Xavier - Age 7 and a half

 Xavier has finally returned to all in-person school.  He is getting used to going full days, 5 days a week, as he's never done that before.  He was sent home for COVID during half-day Kindergarten, so full days is new for him.  So at around the 1 year anniversary of COVID, he has returned like normal (although still wearing masks).  

Xavier loves being back in school.  They had alternated between hybrid (going in person 2 or 3 days a week, home the other days) and fully remote learning since the pandemic started.  He's staying busy with hockey (through parks and rec), and both lacrosse and baseball start in April.  He was signed up to play basketball through UA Optimist this past winter, but at the last minute, it was cancelled.  We were so bummed because that program was really great last year.

We have been into movie nights lately.  Some movies we've watched as a family, along with ice-cream sundaes or Papa John's pizza to make it more fun, are Mighty Ducks 1 and 2, Beethoven, Cheaper by the Dozen, Uncle Buck and Mrs. Doubtfire.  These are all movies that Steve and I grew up with and they are still big hits!  I'm looking forward to hopefully starting a TGIF routine, like I had as a kid, where we watch Full House, Family Matters, and Step by Step.  These were shows I looked forward to on the Friday night line up and watching with my family growing up.

Xavier's reading has improved greatly since the beginning of first grade last fall.  He went from reading Elephant and Piggie books, that had just a few words on each page, to reading chapter books.  And he's not even through with first grade!  I still read books to him, too.  He's currently into Berenstain Bears, Arthur, Fly Guy (though he's almost outgrown these), and we just started the Stupids series.  He's picked up the Eerie Elementary series books from the library at school and I read those to him.

We've started taking the kids to nicer restaurants.  For Valentine's Day, we took the kids to Lindey's in German Village and the kids got to experience valet parking (so fancy!).  It has become Xavier's favorite restaurant (good taste!) and he keeps asking to go back.  We also like going to Hyde Park in the short north.  He likes the red velvet cake (it's almost a foot tall!) and the big chandeliers.  For birthdays, his favorite place to eat is the Japanese steakhouse because of the fanfare of the singing, birthday pineapple, and sombrero picture.

Xavier is the best eater.  He likes california rolls, edamame, meatballs, broccoli, almost all fruit, but his most favorite food is plain pasta noodles with parmesan cheese on top.