From Petru

In the car this afternoon, sounding very frustrated:
"Mom, it is so frustrating when the thing you wanted to invent has already been invented"

Happy 13 years

Happy 13 years to Chris and me. We pre-celebrated by listening to Liz Weil's interview on "Married (Happily) with issues" on public radio. Today I got red roses and 2 games picked by Petru and Chris - PERFECT presents for ME. One of the games - Pachisee - was a game that Chris and I used to play everynight in Romania during our 8 months exile...Petru has theater rehearsal tonight up to 8, which means a short run and nice dinner at home.

End of the school year

I have a few minutes before I have to get dressed to go to Petru's end of year slideshow. Petru is already outside - this morning he was up at 6am, prepared the little presents for his classmates (because today is also a birthday celebration for him since his actual birthday is in the summer), brushed his teeth, ate breakfast, unpacked and packed his backpack without any reminders. Wow!

Yesterday I picked him up from afterschool around 5pm. I try my best not to have him sit there by 6pm, although I don't think he'd mind. He was watching a group of 5 kids play pool, patiently waiting his turn. He asked to stay a little longer so that he can have his turn, and I agreed. He started playing with J, a kid who has teased him in the past. They were both playing nicely. Petru had no idea how to play and was holding the stick awkwardly. J's father showed up and was the big cheer leader for J which was a bit comical. P did so well. He ended up losing and J said "I won, you lost" and P said "I lost" with a visible sad face. We left and he was sad, but I was able to comfort him and tell him how proud I am of how he handled this loss. I told him that I wouldn't have been more proud has he won; he played a game he had not played before, took a chance, lost but had fun in the process. His face demeanor changed. When Chris got home we praised him for this again.

I remember hating to lose as well. I was lucky and generally much more athletic than Petru, and also an internalizer. Somehow I managed to be the leader and have all the kids want to play with me when I was his age. Much easier for me that way. I did not lose often, but when I did, I worked very very hard to improve. This is something I want to instill in Petru as well, and I think both Chris and I are doing a great job with this so far. Visualize and make it happen, do your best while accepting that sometimes things might now work out the way you envision them to, problem solve and adapt, and never give up.

Time's up. Off to the celebration and then to work!

Update

June 17, 2013

I am sitting in the Arlington Children’s Theatre watching Petru rehearse for the Little Mermaid. I have been here for 2 hours and have finished all the work I brought with me. Then I remembered the blog. This past week I shared the blog with Petru, now an almost 8 year old. He loved it. He laughed hearing about how he used to be, the conversations we used to have, and how he made sense of things when he was much younger. This motivated me to get back to the blog.

So lets rewind and update first.

Petru is almost done with 1^st grade at Dallin. He had a great year, with lots of learning for him, but mostly for Chris and me. This year shattered many of the parenting believes that I used to hold, and helped me grow so much as a parent and as a person. 

Some highlights of the year:

We took  a trip to Florida to see cousin Landen and  meet cousin Oliver. Petru and Landen had a ball (and several competitive arguments, ha!). We went to Legoland, we went to Wet and Wild (water park!!!) and enjoyed time with Buni and family.

We took another trip to North Carolina where we spent time with cousins Izzy and Michael, and played a lot of mini golf.

Some favorites:

Traffic lights continue to be huge

Drawing

Mini Golf

Water park (memberships for Watercountry have again been purchased this year).

Music – Taylor Swift is big nowJ

Piano

Petru started Russian Math this year and has been doing very well. Amazing to see him strive in that environment, and go from being unable to sit and work through any problem that was not “easy”, to trying to figure things out on his own (and succeeding). I think he inherited Chris’s math geneJ More importantly, he is super proud of himself and often announces that “I am good at math”.

More recently Petru took off with his reading. I think this is a function of reducing the computer time.

He continues to take piano lessons, and has his second recital tomorrow afternoon. He will be playing “chimes”, which he composed, and Rodeo. He has been working on learning how to play “I knew you were trouble” and is excited to play it in front of all his friends on Monday.

Pictures some other time..

Two marriges in one week?

I will do an update post in a little while, but thought I'd share the important events of the past week.
On Thursday last week Petru had a playdate with E from across the street (age 5). He and E have not been getting along, primarily due to different personalities. Nonetheless, things went really well on Thursday and all of a sudden I see them making rings out of plado and having a "pretend wedding{. E: "You know, we can get married, we don't have to do the kissing thing, I mean, if you don't want to". P: "Yes, no kissing, that is gross, and no kids. And you know, if we keep fighting, this is not gonna work out".
+++
Fast forward to today. Rainy day. I was working in the living room and H, Pi and Petru were talking in the room next door. All of a sudden I hear H and Petru talk about getting married.
H: "I wanna marry P".
P: "I wanna marry H".
AM: You know, P, you already married E.
P: Oh, no!
H: Does she want kids? Because I wanna have kids.
P: Yes, I wanna have kids.
H: OK, we can have a kid.
P: You need to change the diaper.
H: Yes, since I am the woman, I will change the diaper. You need to have a good job.
P; Yes, I will be a policeman and drive a fast car.
Pi (H's sister): You guys need to be nice to each other and share the chores.
H: We'll just have the kids do the chores. And Pi, you will babysit so I can have free time.
++++

Petru's first kindergarten performance at Dallin

Petru's school is having a monthly celebration where each grade picks a theme and does a show. Then, at the end of the semester/year (?) they get to present the entire show.

We found out about this over the weekend. We saw Petru looking for youtube videos of "Imagine" sang in sign language, but thought that was another quirky Petru thing. It was not. It was part of the "home-fun". Then, on Monday Petru came home with a note from the teacher that he was chosen to write and read something about "being kind to ourselves". I worked with Petru that evening, and between threats of losing the screen time we got it done. Phew! Then yesterday we got a note to practice for today's performance. Petru read it pretty well as I pointed to each word, but had a hard time keeping his eyes on the words without my help. Lots of rewards and eventually (5 practices later) he got it done. Phew! More practice with Chris in the evening, and we were all happy.

This morning I was a nervous wreck. It is comical in retrospect. Few things make me nervous these days. Petru is a shy kid, and at the Thanksgiving parade he kept hiding and not wanting to participate. I had visions of him getting anxious and concerned. I was literally pacing, holding Chris's hand tight and making sure he saw that we were there. He enjoyed the show and sang and danced with the kids. Really beautiful celebration. At some point they had the song "True Colors" and each kids with a note stating "I am...". Petru said "brilliant", When his turn came Petru of course did a super job. Not anxiety, lots of comfort. He had a ball! Ahhh, is there any habituation to parenting related anxiety?

More pictures

Chess class

After haircut, smiling for mommy during his favorite activity: computer time

Apple picking with Buni and grandma
Popsicles at the Froggy playground with Buni and Mommy
McDonalds playground and shake


Birthday party at Jump On It. Another success


My cake for the 6th bday - per request
Cupcakes for school celebration - per request
Petru's art from 2011
Self portrait