It's been a while since the last update so there's going to be a major picture dump and explanation of pictures in no particular order.
Most recently, Matthew competed at a Math Pentathalon Tournament. He's been attending math club after school every Friday since last November to learn and practice the 5 different games at this tournament. He didn't practice much at home so we weren't sure how well he was going to fair at the tournament, but he ended up losing his first game, winning the next three and ended the 5th game with a tie, which earned him enough points for a bronze medal. He had fun doing math club but already told us a while back that he's not interested in doing this again next year. At least he's exploring different areas of interest! However, I think math is still a favorite subject of his. According to him, he's the best at math in his class because whenever his teacher Ms. Olszewski announces a math group assignment, everyone wants to be his partner! I asked him if he always chooses the same person to be his partner and he told me that he usually tries to pick someone different each time. He also stopped just giving away the answer to whoever his partner is but instead tries to make sure they understand how to solve the math problem. So proud of him for being so considerate of other people's feelings and for being so helpful!
After moving to Hampton Elementary, Matthew applied for a position on student council. It's a group of about 30 3rd-5th graders from his school that meet monthly to help their school be a better place for students. They organize events like spirit days, perform skits for the younger kids to teach them about how to treat people kindly, run the school store (pictured above), help raise money for the school, etc. Their list goes on and on so I think they focus on a few major project year. He's been enjoying getting to know kids from other classes and grades and wants to continue to do this next year. It was an excellent way for him to get to know the school and it helped make him feel more a part of the school since he missed out on the K-2nd grades. It will be interesting to see his leadership tendancies will carry over into his middle school and high school years.
Video games isn't a new thing for him, but since finishing the basement, we have hooked up the Wii and we also recently purchased a Nintendo Switch that he loves playing with. In unpacking some things from the storage room, I also found an old-school video game plug in that I got for my birthday one year, a long time ago! He found it amusing how "old" the games look but is not impressed at all with Pole Position....a far cry from Mario Kart on the Nintendo Switch!
He has been getting more interested in helping me cook and has been experimenting by himself in the kitchen (well, I still keep an eye on him just in case...). He received a cookbook for Christmas and has made lemon bars twice. He's also gotten the recipe for making kale chips down and most recently prepared a bag of waffle mix so that he can make waffles on the weekend. He knows how to enjoy his waffles by adding ingredients like chocolate chips, strawberries and whip cream He also has been watching Master Chef Jr and is inspired by the jr cooks, but my lack of skill/patience/energy and time to clean probably don't do him much good. I'm thankful that doesn't completely deter him from wanting to be in the kitchen. Maybe we will have our own little master chef in a few years!
Matthew continues to be great big brother/big cousin. Madio always prefer to be with him over Sophia and I think it's because he's much more patient/forgiving/easy going. Sometimes when he's sitting there reading or watching TV, Madio will go over to him and sit on him or climb/crawl all over him and he acts as if nothing is going on. So thankful for how he loves his family and looks out for them.
His third Upward basketball season ended in an epic tied game where he shot free throws for the first time...and second time. The first time we tried getting a video of him but he might have been too nervous seeing us recording in the stands and missed both shots. The second time we decided not to film and of course, sinks both shots! Fortunately, we had a friend that caught this on camera:
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