Fletcher Augustus DeRouen

A diary for our son, by Joe and Andrea DeRouen

Friday, September 21, 2007

I haven't posed to this diary in so long. Fletcher has been in kindergarten at Benton County School for the Arts since August 8. That's six weeks and he loves it. He can never remember what happened during the day but he loves it.

Fletcher is also in the K-3rd choir and rehearses on Wednesday afternoons. He also plays on the Green2 team of the under 6 boys for NWA Lightning. He usually has games on Thursday evening and Saturday morning. He really enjoys it and it wears him out.

Back to the lunch I'm making for Joe and I. We'll pick up the boy at 3 and have a great weekend.

.: posted by Andee 10:15 AM

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Today was Fletcher's first day of Kindergarten, and I was more nervous than we was! But fear not - he had a great, the first of what I'm sure will be many. His school is great, his teacher is wonderful, and he seems really happy to finally be going to school like the big boy that he's become. I'll miss him at home, but it'll make the time spent talking about what he learned in school all the more special. Here's to a great 2007-08 school year for Fletcher!

.: posted by Joe 7:19 PM

Friday, September 22, 2006

Andee bought a new comforter for our bed. When Fletcher saw the new comforter, he asked what happened to the old one. We told him it had a rip in it and that we didn't need it anymore. He was still curious what we'd done with it. The conversation went something like this:

"Where's the old comforter with the rip?" Fletcher asked.

"It's in the back of the car," Andee said, "so we can donate it to Salvation Army."

"Why?"

"So other people can have it."

"Who will have it?"

"We donate things so that poor people can use them."

"Poor people like things with rips?" he asked.

Andee and I broke into laughter. As far as I know, poor people don't enjoy sleeping under a ripped comforter any more than rich or middle-class people enjoy sleeping under a ripped comforter. And, really, it's probably poor form to refer to whoever ends up with our castoff comforter as "poor people."

But the whole thing made me laugh and, later, thing about just how influential language can be. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go find some more ripped stuff - an old shirt, perhaps, and more than a few pairs of socks - to give away to the poor.

.: posted by Joe 9:41 PM

Sunday, December 25, 2005

It's been way too long since I updated this blog.

Today is Christmas, 2005, and Fletcher had a banner year. Santa was very good to him. We enjoyed spending the holiday with Andee's mother, which helped make Christmas even more special for Fletcher.

Santa gave Fletcher a Dora kitchen, a Vidster kid-friendly video camera, and completely redid his bathroom in Blue's Clues motif. What more could a kid ask for? Apparently, a lot more, as we went way overboard this year. He has toys coming out of his ears. But if you can't spoil your kid rotten, well, what good is having one?

I'm filled up with turkey and pumpkin pie and seriously contemplating taking a long winter's nap.

.: posted by Joe 4:39 PM

Monday, October 31, 2005

Fletcher has had his fourth birthday (Blue's Clues) theme and now seems to be growing up fast. It is his fifth Halloween and he is dressed as Blue. He is currently impatiently waiting for it to be time for his daddy to take him to the local mall for trick-or-treating. It's been raining all day long so it will be a better time at an inside event rather than trying to go around to our neighborhood.

Fletcher loves to ride his new bigger bicycle (courtesty of Namaw) and play with toys and play on the computer. He can spell his whole name and several other words. He is very funny.

.: posted by Andee 3:32 PM

Monday, August 29, 2005

Fletcher is very sensitive to the plight of certain cartoon characters. He gasps when Tom of Tom and Jerry is in trouble and recently I watched a Daffy Duck cartoon where Porky Pig was the hunter after Daffy. Fletcher finally said, "When I grow up I will go into that cartoon and fight that pig." I had to laugh (quietly so as not to offend him).

He is at his third day of school today. He should be singing songs about now and I hope he's having fun.

.: posted by Andee 9:16 AM

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

As people usually lament, we have been quite bad about updating this blog. Of course, I'm not sure anyone but the two of us reads it, but it is a good place to keep track of milestones and events in Fletcher's life.

On Monday of this week Fletcher attended his first day of "school." His word as it's just a two-day-a-week Parent's Day Out at the Methodist Church but his first sampling was fantastic for him. He came home telling me stories about what they did on the playground (three boys pretended to be monsters and Fletcher and the two girls from his class ran and hid), that his teacher spilled her milk at lunch, and that he took a nap.

We knew about the last one as he was still asleep when we arrived. Fletcher rarely naps and certainly never at 1 p.m. but he was tired as he couldn't get to sleep the night before. Probably all the excitement.

We'll be taking him back on Friday. I'll pack him another healthy lunch and hope he eats more of it this time. Joe and I miss him while he's gone but love the Fletcher-free time.