Growing Up: Hyrum got Busted

Oops, I think I misspelled the title. That should say, "Hyrum got bussed" and he couldn't be happier about it. In November as we met with the school board about Hy starting school, we had a discussion about whether he should ride the bus or if we would drive him to school. Joy wanted to drive him. She couldn't bear the thought of sending her little baby out on a bus. I was skeptical. "Dear, it's the winter," I said. "You know how much you don't want to drive in the snow. Some days, you are going to call me to walk home from work through the snow to get the car so I can drive him home. Is this really what you want to do?" She looked at me so plaintively that I knew she was sure. To Joy's credit, that scenario hasn't happened once, though I have occasionally driven him to school before work when the snow was bad. She drove Hy faithfully through the snow for months. Brave girl.

But now we're heading to Africa and Hyrum will be taking a shuttle to school (across the street from where I work). Joy is rather set against getting a car there. The reality of needing to put her boy on a bus out there led to a change of heart and she spoke with the school about getting him on a friendly bus here so they both can transition into it.

One week into the bussing, Hyrum loves it. He gets to sit next to his best friend, Tyler (when they aren't pushing and hitting each other) and he is happy and excited every day. The one thing he wants to report to us every day after school is whether or not Tyler said "Arrrr." The problem on our side is that the bus comes to our corner about 6:45, so we all need to wake up half an hour earlier to get him ready on time. We take turns getting him ready and then Joy greets him when he gets home. One day when I was working from home, though, I got to pick him up, which was a major surprise for him. Reward: one happy picture.
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A few weeks ago Hyrum got some belated birthday presents from one of his grandmothers  (our fault). It's hard to tell which he is most excited about: the Backyardigan plush, the MarioParty game for DS to replace the Super Mario game we've been borrowing from my brother for months and will need to return soon, or the Toy Story action figures and play mat. I had left for Nigeria the day after Hyrum's gifts arrived, so he only had one chance to play his DS game before I spirited my toy away. While I was in Africa, the number one thing Hyrum talked about was me coming home and playing the DS game.

Despite that, it was pretty clear who the big winners were: the Backyardigans. Hyrum brought them into his room, set them out in his bed in order (above) and then took Mario, Luigi, and Peach out of his bed and set them on the dresser. We hadn't told him to. He just decided that he couldn't have both and he wanted his back yard friends. Instead of Mario and Luigi or Mario and Peach, Pablo and Tyrone accompanied him to school (until we switched to the bus, and okay, so one day he took Mario and Pablo).

Since then, we've convinced him he can have all of them together. So there are 10 in the bed until the little one says Roll over, Roll over....
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I started reading a book of children's nursery rhymes to Hyrum. He continues to be very interested in poetry. Among his favorites in the book are "The Rainbow Fairies," "Winken, Blinken, and Nod," and "Mud." The amazing thing to me was the other night this week when we sat down to read Rainbow Fairies and he read along with me. I stopped reading and let him recite the vast majority of it without any help. Now when we read it, I'll point to each word as he 'reads' it, sometimes with help. It's a fairly long poem for him.

About two nights ago I asked if he was going to read Rainbow Fairies or if I should. He answered, "You read it. I don't read much yet."

Relatedly, as he got in his pajamas today I was going to help him. He stopped me and said, "I'll do it, Dad. I'm good at that."