Addendum to Conversation with Kate: Will's perspective

Me:  Will, Kate said she wasn't sure if she'd love me if I were ugly and stinky.  What about you?  Would you still love me?

Will:  Oh, sure, I'd still love you.  I just wouldn't hug you.

Easter/Birthday Recap

Easter Sunday just happened to be Will's 7th birthday, so we had two reasons to celebrate.  Here's our day in pictures:

This is actually the day before -- egg dyeing.

Will really got into it

Not sure what brought about this spontaneous show of affection.

First thing in the morning we had our Easter Egg Hunt

That crazy Easter Bunny left Will a bow and arrow!

He had to promise not to point it at any living things -- especially his sister.

After the egg hunt, it was time for birthday presents.

Here's Will opening his birthday card from Kate.

She gave him bubble gum (or gubble bum, as she calls it).

He liked it enough to give her a hug -- a sure sign of a good gift!

My science book got a more mixed review.  He'll appreciate it later, I'm sure.

But the biggest hit of the day?

One that requires a helmet?  And lots of padding?

Roller blades!  We wasted no time testing them out.

While Will tried out his new skates, Kate rode around on her bike.

And picked flowers in the forest.

Finally, we had some cake -- Easter Bunny birthday cake, carrot, of course!

Football (Soccer) Tournament

This weekend was Will's first soccer tournament.  He's been playing on a team since October, and to say he's not very enthusiastic about it would be an understatement.  (As it would be to say he's not very athletically gifted in this area. Is that too mean to say about my own son?  The boy is no David Beckham, that's for sure.  It's not exactly surprising, considering his parents...) But it gets him out and running around, burning off some of that insane little boy energy, and in my mind, that's a good thing.

At the tournament this weekend, his team lost all of their matches and ended up in last place.  Well, in all fairness, they tied for last place.  I don't think the boys minded too much.  They had fun hanging around and being silly--something Will does excel at--even if they lacked a common language.

He looks surprised because he didn't know I was taking his picture.  That's the only way to get a shot of him these days! 

That's Will in the front.

Awarding of medals at the end.  Everyone got a medal! 

Will hiding behind his friend after he realized I was taking his picture.

The artwork Kate did on my iPhone during the FOUR hour-long tournament!

I'm of the opinion that kids need to stick with an activity long enough to ensure that they truly hate it -- several months at least -- and then they're free to quit and try something else. So, Will's counting down the months till June when I told him he could stop playing.  But -- shhh, don't tell anyone -- I think he might be having just a little bit of fun.  Not that he would admit it.  It helps that his best friend (who speaks English) is on his team, which has made it much more fun for Will.  It'll be interesting to see if he decides to continue when the time comes!

My big boy

He may be six years old now...
He may be in real, full-day school...
He may be reading Harry Potter to himself rather than listening to Good Night Moon at bedtime...
He may roll his eyes and mutter, "Oh, Mom, please!" when I try to hug him in public.

But he still sleeps with the precious little kitty* he's had since he was nine months old.

...which means he is not THAT big of a big boy, right?

*This is THE "Kitty," the one for whom he begged me to knit a pouch so she could accompany him to preschool, tied to his belt loop, the one who sparked countless frantic searches around the house, the park, half the city of San Francisco, when she inevitably went missing again. (Note:  Don't let your child become attached to a friend who is only three inches long.).  On one of her more memorable escapades, Kitty accidentally accompanied Daddy to Amsterdam--and, of course, sent regular photo updates to Will sharing her adventures.

From Will

Today in Canteen at lunch, my friends, Clarence and Elias, and I said, "L'addition, s'il vous plaît" to the French chef.  That means, "The bill, please."  We thought it was funny but the chef didn't.

From Will

I like Luxembourg but I would change two things:

1)  There should be more sunshine

2) People should speak the same language as me

From Will:

I like Luxembourg because of the snow. There was some snow in the backyard when we got here, and that was fun, but there's no snow now. My teacher's name is Mrs. Turner and my other teacher is Mrs. Kearey. Their handwriting is different (cursive) and it's really hard. One kid knew how to do it the right way; he was so good at it. I was super bad. We did get to watch a movie in school today, though. It was pretty good.

FROM KATE:

I can't wait to go to Luxembourg!  But staying in the hotel has been nice because it's super good.  They have Corn Flakes for breakfast and my other favorite part is the hot tub.  Luxembourg is going to be fun and snowy and Sleeping Beauty lives there, I think.  Or there are castles anyway.  I'm going to dress up like Sleeping Beauty at my new school every day.

FROM WILL:

To all my friends, please write me letters or postcards.  If you send me something, I will write you back.  If you want my address, please email my mom:  jenniferrabalais@yahoo.com

(It's 98 cents to send a letter there.  You can just drop it in the mailbox if you have correct postage on.)

From Will:

I want to stay for three years now in Luxembourg, not just two.  I hope there's a lot of snow.  Mom says there's not snow all the time, but I think she's wrong.

Moving to Luxembourg

FROM WILL

I am not sure about how I feel about moving to Luxembourg.

Things I am excited about:

• snow!
• taking European trains to the beach
• going to the Tin Tin museum in Belgium.  There will be a Tin Tin movie coming out in 2011, I think.
• really good hot chocolate in Belgium.  There's also good hot chocolate in Luxembourg.  They give you a big chocolate spoon and you stir it into a cup of hot milk.
• having a house with five stories.  I am so excited about that!  (I also want to have my own office but Mom says she's not sure if that's going to happen.)
• having swimming lessons at my new school

Things I am not excited about:

• I will miss my class and I want to do swimming with them in the United States
• I will miss Brendan and Isabella and Sassa and all my friends and my cousins and family in the USA
• I'm going to miss my Uncles and all my grown-up friends too
• Missing Mrs. Neilson and all my teachers and friends at North Shoreview

I think that's it.