One Great Kid

Luke
6.5 years old

 

 

Oh, I sure love this boy.  He now spends more time away from me than with me.  And it bugs me.  On weekdays, he spends two-thirds of his waking hours at school.  I only get a third, a mere 4 hours of his day.  And it just isn't enough.

Thankfully, Luke absolutely loves school.  He is sad when he has a day off and is not excited about a whole summer with no school.  He also wishes he had homework everyday.  Who is this kid?
 

Most of his friends are girls.  At least that is who he talks about.

He is reserved in large group settings, but will let his cute personality out with smaller groups or one-on-one.  Sounds very much like his parents!

On any given day, when I ask Luke what his favorite part of the day was, he will undoubtedly respond with recess or P.E.
 

Hates making mistakes...especially at school.  Very much a perfectionist, this one. 

Has become shy about showing his teeth when he smiles.  It started after he began kindergarten and it made me sad at first.  I felt it was a sign of him losing his sweet innocence.  I don't let it bother me as much anymore.  He will still give me his toothy grin at times and I have come to love his new smile too.  And while he is slowly losing his innocence, he is still sweet.

When asked about his day, he typically keeps his answers pretty short. At other times, he will randomly open up and tell us all sorts of things.

Taught himself how to tie his shoes yesterday.  I tried teaching him before school started, but he became very frustrated with the task.  Drama was involved.  We gave it a rest.  For months.  Then, yesterday he comes to me and says, "Mom, is this how you tie a shoe?"  Yup, it is.

Loves to listen to the conversations between David and I.  I suspected this as he is always hanging around us in the evening.  A few weeks ago he confirmed it by telling us how much he likes to hear us talk together.  We gotta watch what we say around this one, especially since there are times he is so quiet we don't even know he is there!

Is reading and writing. I can hardly believe it. Kindergarten is not like it used to be.
 

Loves his Hip Hop dance class.  When I asked if he would like to take the class with Caden, I got a resounding "Yes!"  I have been surprised at how much he is loving it, and that he dances from start to finish.
 

At Parent Teacher Conference this past month, there were writings of the students hung up on the walls.  Luke's said, "Mckenna is spshll (special) too me. Because she plas (plays) with me. And she likes me!"  Mckenna's said, "Luke is my best friend. We like to play with each other"

I had a mom of a girl in Luke's class call me this week to tell me how grateful she is for Luke and his friendship with her daughter.  Her daughter is experiencing some, newly discovered, developmental delays and this daughter talks frequently about Luke and about how he protects her from others in the class.  This mom cried on the phone as she spoke with me.  When I hung up I cried too.  More than once.  I cried for her daughter who is picked on by others.  I cried in gratitude for our sweet Luke who has the courage to stand up for her.  And I cried because someday it could be one of our children in that situation...and I pray that they will have someone who is brave enough to stand by them.