As a way of getting to know one another, each week Cam's class has a "Star of the Week." During the week they get to bring in a backpack full of their "stuff" to show their friends, bring in a favorite book to read, or have read, to the class, and the parents get to write a letter to the class about their child. They also fill out a questionnaire about themselves and bring in family pictures, then at the end of the week the Star Student is sent home with a poster board signed by all of his/her classmates, stating what qualities their classmates like about them.
Cameron was Star of the Week during the first week of school and he really enjoyed it. He got to bring in his favorite magic tricks, his stamp collection, his weather station (he's a science geek), and a few of his other favorite toys to show his friends. He chose to bring in his favorite picture, which is one of him, as a baby, throwing up on Scott's face. The boys thought this was hilarious. I had a hard time composing a letter about him that wouldn't embarass and mortify him. As a mom, it's not easy to write about your child without getting all mushy and sentimental!
That Friday Cam brought home his poster board that was signed by his classmates. The sentiments are SO divided between the sexes! Check this out....
BOY: "You are nise [nice]"
BOY: "I think it's cool that you like magek [magic]"
BOY: "I like Cam because he is funny"
BOY: "You are good at building things"
BOY: "He helps others"
BOY: "He is a good friend:
Not much emotion, right? Just very matter-of-fact. Then there's this:
GIRL: "You are the sun in my eyes"
GIRL: "You are the love in my heat [heart]!"
GIRL: "You are sweet, loving and caring"
GIRL: "❤You are nice to people❤" (she added these hearts)
GIRL: "You are seshly!" Seshly? Did she mean "sexy?" What else could seshly mean? Do 7 year old girls know what sexy means? And if so, does it apply to 7 year old boys? Is Cameron bringing seshly back?
Oh my god, are boys and girls different! I read the board out loud with Cam when he brought it home, and although he did enjoy what the girls wrote, he was clearly embarassed, too! It didn't help that I had to tease him a little bit.
Me:"So you're the sun in ______'s eyes, ey?" (name has been ommited to protect the innocent)
Cam: "No"
Me: "And you're the love in ______'s heat?"
Cam: "No. Stop it!"
Scott comes home and sees the poster laying on the counter.
Scott: "What's this?"
Cam: "I got it from school"
Scott: "Oh, let's see what your friends have to say about you"
Cam: "Okay, but we're not talking about it."
Let me just say that I'm terrified of what I have in store when I have three 7 year old girls. If they think that boys are seshly at that age, what is it going to be like when they're 13, then 15, and 17.... It makes me shudder. We're so screwed!
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
We're Back!!!
I don't know if I have any readers out there anymore, but just in case, we're back! My computer died several weeks ago and it's taken me a while to get up an running with my new one. I went from a PC to a Mac, so there's been a slight learning curve involved with some of my programs. But so far, I'm a huge fan of my Mac!
So, where to begin....
I guess the biggest news is that all the kids are in school now. Did you get that? ALL the kids! Not just the boys, but the girls are going to preschool 2 mornings a week for 2 1/2 hours. That gives me 5 glorious hours a week to myself! To some, that may not sound like much. But for someone who hasn't been alone in her house in more than 7 years.....it's fantastic!!! A friend of mine asked if I cried when I dropped them off on their first day. I did, indeed. Tears of joy, that is. I think I had a perma-smile for a week!
The girls were pretty typical on the first day. They were all excited about going to school (not knowing what it meant, but knowing it's something the boys get to do), but once we got there and brought them into the classroom they all freaked. They cried for about 15 minutes, and Scott cried for about 20. We listened outside of the classroom until we knew they were calm and settling in, and listening to them cry made Scott want to run in, scoop them up, and bring them home. Of course I would have cut his legs off at the knees before he made it to their door, since they would be coming home with ME! Oh, come on, you all know how much I love my girls, so don't look at me like that! They only cried for about 2 minutes the second day of school, not at all on the third, and by the fourth day they were running into school.
They established their roles in their "pack" on the first day of school, already. Tara seems to be the mother hen, barking out orders (No toys, girls! Sit down!) and trying to keep her sisters in line. Dru is the leader of all things naughty and doesn't believe that rules apply to her, and Dayne is caught in the middle. She seems to have an angel on one shoulder (Tara) and a devil on the other (Dru), both trying to pull her over to their side of the fence. Unfortunately, more times than not, she ends up on the dark side. Who can blame her? Toys or teaching? That's a no-brainer. The issue with the girls is at "Circle Time", a time when all the kids are supposed to sit nicely in a circle (hence the name) and listen intently to the teachers. When Dru isn't defying the teacher and leaving the circle to play with toys, she's rolling around on the floor like a rollie pollie. This seems to be her way of giving the finger to authority. Needless to say, she's spent a fair amount of time in their yellow "thinking chair" (aka "time out chair"). Oh boy....
Another big change in our house is that Ty is now in school full days. You can imagine how quiet the house seems without his presence. I'll admit that I was really worried about how he would adjust with full days of structure and discipline, but he seems to be doing a great job. Aside from the one teeny-tiny phone call from the elementary principal, he's doing great!
