Wednesday, September 23, 2015

When Nanaw picked Chase up Wednesday morning, he wanted to go to school right away (It was 7 a.m.) Nanaw told Chase school was closed, and that it would open at 8 a.m. When they got home, she showed Chase the clock and said when the big hand got to 8, they would leave for school (that would be 20 to 8). Chase sat at the kitchen counter to eat breakfast and keep an eye on the clock. Just about when it was time to leave, Nanaw took Chase to the bathroom, then they got ready to go. Chase looked at the clock and said, "It's past. Come. Let's hurry!" (The big hand was one minute past the 8 -- it was very cute.) In the classroom, Nanaw looked for the Above the Line, Below the Line chart, but couldn't find it. But she did find the children's artwork, and she took a photo of the monster picture that Chase made. On Friday, Nanaw will have Mama help look for the chart or they'll ask Ms. Merz. (Mama has the day off Friday -- she's going to spend the day with Uncle Mike.) When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, the first thing he said was, "I'm above the line." Nanaw asked why he was above the line, and he said "I played with the new box." So Nanaw doesn't know what that means but it's good that Chase is above the line. Chase and Nanaw's adventure for the day was a trip to the little playground in the park next to the Columbia Library. There were several children there but unfortunately, they all had to leave. Chase played a little on the playground, then did some walking on the trail and exploring the fountain. He didn't seem to want to stay without any little boys and girls there. Nanaw thought maybe he didn't feel well because he felt warm when they got home so she put him down for an early nap.

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Chase's adventure on Tuesday was a visit to Powder Valley. He met a little boy named Jake, and Jake's sister Taylor. The three of them played together for quite awhile. Chase kept wanting to stay with them, and I explained to their grandmother that Chase liked to make friends and would it be all right if we followed them around. The grandmother was very understanding and was fine with that. It was fun to watch Chase and Jake visiting the various displays and talking to each other. Nanaw couldn't understand some of what they were saying but they seemed to understand one another. Surprisingly enough, Chase was fine when it was time for Jake and his sister and grandmother to leave. When Chase and Nanaw got home, they went downstairs to play with the trains and then outside to the deck to play with the sandbox.

Monday, September 21, 2015

As usual, Chase was excited to go to school on Monday. When he got there, he put away his "portant papers folder" and moved his name stick to the correct place, then began playing with tiny dinosaurs. While Nanaw was waiting to pick him up from school, she talked to the other Chase's mother, who told her that artwork and names were hung up in the classroom. She said there's also a chart with above the line, below the line and bottom line, detailing how the boys and "grils" are behaving. So Nanaw is going to look at it on Wednesday. Chase says he's "below the line" and that he makes "bad choices." Maybe Mama can find out what that means when she and Nanaw take Chase to school on Friday. Chase had two adventures after school -- first, he and Nanaw went to the little playground next to the Columbia Library. There were several little boys playing there, and Chase was delighted to play with them. After the playground, Chase and Nanaw went to the Telegraph Road library to pick up the Finding Nemo movie.

Sunday, September 20, 2015

When Nanaw went to visit Chase on Sunday evening, he was still in his high chair, finishing his dinner. Mama had just returned from a baby shower, and she brought cake and cake balls. Chase and Daddy spent the day together while Mama was gone. After Chase was finished with dinner, it was time to play a game. mama had promised that they would play a game on Sunday evening when Nanaw came to visit, and Chase was happy about that -- he likes to play games. And Mama likes to play games, and she's very fortunate to have a built-in game partner with Chase. Chase got to choose between CandyLand and the Richard Scarry game. Chase chose the Richard Scarry game. Chase has learned how to play it much better since the last time Nanaw played it with him. Everybody had a fun time, and Chase was really cute playing the game. His favorite thing is putting the "finding one glasses" on the search objects.

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Chase and Nanaw had two major adventures on Saturday. Mama and Daddy went to the Mizzou football game in Columbia, and Nanaw got to spend the whole day with Chase. First, they went to a pumpkin farm on highway 47, on the way to Aspenhof. The farm had two bounce houses, one for little children and one for older children. Chase went in the little one first and had a great time bouncing and laughing. Then he went in the bigger bounce house and liked that one even better. He played in there for a long while, until some big boys and girls came in and started doing gymnastics. Nanaw had Chase go back to the little bounce house. Then Chase spent a long time on a big slide that he really liked. He tried to ride the little tricycles but his legs were not quite long enough. Chase and Nanaw went through a maze of bushes called the Win Maze, and they got well and truly lost. It took a long while to finally find their way out. Of course, Chase didn't want to leave the pumpkin farm but Nanaw promised they would come again in October when Mama and Daddy go to a wedding in Oklahoma. After the pumpkin farm, Chase and Nanaw went out to Aspenhof, much to Chase's delight -- he loves going out there. They had stopped at the Goodwill store on the way, and Nanaw bought Chase a big red dinosaur-looking truck thing that he picked out and absolutely loved. The red thing caused a problem in the evening when Mama came to pick up Chase. He wanted to take it home, and Mama said he had to leave it at Nanaw's. Chase got upset. Mama promised he could bring it home for a sleepover sometime next week.

Friday, September 18, 2015

Nanaw finally took two pictures of Chase at school -- she'll have to remember to do more. When Chase came out of school, he was loaded down with his backpack. Inside were the Entertainment coupon books that Daddy sold. Chase told Nanaw he had "two 'portant' papers" in his folder, and he did -- the newsletter and the religion lesson that Mama and Daddy are supposed to review with him. Chase and Nanaw stopped by Nanaw's house to get snacks to take along on their day's adventure: visiting the children's play area at the headquarters of the County Library. Nanaw has this new plan where she and Chase visit the children's play areas in all the branches of the County Library. Chase was very pleased by the play area and played with the toy kitchen and vegetables. He jumped around on the puzzle piece shaped cubes. He played for a minute on the children's computer but didn't seem very interested in it. The library has children's display windows on one of the outside walls, and Chase was delighted with that -- especially since one of the items on display was a little yellow duckling just like his Gracie and a "green guy" Yoda figure. The displays are totally random children's toys -- Nanaw tried to make sense out of the displays but had no luck.