Walking (for real this time), lamps and superhero stories

I've spent most of the weekend in our school room. We're on track to finishing up Asher's 1st grade year this week, which means it's time to get serious about organizing things for 2nd grade. I've already ordered most of the text books we'll be using, with only a couple things that haven't arrived yet.

It's amazing to me that I am already excited for 2nd grade when, let's be honest, I can't wait to finish 1st grade. We've been at it since September, including an international move, and I'm done.


But somehow I'm already looking forward to starting back up again in the fall. Maybe it's the same reason why women experience childbirth and then go on to do it again. Selective forgetfulness? Naivety? Sheer stupidity? Who knows.

Anyway, I'll be posting about my preparations and our Summer School Challenge a little later. For now, here's what's been happening here.

First of all, Asa has totally figured out this walking thing. He had taken those first few steps a little while ago, but then it seemed like he disregarded it and regressed to crawling or only walking if he was holding someone's hand. But then, he got it. I mean, he really got it, and there has been no turning back! He was 17 1/2 months old in this video (which, amazingly, has captured literally his very first time walking like this.):





In other (perhaps less exciting?) news, we finally got nightstand lamps for our bedroom. I realize this is a very small, simple thing, but I cannot tell you how happy I am to finally have them. What is it about lamps that totally change the feel of a room?

They're from Pottery Barn. I love them because they're heavy and have rustic-looking burlap shades. We got one for each side of the bed.

Finally, it made my heart glad today when Asher brought me a story he had written all by himself, without anyone telling him to do it. He just did it for fun. I love when he writes for fun!

So, I present to you, The Superhero and his Friend, written and illustrated by Asher Mello:

*Asher has the habit of putting lines between words he thinks are spaced too closely together. That's why the last word of the story, "evil", looks like "levil".