with me. This kid is a star. He was a stand up student, and his teachers wouldn't stop complimenting him during our parent-teacher meetings. 

This year wasn't all rainbows and butterflies...he had challenges. Mainly waking up early in the mornings and reading in Spanish. We need to work on that. 

He loves 'specials', his best friends, and the rewards from the treasure chest. This kid thrives on social interaction and accomplishing tasks. He learned to read on his own and always draws me the sweetest things. He is patient, at times selfish and rough, but also loyal. This kid has been such an extraordinary blessing to me, but I can tell he's gonna be a handful in the years to come. Lil' stinker. He fills me up. 

The thing is, kids can be a whole different person when they get home. Sometimes we struggle with not having enough alone time. Or play time. Or screen time. We also whine a lot about chores and homework. I don't blame him. A lot is being asked of him once he enters that door. 

I try not to overwhelm him and our schedule this year was blank because of it. That meant no Boy Scouts, baseball, or basketball. That meant some of his extra time was spent creatively or building his world in Minecraft (don't judge me). 

He is quite independent. I have said it before, I love when my kids do things on their own without my help. And Jonah surprises me more than I can count in a day. He will build things out of nothing. He will write his own stories, often in series, from Vol. 1 to 10. 

This kid is amazing and I always encourage him to look for a career as a LEGO builder. He grins. 

This year he was accepted into the Gifted & Talented program at school. One of his projects was to recreate a piece of art from his chosen artist. From a list, he picked Georges Seurat. It was all fun and games until I explained to him that Seurat painted in the style known as pointillism. 

He chose the Eiffel Tower and got busy with q-tips and fingers.  

As you can tell from the top right corner picture, he was running out of patience. We took a lot of breaks. Split the work into two days. It was great (for me, not him). He was often heard saying, "it took me TWO DAYS TO PAINT THIS!" to anyone who would listen.

If he mentioned quitting or grew discouraged, I said, "Just you wait and see. The end will be so sweet. It'll look amazing! And you'll be so proud of yourself."

And guess what? 

He said, "This looks pretty awesome!!!!" when he took a final look at his masterpiece. He was quite pleased with himself. 

I'm thinking I should preserve this piece of artwork...maybe he can look back at this and remember his hard work paid off. 

And for those of you wondering, NO I do not keep most of the artwork the kids bring home. I digitize them and store them in my computer. I do not tolerate stacks of paper well, even though my desk is covered in them. I find joy in recycling! 

So during his showcase, he explained to people what pointillism was and what he painted. If you'd like to learn more about Georges Seurat, click here. 

And then the time came to shake it in front of a hundred people and look so handsome as Danny Zuko 😍 

Jonah's little mixed media Robot was displayed proudly in the school's hall...

These are a couple more drawings from his end-of-year art folder, which I love.

He is also ready for Typography 101. He learned to write his name in cursive this year (from watching me do my calligraphy on orders) and hasn't stopped joining the letters together in his name...among other styles. 

All I know is that I'm so dang proud of this goofy kid. He fills me up. He makes me laugh. He is the sweetest dude and I'm proud to be his mama. 

He is entering 2nd grade in the fall--from what I remember, it gets tougher. But I have no doubt he will survive.

In about a month, he will have a birthday. I just can't believe it. Just yesterday I was kissing those squishy cheeks and feeding him spaghetti and teaching him how to walk and aim in the toilet. Lord help me.