New Milestones and a Few Yikealo-isms

First of all, before I forget again, our numbers for May were: #53 for a girl and #42 for a boy... which means that we've moved 37 spaces on the girl's list and 21 spaces for a boy since we joined the waitlist in November.

 

In other news, we've hit some new parenting milestones this month. Last night was Yikealo's pre-school program, and as of Friday, he'll be officially finished with his first year of "school." He loves to learn and has really enjoyed making new friends at pre-school. Hopefully, some of these friendships can last for a lifetime. After all, one of my favorite people in the world became my friend when we were both in the 4-year old Sunday school class together (yes, Lori, I mean you!)

 

We have also completed his enrollment for Kindergarten next fall. Oh, how I have agonized over this decision: "He will be turning 5 in June - should I start school yet or wait another year? Should I send him to public school or homeschool?" It seems like the current trend is to hold boys back until they are six, but Yikealo is already learning to read, and there's always that niggling reminder that we don't know how old he really is. What if we are able to meet his birthmom when we travel to Ethiopia and we learn that she DOES know how old he is, and he is truly a year older than we've decided? AARRGGHHH!!! (Why do I obsess about these things anyway?) After doing some research and worrying and praying, we've finally made the decision to enroll him in a home-based online public school for next year. So, I will become a "teacher" of sorts this fall, and I'm actually very excited about it. David has felt very strongly about wanting to homeschool for quite some time, and I'm ready to try it.

 

Which brings me to yet another milestone. My little guy lost his first tooth last night. It has been loosening up over the last several months, and for the last few weeks, he has been constantly wiggling it. David and I are both ridiculously squeamish about loose teeth, we have discovered, much to the delight of Mr. Y. He thinks it's great fun to say, "Hey Mom, look at this!" while reaching into his mouth and moving his tooth all over creation, and then giggling away as I shudder in revulsion. Thankfully, my mom came to visit yesterday for the pre-school program, so the boy had an ally in getting rid of the unwanted tooth. (Grammy is not at all phased by little things like loose teeth...how well I remember her slightly sadistic glee in yanking loose teeth out when we were little!) Yikealo wasn't phased either. That tooth came right out, and he thought that all of the blood was really cool. We think that we may have a doctor in training here - he is fascinated by blood and shots and all things medical.

 

And, last but not least, a few recent Yikealo-isms for your entertainment:

• (while walking toward me with a disgruntled look on his face) "Mom, I was running, and I hit myself in the head with the wall."
• (while I was tickling him) "Mom, do you want to stand in the corner? If so, just keep it up!" (I think maybe he's heard this a few times...)
• "Daddy's kisses and Lori's kisses smell like flowers, so I will not wipe theirs off, but yours smell like lightbulbs, so I can wipe those ones off!" (I'm not sure what lightbulbs smell like, but hey, apparently any excuse will work for this kid to wipe off my kisses.)
• "Mom, this porcupine is DEE-licious!" (while we were eating shredded pork sandwiches.)
• "Stop up-tating me!" (said whenever we imitate something that he has said.)
• "Mom, I'm trying to get comfy, but I cannot, because my bed is too bony. Can you please take me to your bed?" (He'll try anything for a chance to sleep with us.)
• a few weeks ago, he begged to go with David on a quick errand to the grocery store. David acquiesced, on the condition that Mr. Y was not to beg for ANYTHING while there. Yikealo agreed readily, of course. Moments after entering the store, Y stopped beside a display of vanilla wafers (one of his favorites) and said, "Hey, Dad..." David shot him a warning look and said, "Yikealo, you promised not to beg for anything," to which Y quickly replied, "I'm not asking for them for me! I just thought that maybe YOU would like to buy them, since YOU really like these!" Ummm...yeah....can you say "manipulative"??
• Several days ago, after listening for quite some time to him barrel around the house beating on the metal lid to his Tinker-Toy box with one of the plastic sticks, I finally lost my temper and said that he was driving me insane, and if he didn't find something quieter to do there would be trouble. A little later, he decided to share a new song with me. It is sung to the tune of "The More We Get Together" and it goes like this:  "Sometimes Mama is a grump-grouch, a grump-grouch, a grump-grouch. Sometimes Mama is a grump-grouch with her little boy."  As I'm sure that you can imagine, his composing talent didn't do much to improve the mood of his mother...on second thought, maybe it did, because it IS making me laugh now! Anyway, this weekend, while reading through some old Calvin and Hobbes comic books, I discovered a strip where Calvin is stomping through the house beating on a pan with a spoon. His mother finally loses control and shouts, "Will you stop that awful racket? You're driving me crazy!" The final panel shows Calvin in front of his check-marked calendar triumphantly saying, "And a check mark for Tuesday!"  David has been calling Yikealo "Calvin" ever since...