Don't all kids flood the boy's bathroom? No? Well, apparently, Ty was pulled over to "the dark side" when he was using the bathroom at lunch time a couple weeks ago. He was washing his hands when two of his little friends came in, and one of them showed him how fun it is to put your hand under the faucet and spray water everywhere. So Mrs. Jaberg, the principal, calls me, with my little angel sitting in her office, and tells me how they flooded the bathroom and had to miss recess to mop up the floors. She then puts Ty on the phone with me and he was crying so hard that I literally couldn't understand a word out of his mouth! She said he was the most upset of all the boys, and she didn't think he'd be doing it again! When I saw her a few days later she told me that she had to stifle her laughter and put on her stern face when she walked into the bathroom and saw them splashing and laughing, having the time of their life! Then she brought them back to her office and said it was the funniest sight, the three of them sitting stoically in the chairs with their little legs sticking straight out because they're too little to touch the floor! I'm glad she was amused! So was Scott. He couldn't have laughed any harder when I called him to tell him what had happened, and I had to remind him that this was a serious infraction when we talked to Ty about it after school. If Scott had talked to Ty about it alone I'm convinced he would've been high-fiving him and asking him how far he got the water to spray! Although I have to admit that I was laughing a little bit on the inside!
I wish I could tell you that all of my kids were perfect and never got into any trouble, but how much fun would that be?
Cam is working like crazy to prepare for a magic show. He's been obsessed with magic for 2 years and has more tricks than David Copperfield. He's ready for an audience and wants to have a big show and invite half of our community. We're going to shoot for sometime in November, so I'll let you know how the big event goes after then. He also started playing soccer this season, which is a huge deal considering he's always hated the idea of this particular sport. He decided on his own that he wanted to try it, and he is great at it! On the field he is so confident and focused. He really gets into it and goes after the ball. He's even swung a few elbows! It's so fun to watch him really enjoy and get into a sport.
I'll finish this update shortly. Now that I'm back, I have a head full of things that I want to post about. A lot goes on in this family in two months! Until then!
So, where to begin....
I guess the biggest news is that all the kids are in school now. Did you get that? ALL the kids! Not just the boys, but the girls are going to preschool 2 mornings a week for 2 1/2 hours. That gives me 5 glorious hours a week to myself! To some, that may not sound like much. But for someone who hasn't been alone in her house in more than 7 years.....it's fantastic!!! A friend of mine asked if I cried when I dropped them off on their first day. I did, indeed. Tears of joy, that is. I think I had a perma-smile for a week!
The girls were pretty typical on the first day. They were all excited about going to school (not knowing what it meant, but knowing it's something the boys get to do), but once we got there and brought them into the classroom they all freaked. They cried for about 15 minutes, and Scott cried for about 20. We listened outside of the classroom until we knew they were calm and settling in, and listening to them cry made Scott want to run in, scoop them up, and bring them home. Of course I would have cut his legs off at the knees before he made it to their door, since they would be coming home with ME! Oh, come on, you all know how much I love my girls, so don't look at me like that! They only cried for about 2 minutes the second day of school, not at all on the third, and by the fourth day they were running into school.
They established their roles in their "pack" on the first day of school, already. Tara seems to be the mother hen, barking out orders (No toys, girls! Sit down!) and trying to keep her sisters in line. Dru is the leader of all things naughty and doesn't believe that rules apply to her, and Dayne is caught in the middle. She seems to have an angel on one shoulder (Tara) and a devil on the other (Dru), both trying to pull her over to their side of the fence. Unfortunately, more times than not, she ends up on the dark side. Who can blame her? Toys or teaching? That's a no-brainer. The issue with the girls is at "Circle Time", a time when all the kids are supposed to sit nicely in a circle (hence the name) and listen intently to the teachers. When Dru isn't defying the teacher and leaving the circle to play with toys, she's rolling around on the floor like a rollie pollie. This seems to be her way of giving the finger to authority. Needless to say, she's spent a fair amount of time in their yellow "thinking chair" (aka "time out chair"). Oh boy....
Another big change in our house is that Ty is now in school full days. You can imagine how quiet the house seems without his presence. I'll admit that I was really worried about how he would adjust with full days of structure and discipline, but he seems to be doing a great job. Aside from the one teeny-tiny phone call from the elementary principal, he's doing great!
Don't all kids flood the boy's bathroom? No? Well, apparently, Ty was pulled over to "the dark side" when he was using the bathroom at lunch time a couple weeks ago. He was washing his hands when two of his little friends came in, and one of them showed him how fun it is to put your hand under the faucet and spray water everywhere. So Mrs. Jaberg, the principal, calls me, with my little angel sitting in her office, and tells me how they flooded the bathroom and had to miss recess to mop up the floors. She then puts Ty on the phone with me and he was crying so hard that I literally couldn't understand a word out of his mouth! She said he was the most upset of all the boys, and she didn't think he'd be doing it again! When I saw her a few days later she told me that she had to stifle her laughter and put on her stern face when she walked into the bathroom and saw them splashing and laughing, having the time of their life! Then she brought them back to her office and said it was the funniest sight, the three of them sitting stoically in the chairs with their little legs sticking straight out because they're too little to touch the floor! I'm glad she was amused! So was Scott. He couldn't have laughed any harder when I called him to tell him what had happened, and I had to remind him that this was a serious infraction when we talked to Ty about it after school. If Scott had talked to Ty about it alone I'm convinced he would've been high-fiving him and asking him how far he got the water to spray! Although I have to admit that I was laughing a little bit on the inside!
I wish I could tell you that all of my kids were perfect and never got into any trouble, but how much fun would that be?
Cam is working like crazy to prepare for a magic show. He's been obsessed with magic for 2 years and has more tricks than David Copperfield. He's ready for an audience and wants to have a big show and invite half of our community. We're going to shoot for sometime in November, so I'll let you know how the big event goes after then. He also started playing soccer this season, which is a huge deal considering he's always hated the idea of this particular sport. He decided on his own that he wanted to try it, and he is great at it! On the field he is so confident and focused. He really gets into it and goes after the ball. He's even swung a few elbows! It's so fun to watch him really enjoy and get into a sport.
I'll finish this update shortly. Now that I'm back, I have a head full of things that I want to post about. A lot goes on in this family in two months! Until then!
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