In da Club

James' dentist appointment was smooth. He didn't fuss at any of the xrays. They even put him in this contraption to take an all-around xray of his 6 year molars, coming in already.

He is part of the Cavity Free Club! He entered his name to win the super cool electric toothbrush!

 

Yes, we are proud :)

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Español

I'm enjoying the worksheets that are coming home with James each day. We are hearing about the Spanish words that he is learning each day. Most of the time I know them. A couple of times I know he hasn't had the words right. Conejo, I know means rabbit. He insisted it was dog. I hope that sort of thing gets sorted out at school eventually. He just wouldn't believe me that I was right.

And then we get Spanish library books. I saw this one and I thought ¡No problemo!

And then it was hard! My Spanish is rusty but there were several long words that I stumbled over. YIKES!

So I know a little Spanish... how are other parents doing with these books? I don't want to mess up on pronunciations. I think I need to consult with the teacher about whether we should be attempting to read the Spanish to James, or if we should try and tell the story from the pictures.

I know it seems silly that I can't even understand a kid's book. I'm actually a little embarrassed about that.

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Date with Mom

McD's for dinner.

Cherry Berry for ice cream!

 

Dad was out of town. We missed him!

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Lego Game

We discovered a board game in our closet that is now perfect for James. (What does it say about us that we owned this pre-James?!)

It's a Lego Creation game. Everyone gets a creation card and you need to accumulate pieces to build your creation first. You can land on spaces that earn you a piece, but you can also land on spaces that let you TAKE AWAY pieces from your opponents.

James loves to take away pieces... from ME.

He won the first game.

And then decided to recruit his Dad to gang up on ME!

Oh, they had fun with that!

 

Poor me! I am outnumbered by Lego geek boys.

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More Lunches

I haven't been taking pictures every day any more. The meals are starting to repeat.

I'm involving James, as much as I can, in the food decisions. He goes with me to the grocery stores and he picks out his treats. The juice pouches are the ones with less sugar (and vegetable juices), the apple cider has no added sugar, the shredded cheese he picks out, he always loves strawberries, and I'll buy the occasional treat like Cheetos, Angry Birds cheese crackers, etc. I don't love those purchases but in small quantities James does okay with them :)

I'm still using the tools that I have- cookie cutters, food picks, cute containers, etc.

Rolled up ham, shredded cheese, bell pepper and tomatoes with ranch dressing (in cute rabbit orange container), strawberries, juice pouch.

Cooked chicken pieces and bell peppers with ranch dressing, shredded cheese, strawberries, juice pouch, and Scrabble chocolate for a surprise!

Pasta and sauce, natural applesauce cup, apple cider, yogurt stick, and Scrabble chocolate. Pretzels for snack.

Breakfast for lunch! Chocolate chip pancake balls, scrambled eggs (James decided he wasn't a fan of cold eggs), strawberries, juice pouch, and Chocolate money for a surprise. Fruit snacks and Cheetos for a snack.

Spaghetti and sauce, apple slices, juice pouch, and Cheetos. Goldfish for a snack.

Car Peanut Butter Sandwich (cookie cutter!), natural applesauce cup, juice pouch, chocolate money, goldfish. Angry Birds crackers for snacks.

Tortellini (James pick) and sauce, yogurt cup, strawberries, juice pouch. Banana for snack.

Mickey Mouse PB sandwich, pudding cup, mandarin oranges, juice pouch, and Panda cookies for a surprise! The Panda cookies are from World Market, they are chocolate filled cookies.

Chocolate chip pancake balls, hard boiled egg (James decided he likes!), strawberries, and Panda cookies for a surprise. This was James' first day to buy chocolate milk. We put his PIN number in his pocket and hoped a kind adult would help him.

Star Wars PB sandwiches, strawberries, juice pouch, yogurt stick, and mini chocolate cupcakes for a surprise!

Tomorrow's lunch- Chocolate chip pancake balls, hard boiled egg (heart shaped! Another Bento toy from Tia Kiki :), strawberries, shredded cheese, natural apple juice, and chocolate balls for a surprise! Pretzels for snack.

