Mom goes to Kindergarten

The teacher had sent out an email to the parents saying that the classroom is now ready for parent volunteers. I had a day off from work, but James had school so I thought that was my perfect opportunity to volunteer in the classroom!

I arrived at 9:30am, after their first recess. I didn't receive much instruction from the teacher on how I could help so I just wandered around the classroom and encouraged the kids to complete their assignment. I tried to use what Spanish I could :)

Señora Kennedy explained that a holiday was coming up and the kids needed to think about what they were thankful for. They all started drawing. I wish I could remember what the kids drew, some of them were pretty funny!

James says he is thankful for "familia and numeros". Numbers again!

Señora Kennedy also gave a lesson on family that I really, really appreciated. She was explaining that all families look different. Using her smart board she drew some pictures on the screen and then was able to manipulate the drawings with her fingertips, moving the pictures to make different family configurations. She explained that some families have a mama y papa, just a mama, or that abuelos (grandparents) may live with a family. If the kids got her meaning (this was all in Spanish) I think that all kids could see themselves in her description- even a same sex parent household. I wrote the teacher an email of thanks, telling her how important this was to me.

And then there was recess..

 

 

 

 

James and George.

There was a bit of naptime, or just plain old "lay on the floor and be quiet time."

And I found out how James knows how to count to 120. He chooses his floor space each day to be right by the number chart. During rest time I sat quietly next to him and stroked his hair. He told me he was counting quietly, just gazing up at the chart.

Lunch time!

 

 

 

I left after lunch time. James came home on the bus.

Wearing another hat!

And we found this Thanksgiving card in his backpack. We decided to give it to Tia ChaCha for hosting Thanksgiving the next day.

She loved it!

 

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Saturday Fun

Helping Dad put up the Christmas lights, because it was such a beautiful day!

This pinata is about to get a bath!

The Brady Bunch Thanksgiving episode!

 

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Number Man

James has a love of numbers. One day last weekend everything seemed to be about numbers. He ASKED for homework. He asked for us to make a grid so that he can write out his numbers from 1 to 100, just like at school. We happily did this.

"Yes! I'm almost done!"

I mean, is it amazing that this six year old can count to 100+? And he's trying to do it in Spanish too! I think he's up to 30 something en Español.

It was a beautiful day so we went outside. He went right to the sidewalk chalk and started writing out his numbers!

And back inside, he found another way to count. Days on the calendar. How many days until Christmas?

And more "homework" that night.

 

He's an amazing kid :)

 

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Energized

James has never been a kid to wear hats, costumes, sing, dance, or really just put himself out there. (He did the occasional magic show that surprised the heck out of me though!)

So when I picked him up from school daycare a few days ago, and he was wearing these bunny ears I was a little shocked. If you pay too much attention to something, with this little boy, I've learned he'll stop doing it. So I didn't say much about the ears.

We ate out that night because it was just James and me, and it was going to be a busy night because of karate.

 

He did take the ears off for karate. He probably knew they wouldn't approve. Ruin their rep!

But I took this picture at home. How can he look so cute and dangerous at the same time?? 🐇

Cuddling during his nightly show.

 

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Other Sneaky moves

By day Sneaky moves around a bit. He's not as creative during the day but it amuses James!

A little snack..

Nap time.

We were glad Sneaky moved fairly quickly off of Blankie! James was getting worried about retrieving Blankie for bedtime!

 

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Sneaky Day 2

O Christmas Tree!

 

I am sick so we were unable to go out to get our tree as planned. I used the opportunity to use this idea- a post-it note tree! I was able to insert a few key messages too- whining has been an issue lately! We're hoping Sneaky can help us out with this...

 

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Sneaky Day One

I realized last night that if I waited until December 1st to have Sneaky start his visits, Jim wouldn't be around for it, and also James is spending the night at Grandma Rose's on Saturday. I really wanted to see James' reaction to Sneaky!

So at the last minute I pulled out an old tube of lipstick and wrote a message on the mirror,

"I am back! ❤Sneaky"

That looked too plain so I dug out some Christmas lights and added those. This won't be my best Sneaky set-up :)

 

But I think it was still a hit! Look at that reaction!

 

 

 

 

Sneaky is so fun!

 

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Awesome

James asked for my assistance in drawing a star, and for the spelling of "awesome".

I laughed when I saw what he wrote...

"I'm awesome"!

They get check marks or stars at kindergarten for using Spanish. He was giving himself stars for speaking Spanish. Ha!

 

And here's his attempt at asking me something. I knew it wasn't quite correct but I gave him full credit for his effort!! (He is asking for another pancake ball, or "pelota".)

 

And we also wrote out Thank you notes to our friends and family for the generous birthday gifts. I hope we were within the time limit of etiquette! I love thank you notes because James will tell me what to write to each person. I look forward to the day that he can write his own thank you notes, all on his own!

 

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Thank you!

And James' birthday was extended! He received an unexpected package from Grandpa Frank and Grandma Julie in San Diego.

You should have seen his face when he saw the HUGE bag of M&M's! So excited! And then the excitement when he realized he has his own "machine"?! Oh my!

He loves this thing! He is constantly asking for a "turn". You turn the dial and one or two M&M's fall out. Nice amount :)

Thank you Grandpa and Grandma! You made this kid's day :)

 

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Memories

There was a day earlier this month that I was home sick. I actually got bored and was feeling better so I started to clean. My way of cleaning is to organize. I don't do well with toilets, floors, etc. I would much rather go through stuff and sort. Throw away.

But not this stuff. I can't get rid of baby things. I mean, strollers and things like that we've given to friends or Goodwill. But these things are memories. Great baby memories :)

I started with the chest in James' room.

Baby onesies from my baby shower. James actually wore these, you can tell my the spit-up stains on the neck!

"I'm Bringing Sexy Back"

 

His first pairs of shoes. The penguin soft shoes were his first pair ever (Kiki). The boots were just awesome (ChaCha). And the brown shoes were his first walking shoes. My Mom kept insisting on Stride Rite shoes so I did get them. I was horrified to pay $35 for such little shoes, but I did. I'm glad.

 

His coming home outfit, complete with a (clean) newborn diaper. Seriously the tiniest little thing. Awwwww.

I'm saving his best, cutest art projects and papers. I'm putting them in one large pile for now. I should probably figure out how to organize this a bit better.

His first toys, bits of Blankie, and other little mementos.

A beautiful collection of handknit blankets and knit hats. I lined them up from his newborn sizes to toddler. They are all beautiful but I really loved the last two hats- the Elmer Fudd and Penguin hats. So freaking awesome. Thanks Tia ChaCha!

 

These felt guys have snaps on the backs, they snapped to the coordinating onesies. I love these things.

 

 

Back when James was called "the next Tiger Woods" we bought him this little PGA polo shirt and souvenir golf club from Seaport Village, San Diego.

Tia Kiki gave James these really cool soccer jerseys a few years ago. From Japan? Well, he's going to look so handsome in them this summer. He'll finally be the right size! (We haven't forgotten about them, Kiki!)

This definitely is NOT in the trunk but this is the cool blanket that James received for his birthday from Tia ChaCha and Uncle Rich. That ChaCha is so talented!

It looks great in his room. And he uses it every night!

I also cleaned the rest of the room. Dried up playdough got thrown away, stuffed animals were put away (he doesn't really play with them), books put back on the shelf, clothes sorted.

It made me very happy!

 

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