First Grader

Looking at our last several posts, I feel somewhat flummoxed that all of them are about the baby and don't have any mention of my amazing first born. So I will dedicated this entire post to him so that I can ease my conscience. This past summer has been a unique one for our little family. It began with us moving from on campus student family housing that we have lived in for ten years. Yes, ten years. No they didn't kick us out or even give us a reward for living there so long! We actually were very sad to leave and each time I drive past I shed a few tears as I reminisce about the wonderful times spent there. We moved to our new apartment in June and have enjoyed getting to know our new neighbors and ward. We have tons more space here with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. We even have a hot tub and swimming pool and have enjoyed swimming most evenings when Bill gets home. I have been avoiding the sun like a vampire since it makes me really sick and having sun stroke
while your pregnant is not the something I would recommend! We have therefore spent most of our time hanging out at home all summer. No camping trips, trips to the Shakespearean Festival, nothing, nada, zip! Liam had a total of 16 days of summer school over the course of June and July. At first I was apprehensive and felt like a huge failure as a mother because my child had to attend summer school. However, it was actually one of the best experiences that Liam could have had this past summer. He had a wonderful experience and learned tons and tons of stuff that had previously evaded him. He will continue to work with the prevention specialists and his teacher specializes in working with kids that struggle with math and reading. We are so grateful that his teachers and school staff are willing and able to
work with him to overcome his individual issues in school. We feel very blessed and fortunate that he is able to continue at his school this year. Its a huge reason we are living here in Logan while Bill commutes to Salt Lake for work each day. We were hugely concerned for Liam's education as we discussed his particular situation with his teachers before the end of the school year. We felt that it was not in his best interests to move him to a different school just yet. So we are going to see how this year goes and if we can help him overcome some of his learning issues. He is attending a charter school that has access to amazing resources that we would not have easy access to very easily elsewhere. I am hopeful as I have watched him become excited about school over the course of the summer. I have been working intensely with him all summer and I am watching a slow fire
building in him. He is starting to enjoy school and learning. He is a super intelligent boy, that isn't the problem. Its more like maturity and behavior stuff that comes with time and patience. Last week, I took him to his school to show him where he would be dropped off each day, where his locker and his classroom was and how to work the lunch room. Since that day he has been asking over and over again when he would be starting school. This morning, he was up, in the shower and dressed before I had his breakfast on the table. As he was eating his waffles, he kept telling me, "Mom I am so excited to be going to school today. I feel like a new Liam." When I asked him what was making him feel like a new boy, he said, "I think my new clothes are making me feel like a new boy." He was so excited about going to school today that we left 30 minutes early and were the first people to arrive at the school. The halls and classrooms were empty as we were able to capture lots of great pictures of Liam's first day since no one was around! He kept telling me how excited he was and that he just wanted school to hurry up and start. I can hardly wait to hear from him how his day went. I hope he has a great first day that will lead him to having a great second and third day, etc. I hope he makes some friends, listens to his teachers, and that he keeps feeling that little fire inside of him growing as he develops his own love of learning.