A very typical Aaron drawing.
Math is your love language.
My Aaron Buddy,
You started counting down to your birthday about 3 months in advance. Every morning you'd ask Google, "How many days until September 16th?" Actually, it was usually several times a day. Thank goodness Google has infinite patience...
This year has had ups and downs for you. You went through phases where everything was going well and you were very content, but soon we'd find you being upset and frustrated by something none of us really could figure out. Probably something to do with communication or comprehension.
You got a new speech teacher this fall and she's amazing. She thinks you are doing great and is planning on re-testing you soon with the assumption that you will test out of services. Woo hoo!
You are still a charmer. You love people and are constantly asking when we are "going anyplace." London is still your buddy at co-op and you're happy to play with any of your church buddies. You don't really care who it is: you'll play happily with anyone.
I struggled this year deciding where to put you in school. You miss the cutoff for public school kindergarten by 16 days, but co-op gave me the option to put you in K anyway. I originally opted to keep you in Pre-K, but I soon realized that the group this year was much younger than it was when I taught last year (closer to age 3 than age 5). They were working on identifying letters and sounds, while you were starting to read. They were doing basic counting while you were exploring fractions and negative numbers (did I mention how much you love math?). In October we bumped you up to kindergarten. I'm still not sure it's right--you often tell me how boring it is (which is sad! K should be FUN!). But you still get to go to Pre-K on Wednesdays, so I think you're appeased.
First day of Kindergarten!
Your biggest irritation in life is Elise. You like order and rules and she is chaos personified. But as she gets older I'm seeing more and more moments of you two playing together. You love to hide and have Elise look for you. "Elise! Come find me!" She'll hunt you down, squeal with delight and then you'll do it again. And again. Hopefully you'll see more of that Elise and less of the Elise who takes your stuff and draws on your sacred notebooks just to see you freak out.
You really, really hate cleaning up and will often miss dessert because cleaning is "too hard and I need someone to help me." But when someone does help, you tend to just sit and watch them clean...
You spend a lot of time drawing. Looking through your notebooks is one of Dad's favorite activities. He'll often end up in tears as he examines your crazy, detailed scenes. Generally they're like some little boy version of a Bosch painting. "Is that a depressed cactus wearing a tie?" But you always know exactly what's going on and can explain everything, even if it makes no sense to me or Dad.
You are entering the little boy stage of gross jokes and silly humor. You love to make people laugh.
You are a perfectionist in many ways. You refuse to draw on any paper that is not completely pure (meaning you reject all the 'printed on one side' paper I've specifically put aside for drawing). You will also throw away any toilet paper that doesn't tear off perfectly from the roll. You like things a certain way and any deviation is cause for a meltdown.
You love to help me cook. Sometimes I dread the mess and the slower process, but your enthusiasm always makes it worth it in the end.
You are still my best friend. I love your snuggles and your constant questions. I love your cheesy grins and your squishy cheeks. I love your completely unique mind and seeing how it tries to make sense of the world. Happy fifth, my best friend!