 

Jim has put together a few lunches now too. Sometimes I get lazy :)

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Tuesdays with Mommy

I always think Tuesdays should be special because they are Mom & James days, but even with good intentions it is always games, play, and watching a tv show before bedtime. I should know that I don't need to plan an elaborate craft or activity... it's really just spending time with James that matters.

I can spend two minutes "spinning" with James before bedtime and he's happy. He BEGS me to do this. On this night I brought my camera upstairs to see if I could take some decent action shots. So we spin around the room with him in my arms and then collapse on to his bed.

Oh, the giggles!

 

 

"Mom, are you sure we can't do that again? I'm not dizzy!"

On this night too we read his very first library book from his school. This was a long Seuss book. Kind of nonsensical, but aren't they all??

 

Good times!

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Cards

As soon as we got home from school today-

"Mom, will you play cards with me?!"

He learned how to play a card gamed called Garbage at his after school program. The very nice lady Queenie taught him. She told me about it yesterday and how James caught on to the game after just one try. He's smart like that :)

 

James has won almost every hand since. He's very good!

He came home yesterday too and taught his Dad while I cooked...

 

You should ask James how to play. I dare you!

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Vote No

I find it interesting that there are some people who cannot be supportive of GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) rights until they have someone in their family or a very close friend who comes out as gay. I don't know when my moment came to me, because I didn't have gay family members or friends who were gay growing up.

Maybe it was working with really awesome gay students.

Maybe it was watching my school district get sued after six gay students committed suicide in just one year because of bullying.

Maybe it just comes naturally as a person of color, wanting everyone to be treated equally and fairly.

Or maybe it's just the right thing to do.

But right now what is driving my vote?

This precious child.

You see... I don't know who he is going to love yet.

He's already had his first girlfriend.

But he's also told me he's gay!  (Not really.  Click on the link.)

Why would I vote yes on an amendment that could hurt my son one day when I don't even know who he is going to love yet!?

If James is your grandson, your nephew, or you're friends with me and you know James to be the sweet little boy that he is- how could you deny him (or anyone else!) his right to love one day?

I hope James and all children can be your reason for Voting No this November.

Until then I am surrounding my family with...

Rainbows.

Positive influences.

Great teachers.

And I'm going to let my neighbors know how I feel too.

One day I hope James will read this and know that I had his back.

He truly makes my heart happy. Or feliz as he is saying now :)

¡Te amo, James! I can't wait for you to fall in love and be happy!



Pledge to Vote No here: http://mnunited.org/

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Correra Loca (Fun Run)

 

Jim and I went to our KINDERGARTENER's first school event. It was a fundraiser, as I'm sure you all know, since we hit most of you up for some dinero :)

James was able to raise $50 all on his own! The goal was $25 per student, so he was a Rock Star! He actually did great putting the donated money in the big envelope. There was no temptation to keep the money. I was very proud of him.

So it was a cold, rainy day. BOO! We stood with the other parents and waited.

Finally, the kindergarteners marched out. We see James! I held my sign for James to see.

There he is! The kindergarteners were given the Pajama theme. James very proudly wore his new Angry Birds pjs. He also had Angry Birds underwear on (as he showed me in the morning, pulling down his pants) but I told him NOT to show everyone :)

The look below says, "Mom, really? More pictures?"

I love how this kid is ready to RACE!

 

The principal delivers a message and then they're OFF!

If you missed it, Mr. Larson said that they raised $5,800 for the school!

So the kids took off and most of the parents jogged over to the other side of the field, straight across the grass. Jim and I trotted over and took more video.

 

And then the finish line...

James was visibly exhausted, huffing and puffing. I think that's the longest he's ever ran!

Popcorn and water for all the kids.

And then I noticed James doing his potty dance. I grabbed his hand, told his teacher I was taking him to the bathroom, and we RAN some more to the building. It was a long way. I'm glad we made it!

On the way to the bathroom he asked me what the signs said. I told him and he told me that he has the best Mom and Dad in the world!

And when we got back we joined up with Jim (Dad) again and we congratulated James some more.

His friend George found us and brought James to his Mom to introduce him.

He said, "Mom, this is my friend James!" She told us that she has been hearing about James all week. Likewise! James has been talking about George and Pokemon (later blog entry).

Proud Dad!

Proud Mom!

Our Baby did great!

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