Leon has had a very distinct, very persistent cough when the seasons change for the last few years. I thought he just had some mild allergies until his bus driver moved him to the back of the bus because he was coughing so much, after which it occurred to me that that’s not just “normal” allergies.

So his allergy testing appointment was today. Within a minute of getting tje “shots,” he started screaming bloody murder and crying that his back itched so much, but all I could do was blow on it and hold his hands to keep him from scratching. It was a horrible 15 minutes, and in that time, his back lit up like a Christmas tree.

He’s allergic to Bermuda grass (an extremely common lawn grass here in the south), all wild Texas grasses, some seasonal fall weeds, dust mites, and MOLD. The welts that had him screaming the loudest were mostly the mold ones.

I’m honestly really shocked. I expected the doctor to just tell us it was probably an upper respiratory infection and send us on our way. I just wanted to take him to that appointment to cover our bases. But even the doctor and nurse seemed surprised by how many reactions he had at his age.

I feel horrible that I just assumed it was a seasonal cold every time. Sure, hindsight is 20/20, but Minh and I don’t really have environmental/respiratory allergens like that, so I kind of just assumed he wouldn’t either.

So he’ll have an inhaler going forward to help with the cough, and we’ll start regular allergy shots to hopefully help his immune system. And probably some Claritin too.

I exported our vacation video yesterday. Leon had a blast, and it was so fun to watch him experience new places/foods/etc with unfiltered wonder and excitement. But the video probably shows it better than I could describe it…

​Leon choked last night.

He’s fine, we spent a few hours in the ER last night to check his lungs for any aspiration. We’ll monitor him for any weird coughing over the next few days, but it seems like we’re in the clear.

He was eating jackfruit with Minh. He loves jackfruit. He ate too fast and started to hunch over and show signs of choking.

Minh immediately jumped up and patted his back a couple times. When he realized that wasn’t getting the food out, he jumped up and did the Heimlich.

He was still making some vocalizations while choking so it seems like his breathing was never fully cut off, but he was so scared. He cried for a while afterwards while we consoled him.

It happened so fast. From the time he started showing signs of choking to the time he coughed up the food was less than 20 seconds.

But I’m still haunted by it. I felt so helpless and unprepared. Minh was great at jumping right into action (he said he didn’t even think about it – it felt like someone else was controlling his body, like a religious experience). But I more or less froze.

It’s something you hope never happens. I thought we were in the clear on choking (for the most part) since he’s so much older, but now I feel so paranoid. Can a kid get adequate nutrition from  only eating applesauce and yogurt?

I know almost every time I post an update I say it’s been a long time, but it’s definitely been a long time this time.

Leon started first grade at his new school last week! All the kids in the first grade G&T program are new to the school, so he wasn’t at any disadvantage. He was SO nervous the night before — new school AND riding the bus — a lot of new things! He kept asking about the logistics and confirming his bus number, room number, etc. We watched him get on the bus and then drove to meet him at his classroom for the first day. He was still a little nervous, but by the time he got off the bus in the afternoon… it was like night and day. He was SO proud of himself and confident in being able to do it again. I was so happy for him — I absolutely knew he could do it, but after that, HE knew it too.

For the past 6+ months, Leon has been absolutely obsessed with Link from Zelda. He and Minh worked through Breath of the Wild, and then Tears of the Kingdom came out, which was great because a few kids at summer camp would play it and it ended up being a good talking point for them. He’s just worked his way through the five hardcover manga books by Akira Himekawa, and he’s currently saving up his allowance for a couple Link “lego” sets. He’s decorated his sleeping area with his Zelda books, a Link drawing a friend made for him, and his Link/Bokoblin stuffies. His room also has a “Link wall” with a Link + Van Gogh poster and some Perler bead art of the Master Sword and Hylian shield that he and I made together. He likes to use a cheap plastic sword that he got at an arcade a while back, tuck it in the back of his shirt, and sneak around the house pretending he’s Link. Even though I don’t know as much about Tears of the Kingdom as he does, I love how excited he is when he talks about it. ❤️

I had major reconstructive surgery on my foot a little over five weeks ago, and I’ve been in a cast and using a knee scooter ever since. He has really enjoyed helping me — fetching me LaCroixs and opening doors for me. ☺️ And Minh taught him how to do my chores while I was on bedrest, so he’s even been loading and unloading the dishwasher (minus the knives) and putting the dishes under the cabinets where they should go. In addition to the dishes, he has an entire checklist of things to do after school before he can play, and he’s been great about getting through it without help. (They’re mostly simple things, like empty your lunchbox and hang up your backpack.)

