Competitive

I didn't know my little James had a competitive streak in him. We played checkers, over and over. He "won" each time but I took care to keep it close :) I was just glad that he kept to the general rules of checkers- I remember playing Candyland with him when he was littler and all rules were out the window. Now, he's at least willing to follow game rules.

 

 

"Can I move my guy here?"

Oh! You jumped my guy!

His giggle makes my heart happy!

 

Jim must have heard the giggling because he came up to see what we were doing.

 

DIY Lego Fun

This morning my sweet boy presented me with flowers. He's so sweet! He later made a "vase" for them and they are now in the middle of the dining room table. Ha!

 

Jim helped James build this "castle". James received a Lego magazine the other day and has been poring over the pictures of the new Lord of the Rings sets that will come out later this year. He has caught a few glimpses of the movies too so has seen that there are battles, trolls, and other warriors. He then created his own battle scene this morning with the Castle. Good vs. Evil? I don't remember how he distinguished the different sides.

 

You can see some of the minifigs with weapons and looking like they are in mid-fight!

 

We made a big to-do about how we can create our own sets and they are just as fun! I'm sure he'll much prefer the real sets when they come out, but..

 

Earth (Month) Artwork

James' classroom always has a month-long theme. This month was very Earth-friendly- focusing on recycling, ways of being "green", and cleaning up the Earth. His class took to the streets (well, actually to the daycare yard and parking lot) and cleaned up after the litter bugs.

Raindrop. I'm sure this was an activity using scissors skills. I guess it's something we can work on this summer!

The Earth!

Ummm, no idea. A magazine ad glued to a piece of paper. I wonder if it's more scissor skills and then glue skills in action?

A Tree. Trees are very important to the Earth.

Recycling sign. Gluing skills.

James' interpretation of "What is Earth Day?"

He told me that he is holding orange "peppers" his hands. We've been eating those at home a lot!

 

Ninjas

It's not very often that I get to catch James in action while playing. When I arrive at his daycare class, if a kid spies me they'll shout out, "James, your mooooooom is here!" And then James stops whatever he is doing, runs to me, and hurls himself into my arms for a hug while yelling, "Mom!!!" It's actually quite nice :)

But on this day I found James on the far end of the playground, looking like he was play fighting with another boy. Turns out they were playing "Ninjas". I wonder if they were using their learned karate moves?

They demonstrated a few moves for me.

 

 

 

We Missed You, Dad

Jim left for a business trip for the entire work week and we missed him a lot. James looked forward to the nightly phone call and made this Lego masterpiece to show his Dad.

It's Harry Potter's castle! The little colored Legos are crystals and potions!

So cool! We used our iPads to have "Facetime" chats. Here is James showing his Dad a Lego minifig.

 

Brushing teeth, so he could tell Dad that he was a good boy each night. (And he truly was!)

 

And our Surprise sign for Dad. We hung the sign in the doorway. We heard the garage door opening at bedtime, but we rushed downstairs to be at the door to yell "Surprise!" and Welcome Home :)

The next morning, James shows off the new Lego set from Dad's trip.

 

WJDN?

Playing with Legos, what else??

 

Love

"Mom, I'm gay."

Uh what?!

But I'm a pro and this is how it went down...

The scene: Bedtime. Brushing teeth.

James, do you know what that word means?

No.

You shouldn't use any word that you don't know what it means.

Oh, okay. (back to teeth brushing)

Moments later...

"Mom, what does that word mean?"

I said, "Gay is when boys love boys, and girls love girls, kind of like how Mom and Dad love each other."

"Ohhhhh!" (more teeth brushing)

"Mom, I'm gay with Grandma Rose...cuz I love her."

I guess I didn't explain it as well as I thought! I left it alone mostly but I did tell him that there are other kinds of love and we love our family, our friends, and all people in different ways.

He's only five so I don't overwhelm him with details. Kind of like when he asked me how babies are made. Just enough info to answer the first questions, but expecting to expand on it when he can handle it. (I should blog about that one too!). I did want to be careful and not call "Gay" a bad word. I was more concerned that he wasn't using the word correctly and then where did he hear it used? Jim thinks I probably have said it around James when I've described things at work. I think I always use "GLBT" to describe gay, lesbian issues though. Maybe but I'm thinking he picked up the word somewhere else.

Is it silly that I was secretly excited that we started this conversation so young?? I've always thought I'd be prepared if James told us he was gay but I imagined a ten year old or something (yes, it happens earlier than you think, especially if there are open, supportive parents like I plan us to be!)

Anyway, I'll always be glad to answer my son's questions.

I spoke with James' teacher too, more to tell her the funny little story, but also to tell her that James has a new word. This was also significant because she is gay. She was very quick to tell me that it isn't something they discuss in school, the general topic and also her personal life, but I was just as quick to reassure her that that wasn't a concern at all! No worries from me. She did laugh with me over this story and tell me she'd let me know if anything else comes up.

Oh but there's more!

The initial conversation with James was on Monday. Today he told me, "I'm gay with Sid. I love him." Sid is a boy at school. I reminded him about the different kinds of love and what he's telling me is that he loves Sid like a friend and not like he wants to hug and kiss him.

James gave me a WTF look and told me, "Mom, there is NO kissing at school."

DUH.

I know James loves me too. He gave me a fistful of "flowers" today (:

Swimmer

Have I mentioned that James says he's going to be a swimmer when he's grown up? Like, that's what he wants to be in college (:

 

Practicing skills-

 

And then the evaluation! I was told that James can register for Middle 1, so shipping a few levels in the Little section. I think this has more to do with his age than his skills.

 

 

A Day in the Life

We have a busy little boy!

He has a green thumb... His pumpkin seeds are sprouting!

He checks the mail. Still no Lego catalog!

He's a model! This is his Earth hat.

 

The Boy Wizard

We've been reading Harry Potter at bedtime. It's amazing that James is really listening to it. I guess it helps that he has seen most or bits of the movies.

Harry Potter makes us happy!

Easter 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SpongeBob Superheroes Legos

James was very proud to use his own money to buy a Lego set today. Tia ChaCha and Uncle Rich gave him a $10 Target card (among other things) for Easter. Here is his review of his latest set.

 

When Mom's away...

The boys play!

 

 

Gamer

 

 

You Got Mail

Every day James wants to check the mail. He asks for permission to run across the street, by himself, to check the mailbox. I watch him from the driveway as he looks both ways (actually a few times) and then runs across! He can barely reach the mailbox though.

He's always on the lookout for Lego catalogs and packages! And today there was one from Tia Kiki!

Thank you Kiki!