Gabriel's First Year of Preschool

Gabriel's first year of preschool went by so quickly it seems.  The zoom isn't quite right on the second set of pictures, but here are two from the first day and then two from the last day. . .

He just got so much bigger.  He doesn't look like a little kid anymore to me, but like a more confident little person.  As for preschool, Gabriel simply loved it and was asking two days later when it was time to go back again.  He's excited that next year he gets to go three days a week and be in "the big kid class." His teachers were both wonderful and very patiently worked with him and his chattering self this year.  It wasn't always easy to get straight answers about what he did there every day, but I do know that he had several boys that he talked about a lot and considered his good friends.  He was rarely one of the kids in trouble, but when he was it was for not being able to stop talking.

There was a performance the week before school ended.  They recited verses and poems and sang lots of songs.  Gabriel had mentioned to me several times that when they were walking up to the stage to sing he had to put his finger over his lips to remind everyone to be quiet.  He brought this up several times during the day leading up to the performance.  When I went to drop him off with his class on that night he completely melted down and was crying and begging me not to leave him. I found this strange for him and stayed until he was ok with me leaving.  One of his teachers mentioned to me that he had told them that morning that he was nervous.  Well come to find out Gabriel was the first one to walk into the church with all of his little classmates following him.  No wonder he was nervous, having to go first.  He never mentioned that to me, or maybe he said it in passing and I wasn't paying attention.  At any rate, after he was done we took his first trip to Dairy Queen and I told him to order whatever he wanted.

End of the year performance

Field trip to the library and the park

Now that preschool is done for the summer I'm not really sure what Gabriel is going to do.  He has so much energy and constantly needs to talk and pretend.  There are days when I tell him that I'm not going to play "Batman" any more and I don't want to talk about it either.  I feel mean doing that, but I can only handle so much of that.  He's going to "Super Hero" camp in the mornings next week where he takes his Ninja Zone classes.  I'm not sure if this will get it out of his system or just make him want to play it more (I'm planning on the latter).  Most of Gabriel's waking hours are consumed with super heros, Legos, running laps around the house, making random noises, attempting to play with Corban and then accidentally hurting him, listening to CDs in his room, and looking at/reading books.  It's fairly predictable.

Dash/Robin

Gabriel's observation from the back row:
"Daddy and Pop Pop don't have very much hair"

During spring break (sometime near the beginning of April) Gabriel came to Corban's Romp n' Roll class.  He was really excited about it since he used to go there a lot.  Well, he was running full speed while looking that the ceiling and his left eye had a full force collision with the forehead of another little girl.  Her forehead came out ok, but Gabriel got a massive black eye.  Right about the time his right cheek and busted finger were healing up.  The skin around his left eye is still a little discolored.  I would say that he's going to wear a football helmet from now on, but then he'd just feel more indestructible and start doing even more crazy things.

Gabriel is truly in love with Legos.  He got some new ones for Easter and another set that he had really been asking for when he reached lesson 75 in his reading book.  He used to get really upset when what he built came apart (usually because Daddy had helped him build exactly what the box described), but now he's getting to the point where he's coming up with his own vehicles and planes.  He does some creative things and can really get focused on it during rest time in the afternoons (although we're back to having forced nap more than we used to.  This kid needs more sleep).

Who knew cheap kites from Wal-Mart could be so much fun

We recently went to see the Roanoke Children's Theater's production of "Elephant and Piggie: We are in a Play!"  Those sure are great books and the performance was really fun too.  Random note, but before the performance started I told Gabriel that we should go and use the bathroom.  His response was a very long explanation of why we couldn't, which really boiled down to the following - "We cannot use the bathroom.  There are bathroom criminals.  They have been sent by the Chinese government.  Their crime is that they keep us from using the bathroom."

Gabriel has brought up many times lately that he needs to go to college and then get a job (all of this originally came about after explaining that one of his beloved babysitters will be going to college next year).  He has decided that he wants to move to Atlanta and go to Georgia Tech.  I asked him what he will study and he said "I'm not going to study.  I'm going to teach there Mom!"  Last week he very specifically said that he was ready to grow up and leave home.  The following was the basic conversation:

Gabriel: Mom, I'm ready to grow up and leave home.  I think that I'll do that next Wednesday.  I'll need a car to get to my new job in Atlanta.  Or maybe I'll just walk there.
Me: Buddy I think you'll need a car.  That is a really long walk.
Gabriel: Ok Mommy, can I just have your car?  You can give me your car right?
Me: No

He has also mentioned several times that when he grows up he's going to be a preacher "like Pastor Chris."  When I asked him what a preacher does he said "they stand in front of the church while everyone sings."  When I asked what else they do besides that he said "I don't think they really do anything."  I wonder what he thinks Taylor is doing every day when he goes to work?

So, that's Gabriel in a nutshell, minus the tales of his whining and tantrums, loud obnoxious noises, making up strange words, and generally pushing boundaries.  Those aren't as fun to recount.  So, to close, a picture that he requested that I take, because "we need one of me in my bed!"