Book Character Day

Book Character Day at Lanie's school for Read Across America Day, I got emails about it, put it in the calendar and obviously forgot until the night before, when Lanie was not at her best. She was supposed to wear a costume to show that she was a character from a book, that she also had to bring into school with her.

Everything Vivian and I suggested she dress up as, was immediately rejected. Such as:

"You could be Eloise, from the Eloise series." 

"NO."

From there it went downhill until we figured out the pattern. I instructed her to go into the dining room and "find a book with a character" that she could dress as.

So she did.

So I told her she would be "too cold," and pulled a pile of books that she could choose from. We read two books and then she went upstairs to "read them again," and I found her like this at 5:00 PM.

So Vivian and I put together some more acceptable choices (Vivian also wanted to have her hair curled, naturally at this point, which was 8:30 PM).

A bunny (the only book that exists in our house with a white bunny is about an Easter bunny).

Olivia the Pig, so cute, my first choice.

Ninja Red Riding Hood.

Sam's job was to talk her into wearing one of the outfits at that we had created, in the morning, so that I didn't have to make a new costume before school and work.

So I sent her to school dressed like an Easter Bunny for Book Character Day. I mean it's fictional. And better than Wonder Woman, in March, in Kindergarten.

Sam's job was to talk her into wearing one of the choices in the morning so that we didn't have to create a new costume in the morning. 

So I sent an Easter Bunny to school for Book Character day. 

School Assignments

Vivian had a fun one, to create her own super hero. She wanted to do it together, so she made a super hero family and I got carried away.

Sam's Bookmark

I was organizing some of the many things that came home from school and found Sam's third grade bookmark.  I put it aside because I wanted to ask him what he had written all over it.  At first I thought it was names of historical figures and that he might have been cheating on a quiz. Then I figured he must have been bored and writing things down that they were learning about (ha). When I actually read the names, I discovered they were football players.
Silly mama.

End-of-the School Year

Some of the pictures that second graders drew with their writing for an end-of-the school year thank you book I received.

When I grew a child's brain while teaching.

Me helping choose a book for a student.

Me reading aloud to the class.

I'm making an anchor which actually pretty much looked like this.

Maybe we're posing? Not sure which one I am.

Reading aloud a book to a small group.

Long jump on Field Day

                       Sam's teacher sent me this photo of him doing the long jump at Field day.

The 100th Day of School

Now that we've phased out most of the school celebrations in the past ten years, we have established celebrating the 100th day of school.
Vivian collected one hundred pennies and took them in to do activities with and Sam's assignment was to dress up as if he were one hundred years old.  Nana and Grand-Joe helped located some props.  He didn't want to change his attire or hair, in case it impeded recess or gym playtime.  He decided he was "Cool Grandpa," which I think the humor comes from the mass amounts of graphic novels that he has been reading.

Not Going to School

It's really cold in Boston today.  It was about -9 degrees overnight with windchill and today when we woke up it was a toasty 1 degree Farenheit.  Our house is old and was built as a carriage house and has no insulation and very old windows.  Not to mention the heat doesn't consistently work at a tolerable temperature.  So waking up today was not fun.  The kids all took a long time to get out of bed, and when I walked by Sam's room, he asked, "do we have school today?"
"Yes," I said, "school today for everyone."
"Why?! It's so cold out!" he replied.  We went back and forth for a few minutes before he told me, "I'm not going to school."  I ignored it, not having time to argue in the morning.
Usually the weather is not a huge factor in Sam's life, he'll go outside in anything, so I was a little bit surprised, but then again it's super cold.  All I wanted to do was crawl back in bed.
Chris came upstairs to get Lanie dressed and I told him Sam was refusing to go to school. 
"I heard," he said. "Something about having to a dancing unit in gym?"

Ahhh....

Someone Naughty

Sam is very into collecting football cards lately. Recently he found a couple of torn up football cards in his room and showed me. As he continued to clean, he looked under his dresser and found an entire stack of football cards that had been shredded. I asked the girls several times and neither would admit to it. Chris reiterated and still they both denied it.  I think we ended on the note of whoever was caught ripping up cards in the future would have to buy him a new pack, which really doesn't mean a whole lot to them.

At the beginning of school, Sam had to fill out a questionnaire that was supposed to be focused on academics, but when I checked over his homework I found he had also included some home life also.  He emphasized his feelings in pen.

Preschool Halloween Event

So I drop off Lanie, and I'm en route to Sam's school, have it in my head this thing at Vivi's school starts at 8:45, check my email while in traffic and find out it started at 8:00 and ends at 8:45- it's now 8:30. 

Park at Vivian's school and run Vivian and Sam across the street to Sam's school, leave him at the corner to walk down the the street and get himself in.  He's thoroughly confused because we're at a different corner than usual.  Race back across the intersection to Vivian's school.  She is wearing her hair in a "Princess style" and stick on earrings, but no princess dress.  Because why would you wear a costume to your costume parade?  Not buying this child a costume next year...

