Oh to love someone so much even though they can be rather difficult. This is the story of Andrew. As the saying goes, with the traits we find challenging now, he’ll either be leading a business or a prison gang in the future. Let’s hope he’s leading a business!
Andrew’s 6th year was an eventful one. He continued to endure a pandemic. He started kindergarten, made a bunch of new friends, became much more independent, and with that, also a bit more of a challenge. The first months of school were easy. He chatted about all the new things they were doing each day and brought home an “I had a great day” note most days of the week. Then he got comfortable…perhaps too comfortable and started testing the boundaries. This all culminated with his first trip to the principal’s office coinciding with his 6th birthday. Oh this boy.
Many of the traits that have gotten him in some trouble in Kindergarten have been there all along. Some of them aren’t even exactly his fault. Being the youngest of 3 brothers is going to naturally make a kid a little bit rougher and tougher since he plays with 2 bigger, older siblings at home. He’s also been exposed to many more things as a kindergartener whereas William was much more naïve at that age. A year and a half of pandemic sheltering didn’t necessarily help his impulse control or emotional maturity as much as being out and about in polite society may have. Andrew has always played by the beat of his own drum, and being the youngest, probably got his way and was protected a bit too often. The stubbornness is probably some genetics coming through on his mom’s side… so Lord help us he’s sweet and salty at the same time, the most lovable challenge we’ve ever had.
Other milestones this year included learning to ride his bike without training wheels, losing his first tooth, his first field trip, and his first soccer season. He’s our right hand man with chores outside and is the most likely of the boys to want to be involved in whatever we are working on. He’s super excited to learn to read and really looks up to his reading obsessed older brothers. He is still the only kid in our house adventurous enough to let me cut his hair into a Mohawk, and has rocked that look twice now. Andrew loves sleepovers (in the basement or his brothers’ room), Slurpees from 7-11, riding his bike, playing Minecraft, and “meat and cheese sandwiches-no meat”. Love this 6 year old to the moon and back!