Speaking of playing, after years of being too shy to speak to the neighbor kid (who is almost exactly a year older than him), they finally started talking to each other and made fast friends. They spend almost every afternoon either at our house or at hers. I’m so glad he gets some socialization with a kiddo who’s already pretty social — sometimes they even get in little arguments, and without any prompting from me (I’m just a nosy fly on the wall), Leon’s able to explain that he was upset and why, and then they work it out. Sometimes that’s more important than the academic stuff. ❤️

Leon brought home his worksheets from the year, and in going through them… man, this kid was SPILLING THE TEA. I know the teacher knew ALL our family’s business.

Some nuggets that Leon journaled about throughout the year:

• We went to the mall so Daddy could try on clothes that fit
• A picture of Daddy and Leon walking to school with an explanation for why Leon was late
• Daddy lost his camera on Halloween night (with a picture of someone finding a camera and shouting “Free!”)
• How to throw a boomerang so it doesn’t get stuck in a tree
• Mommy waking up (with a picture of wild hair)

Today, we got the notification that Leon got accepted into a special school for gifted kids, starting next year!

He’ll have to take a bus and get up early, but he’ll basically have G&T all day long and won’t be bored anymore! The teachers also have extra training for teaching G&T kids.

There were only 44 seats for all of the gifted soon-to-be first graders in the district, so we weren’t counting on him getting a seat – but he recently told us that he’s one of only two kindergarteners at his school who get pull-out services for G&T, so his odds were actually not too bad.

Anyway, we are so excited and proud of him. We celebrated with pizza and smoothies tonight (his choice), and I bought him the most recent Dog Man book, which comes tomorrow.

Me: “Did you just eat the whole box of crackers?”

Leon: “No! I ate them this morning while you guys were sleeping.”

Leon crawled jumped into bed on Saturday morning and volunteered to tell Minh and me a spooky story.

I recorded the 5-minute story and transcribed it. Imagine it told in a spooooky voice with a flashlight under the chin:

The fire dragon could spray out 100 meters of fire! When the dragon sprayed out fire, the other people run away from the dragon because they are not gonna like the fire. The fire is really hot, all the way to 55 seconds to burn! And if they touch it before 55 seconds, it’s gonna be a little bit hot. But if they touch it after 55 seconds, it’s gonna be BURN from ever and ever and ever! So if you put your hand at 55 seconds, don’t touch it, because you don’t know if it’s going to be after or before.

Let’s learn about the people now. The people in the story had to run away because they did not like the fire. The fire, remember? It was 55 seconds to burn. WELL, the fire can explode or burn or break. If it gets on the road, it will definitely break. Or in a house. Burn, burn down!

The knight. The knight is a mysterious, trying to fight the dragon to save the people that are scared of the dragon. The dragon is ’bout 700 powers inside its body. If it touches you, it’s gonna be [?], and you’re gonna be burned anything from the dragon’s fire powers or any power that he has. If he has fire, each power in his body is gonna be 200. Or it can be maybe, like… any else number. But it can’t be under 100. It can be 100, definitely.

If knight touches the fire, the knight will be burned too. If the dragon touches the fire, he will still be alive. But if he touches guns, he will have less powers or less energy.

“How fast can the dragon run?” is what we are asking now. How fast he can run is up to maybe… 200. Or bigger, like a billion. BUT — remember from the fire, the fire breaks up, it will be burned.

Leon N., November 2022

After visiting NYC this summer, Leon wanted to be the Statue of Liberty for Halloween! What he didn’t realize was that goofy tourists come included 😜

While trick-or-treating, he noticed a plane flying low to the ground and said, “Hey guys, LOOK – there’s a PLANE!!! … 🤔 … Why would anyone be flying a plane when it’s trick-or-treating?”

Minh has learned (the hard way) that he can’t just say, “we can get up early tomorrow and play board games all day.”

Because when your kid comes barreling down the stairs at THREE IN THE MORNING ready to play, you realize you probably should specify an actual time. ????

They did end up playing games all day – but they started at 6 ????