HBD Mason

Happy birthday, buddy. Mom took the entire day off today, and I took off at noon to celebrate your birthday with just us three. We went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch and then to AMC to watch Minions: Rise of Gru at 1:30. After that, we picked up Charlotte, ran some errands and came home. Mom made a great steak dinner and then we played Fortnite together. We got 1st place two times in a row.

It’s really crazy going to the movies as a kid, and then going back to the same movie theater 25 years later with your 8 year old son. It makes me want to stop time. I know I say that all the time.

Your 7th year was incredible. We rode bikes, you lost teeth. You got straight A’s except for one B the entire year. You started BJJ and got a 2nd place. You jumped in the deep end and swam to the side of the pool. I could go on forever. I’m extremely proud of you, and super sad it’s over. Year 8 will be amazing, I love spending time with you. Honestly, you’re the absolute best. I can’t wait to do more things.

Love, Dad

Fall 2021

Not much time has passed, only two months, but so much as happened so quickly. Your mother got into a small wreck August 31st. She was driving down Thomasville Road, and it was raining real bad. There were some cars stopped in front of her, she braked, but the car hydroplaned. She rear-ended a black car, and somehow hurt her foot. Apparently, she was putting on brakes very hard with her right foot, it came off the pedal or something and she fractured a bone in the top of her right foot. She had to have surgery to put a small metal plate in her foot. She’ll have another surgery next month to get the plate taken out. The car wasn’t even messed up bad. It had a scratched bumper and a dented hood. So, she’s been scooting around on a knee-scooter for the last month and crutches. It’s not easy chasing you guys around on crutches.

Next up on the big events for the Fall of 2021, Mason started Brazilian Jiu Jitsu! I think we started the day of mom’s car crash or the day after. There is a new martial arts gym that opened just a couple of minutes away from the house. I took Mason by to see what it was all about, and Shane, the head instructor, got him to just attend a class to see if he liked it. Mason loved it, I signed him up, and he’s been doing it ever since. So far, it’s basically Mon – Thursday night every night at 5:30 pm. He’s only been doing it for about 6 weeks, so he’s real green, but he is showing so much promise. He’s really enjoying it. One of the most important things that he’s learning is how to lose. It’s hard growing up with parents that are 100% praise all the time for every little thing that their baby does. Mainly because they’ll start doing something like public Jiu Jitsu classes, and they’ll start getting their butt kicked in everything all the time and it’s a wake up call. It’s hard to be a good loser. It takes patience and understanding of the big picture of what you’re trying to actually accomplish with BJJ. There’s so many little things he’s learning, and its great for him as a person overall. I highly recommend a very personally accountable (individual) sport.

Oh, and deck building is going great. Love you guys!

Love,

Dad

Trouble in 1st Grade

Yesterday, I got an email from Mason’s 1st grade teacher:

Good Morning,

Just wanted to reach out and let you know some things that have been happening at school with Mason in the past week or so.

He is playing with things in his desk, things he brings from home that should not be out during our learning time (playdoh, rocks, legos, coins). This morning he was playing with something and lied and tried to hide the object he was playing with. He is not using his words and is being very aggressive towards his friends, pretending to punch or hit them, and getting in their faces to try and get their attention.

I have talked to him about these behaviors at school, even had him turn his desk around so that the opening is no longer facing him and moved him in line to get him away from people I thought might have been causing issues, but it does not seem to be working.

Could you please talk to him about not bringing toys or other objects to school with him, and using his words more instead of acting the way he is towards his classmates? I know it is the end of the year and they are getting older and probably bored with the school year, but with second grade right around the corner I want to make sure he is prepared, and some of the behaviors he is showing are distracting him and others from learning and the end of the year is an important time in 1^st grade!

Thank you!

Brittany Crawford

First Grade Teacher

DeSoto Trail Elementary School

5200 Tredington Park Drive

Tallahassee, FL 32309

I was a little surprised. We have been asking about how you were doing at school, and thought that everything was pretty normal. I had no idea that you were doing any of this. Mommy said that when she picked you up at school yesterday, you told her you cried at school because Ms. Crawford had already said that she wrote a message to mom and dad. Mommy said that you cried in the car on the way home, too.

I thought about how to handle the situation for almost the entire day at work that day. I decided to try and be as understanding as possible, and to let you know that we needed to come up with a plan to keep you out of trouble in the future. From now on – you need a plan to keep you busy and you need to make sure that you aren’t doing anything that’s going to get you in trouble. I know that it’s going to be hard, Daddy did bad in 1st grade too and I got in trouble. It’s hard to not be bored all the time. It’s hard trying to not goof off all day when you already know what’s going on. Last night, I told you that you needed to be thinking long and hard about coming up with a plan to keep yourself from getting in trouble. You are super smart and I know that you’ll come up with a good plan. You’re at school without Mommy and Daddy and that the decisions to do things are just you. If you need to ask questions – do it at home when you are with us. We’ll come up with a plan together. Tell Ms. Crawford when you are bored, ask her if there is anything you can be doing to keep yourself from getting in trouble.

Basically, because you and Charlotte and I are all identical, I know exactly what you’re going through. Charlotte’s going to be the same way. If it isn’t exciting, you’d rather be doing something exciting. End of story. Your brain is going way too fast for all that boring stuff. I’ll try and come up with something… I don’t have all the answers yet. Maybe tomorrow. Love, Dad