I get into her school and it's time to show parents work, which was not communicated.  So she gets her work out and starts to show me how to do it, and then it's time for parents to go upstairs to the hall while the kids line up.  Two kids won't get off their parents, Vivian keeps begging me to stay and see her work for "five more minutes", which is my fault because I messed up the time. 

We go upstairs and wait for ten minutes for the kids to parade in.  Vivian is the only one not wearing a costume.  It takes them ten minutes to assemble the two primary classes on the stage and then they realized that the toddlers weren't up yet.  They sang a handful of  songs, (I'll send some videos), complete with kids melting down and running around behind everyone and toddlers frozen in fear.  The songs were actually quite good though.  Then it abrubtly ends and the director decides the kids should parade around the room.  So they come off the stage and have to parade by the cookie table (set out for the parents) and out the door to go back downstairs, but someone decides it's a good idea to have them do laps around the parents about 6 times.  Vivian quits the parade, several kids start crying hysterically and want to leave with their parents, some kids grab cookies, costume bits are strewn around the parade route, utter chaos.  By like the 5th lap they've lost half the kids, I am now in the parade with Vivian, and walking laps around the other parents, cringing that I'm not at work.  Then Sahar decides it's time for parents to bring the kids downstairs and take their costumes off.  I am still in the parade, so I run in front of everyone, down the stairs, grab her princess costume (one point for Vivian not wearing her costume), say, "oh! now you can finish your work!  there's your teacher!"  and run right out the door.  Everyone else is peeling costumes off of their crying children.

Sam's School Performance

One of those days when you pretend that's not your kid.

Chris's Phone

I was at work the other day when I missed a call from Sam's school.  The kids have both had horrible colds for the past few weeks, so I figured he'd developed a fever.  I called back and got the school secretary on the phone.
"Good morning," she said, "we wanted to let you know that we have Christopher's phone."
"Excuse me?" I said.
"We have Christopher's phone."  I figured Chris had left it when he dropped Sam off that morning.  She continued, "Samuel had his father's phone."
Oh.
"Oh.  Really?  He did?"
"Yes, we have it here now in case your husband is looking for it."  Which of course he was.  I called Chris's office and got his office manager.  When I asked for him, she said he wasn't in the office because he was busy looking for his phone.  She said he was in a horrible mood and retracing his travels that day to find it.
"Well," I interrupted, "I happen to know where it is.  Sam has it."
She didn't stop laughing for about a minute.

When I hung up I noticed that I had a missed FaceTime call from Chris's iPhone from a couple of hours earlier.  So Sam not only had the phone, but had tried to FaceTime me.

Chris and I met at the school, as we weren't able to communicate about who was doing pick up.  I made him retrieve the phone from Sam's teacher, who didn't seem thrilled as she apparently had heard it vibrating multiple times, but couldn't locate it.  They had found it in Sam's nap bag at nap time.  It's still not clear how it got in there.  I did clarify with Sam that the FaceTime call had been from Sam and his Spanish teacher, who seemed amused that the phone was there.

A few years ago, I had to stop several of my fifth grade students from texting and Facebooking in the bathroom during math class.  I had to call their parents and explain what was going on and that I was going to have to confiscate their phones if it happened again.  Now I was getting calls from my three year old's school.  Karma?

Not Loving the Sign

Saw this at a local Starbucks.  

"This Guy"

Sam is doing half day sessions at the camp at his school this week.  I signed him up so that he could be with children and potentially meet some of the kids who might be in his class this coming year.  He went reluctantly, but all in all, transitioned fairly well at drop off.
He was telling me about his day at lunch yesterday, and I was trying to discern if he was playing with anyone new, or just the same friend.
"This one guy pushed me outside."
"Oh, he did?"
"Yes."
"Did you push him?"
"No, Mum.  He camed over and pushed," he got up from his chair to demonstrate, "just like this." Arms outstretched he showed me.  "And then," dramatic pause, "I thought he was going to huff, and puff, and blow me right down!"
I'm trying not to laugh, "but he didn't?"
"No." he shook his head, "he didn't."
"Well maybe play with someone different tomorrow."  I suggested.
"Yes," Sam agreed.  "He's very young, he doesn't know better."
(All the children in the room are 3, I didn't point this out).

 

Bashful Butterfly

This is Sam when I picked him up from school the other day.  They were studying butterflies and he didn't want his picture taken, but here he is wearing his butterfly wings.

Back to Work

Back to work and now immersed in it.  I think to post blogs and then there is just so little time.  Sam is adjusting to his new daycare, he loves it, but we pay dearly because he misses us so much that he likes to visit with us at all hours of the night and some days just wants to be held after work for hours on end.  So chores like laundry, cleaning, dishes are really hard to do.  I wish, like he does, that I could sit on the floor for hours and play with him, or be outside running around, (or even looking at trucks)!  Work gets busier everyday and when I want to be relaxing, or emailing, or updating the blog, I am checking work email or thinking ahead (or behind), or correcting work.  I can't imagine not working, but part time seems more and more ideal.  Hoping there is a good school year ahead and that we all adjust completely sometime soon!