Saturday, January 8, 2022

On Saturday morning, Mama took Chase to pick up his new glasses. She said he really likes them -- of course, because they're blue. She told him he didn't have to wear them all  the time -- just when he had to see something in the distance like the board in the schoolroom, because he's nearsighted. Chase had baseball practice at 10 on Saturday morning so Nanaw didn't to see him. She'll see him tonight at Mama's birthday party. Uncle Mike, Aunt Becky, Jackson and his family will be there. Aunt Becca has Covid so she and Uncle Stan won't be able to come. Chase is looking forward to seeing his best friend Jackson and to doing the "dig" with him -- that's an archaeological toy Aunt Jen got him for Christmas. Nanaw is going to take the chess game along but keep it in the car in case Jackson knows how to play. The boys spent most of the evening in Mama's office playing video games. Nanaw stayed in there with  them mostly. They were so cute -- Nanaw had a great time just listening to their conversations. For awhile, Chase, Jackson and Nanaw played with an app called the Akinator. It's sort of like 20 questions and  it was lots of fun. Dinner came from pizza hut, and Mama ordered five pizzas so there was a lot leftover. They never did play chess. 

Friday, January 7, 2022

Mama sent two shirts for Chase to wear to school on Friday. One was an ICS sweatshirt and the other was an ICS Spirit Wear shirt. Nanaw convinced Chase that because it was 11 degrees outside, he should wear both shirts. They had a discussion about which one to put in first, and Chase insisted that the sweatshirt goes on top because Amelie (a girl in his class) said so. LOL. Mama took a half day off work for her birthday and she and Nanaw had lunch at Tequila’s. Then they went to Hallmark and Waterloo Walmart. They both picked Chase up from school and came back to Nanaw’s house and Mama stayed for awhile before leaving to go home and walk the dogs. In the evening, Mama, Daddy, Chase, Uncle Mike, Aunt Becky and Nanaw went to Joe Boccardi’s for Mama’s birthday dinner. Chase had spaghetti and did a lot of drawing — Mama brought along crayons. Back at Nanaw’s house, Mama opened her birthday presents and they had cherry chip cake and cookie dough ice cream. 

Thursday, January 6, 2022

Daddy had the day off work on Thursday so he took Chase to school. In the morning, Nanaw had her doctor's appointment for her back. She got a steroid prescription and back x-rays. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, she stayed in the car as long as she could because it was 20 degrees. She got out and walked to meet Chase just as he was looking for her. He said he didn’t have AR or homework but that he had to study for three open book tests: reading, social studies and religion. Chase studied social studies on his own and then he and Nanaw studied questions for the reading test. He is going to study religion with Daddy tonight. He wants Nanaw to pick up the Meltdown book at the library so she’ll do that tomorrow morning after she does her grocery shopping at Telegraph Road Walmart. 

Wednesday, January 5, 2022

When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, he said they had a substitute teacher again. He also said he didn't have AR reading and he didn't have homework either. Mama said she saw a math worksheet in Homework Central but Chase said he did in class. They went to the library before going to Nanaw's house. The audiobook of the Wimpy Kid book came so they went to pick it up, along with audiobooks for Nanaw. Chase also checked out several other books, making Nanaw very happy. She's always wanted him to be a reader, and he seems to be heading that way. On the ride home, they listened to the Wimpy Kid audiobook, and Chase really liked it. Nanaw said she would check about more Wimpy Kid audiobooks and found that there are more than 30 of them. The DNA test for Sylvester from Amazon finally came. Nanaw took it to Mama when she took Chase home. Chase and Nanaw forgot his retainer, and Mama said Nanaw couldn't go home to get it. But Nanaw decided to go to Schnuck's for stuff for meatloaf so she brought the retainer to Chase. She also put up reminder notes in the kitchen about remembering the retainer. Mama sent the last picture to Uncle Mike and Nanaw and is from seven years ago. Mama says it's one of her favorites. 

Tuesday, January 4, 2022

Tuesday was Chase's first day back at school after his 13 1/2 day Christmas break. It was really cold outside, and Nanaw warmed up the car so that they would be toasty warm driving to school. The cleaning lady came today and cleaned Nanaw's oven. It's sparkling clean, and Nanaw is so happy about it. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, he said he had no homework and he didn't have to do his AR reading. Nanaw asked him if he played chess with Cole today, and he said yes. He said the game ended in a draw, with neither of them winning. Evie was their chess coach, and she was watching them play and was the one who said it was a draw. Chase said he thinks both Evie and Cole were in the Chess Club, with Mrs. Hermann as the coach. Mrs. Hermann is no longer there but Chase says if they find another coach, he'll join the chess club. After school, Nanaw and Chase played chess for awhile; then Uncle Mike came so they stopped. Mama came to pick Chase up at a little after 4 to take him to baseball practice, inside, thankfully. 

Monday, January 3, 2022

Today was Chase's last day of Christmas break. And it was a wonderful day. Chase and Nanaw had lots of fun doing a variety of things. First thing in the morning, Chase played with the stuffed animals he brought from home on Pawpaw's bed. He asked Nanaw to find a ball so they could play baseball. Nanaw gave him three balls so he could choose which one he wanted to use. Nanaw turned on PBS Kids for him to watch. He played with his tablet for awhile in the morning but then said he'd played with it enough for the day -- which shocked Nanaw. She doesn't think he's ever done that before. For lunch, Chase had a ham and cheese sandwich, a cheese stick, yogurt and applesauce. For a snack in the afternoon, he had pretzels -- he's quite the pretzel lover. In the afternoon, Chase played with his new robo fish he got for Christmas (in his stocking). Then he wanted to play chess again so they did. Chase won, and that made him very happy. Nanaw still doesn't know what she's doing. Later, Chase and Nanaw lay on Pawpaw's bed reading. Chase was reading the Wimpy Kid book he checked out of the library last week, and Nanaw was reading a magazine. Nanaw put another Wimp Kid book on request for Chase and also a CD book on tape of the same book. She'll see if Chase likes listening to audiobooks. 

Sunday, January 2, 2022

Nanaw went over to Chase's house to visit him on Sunday afternoon before his hockey practice.  Nanaw took the chess game along with her so that they could play chess. They played for about an hour, with Chase teaching Nanaw what to do. Nanaw was impressed by how much Chase knows about chess. He and Mama played the other day, and as far as Nanaw knows, that was his only experience with chess. Nanaw will check with Mama to see if that's the only time he played chess. He was very helpful to Nanaw and so was the game itself and the spinner. It's a chess set made for beginners. Nanaw is going to study the game directions. Chase told Nanaw a move to make that meant she ended up winning the game -- which is very bizarre because she had no idea what she was doing. After the chess game, Chase got out his big bucket of slime, and he and Nanaw played with the slime until it was time for his to get ready for hockey and for Nanaw to leave. Tomorrow is Chase's last day of  Christmas break; he and Nanaw are going to play chess again, play with the kinetic sand and play with Chase's new robotic fish.