Saturday

 

Begin the day with pancakes and sausage - it's Maple Syrup Saturday!  Yields are down with the crazy weather.  The pancakes were good!

 

Maple syrup tour.... longer than we expected.  The kids got to listen to the sap move.  Never underestimate the power of suggestion with children.

Carnivorous plants.... run!

 

 Maple syrup on ice cream - the perfect interlude between Maple Syrup Saturday and....

 The last soccer game of the season.  Jacob's team won, and he had a few good shots. 

Home to clean up a little to get ready for Rock Band with one of the cutest kids ever (other than our own, that is).  I missed the pic of Allison singing, which was also pretty darn cute.

The art of losing at War

I cheat at War.  There, I admitted it.  I cheat, and I feel no regrets about.  The faster I lose that game, the better off we all are.

There is an art to cheating at war. You can keep a low card at the bottom of the deck to whip out in the event of a war.  This is even better if it's a war on a high card set.  You can choose to shuffle (or not) whatever will cause you to lose cards the quickest.  Sometimes I will set a card on the top, just so that I can set up a King loss to Ace. 

The kids have not noticed yet the slight of hand.  They delight in winning the game.  Why is Mom so bad at War?  It's not a game of skill..... or is it?  I lost a game of War in 5 minutes the other day.  Five minutes! 

Blue and Gold

Last Sunday was also the Blue and Gold Ceremony for Boy Scouts, which may or may not signal the end of scouting for the year.  Actually, I have no idea what it was for.  I *think* the boy scouts moved up to the next level, but I'm really unsure if they "completed" their Tiger Cubs, "started" their Wolf Cubs, if they are still Tiger cubs now working on their Wolf stuff.  I do know this - they all got new neckerchiefs.

This is Jacob's den.  Shirts were required to be tucked in (except, I guess, if you're scout leader).  Pants with buttons, belts, tucking.... Jacob's Worst Pants Nightmares.  He did fine, though.  There was very little attrition as the scouts moved up (which surprised me), and the biggest group was the one going from Cub to Boy Scouts.  That was a weird part of the ceremony.  I guess I'm just not that into the pageantry of scouting.  I think the activities are nice, the outdoorsy, be-a-kind person stuff.  Anyway, here's the whole pack:

Daredevil??

Over the weekend, Jacob learned to ride his bike without training wheels.

He is very proud of himself.  He put off learning to ride without training wheels because he's a pretty cautious kid.  He didn't want to go very fast.  So I was kindof surprised to find him doing this less than 2 days later:

The ramp is compliments of Tyson and Jacob down the street - who (my) Jacob has been watching with envy doing stunts on their bikes.

Mom worrying about the effects of peer pressure..... starting now.

Parent Teacher Conference - The Sequel

Last night was Allison's parent teacher conference.  We had her IEP in February, and this is the first time in 4 years that the teacher has not suggested canceling the parent-teacher conference.  Spiffy. 

We learned that - first - Allison doesn't test well.  This is evidenced by the wild swings in her state and city mandated testing, which has been anywhere between 19th and 68th percentile over the last few years.  Not necessarily trending anywhere.  (we suspect it's largely dependent on her mood that day - or how interested she is in the problems..... we have no clue how to address this).  Her teacher feels that she's at or above average in math and above average in reading and comprehension.  She said she probably doesn't "push" as hard as she could academically, but "why mess with a good thing" behaviorally (as in, she's making good progress and by pushing, you run the risk of a rebellion, which would serve no one all that well).

Her handwriting is getting a little more legible, but fine motor continues to be a concern, and so is getting her thoughts down on paper in an organized fashion.  She does much better if she can answer things verbally. She had a 100% on her 100 question multiplication test and 94% on her 100 question division test, but only 70% on the word problem test over the same material.

She likes to go to the bathroom (every day) about 5 minutes into the math lesson.  LOL.  This is 8:50am, and nowhere near a necessary potty break.  Her teacher sent her to the bathroom 10 minutes before math one day, and she still asked to go right after math started.  Habits are hard to break.

Allison likes her teacher and I think her teacher likes her too.  It's probably the first teacher since kindergarten who kindof enjoys her quirkiness and (more-or-less) works with it.  Another good match.

Robot goes to school

First Grade Project: My Robot

Lepricha... how do you spell that?

This is a picture I snapped of Jacob asleep on Friday night, waiting for the Leprechaun.  Note that he's sleeping in his clothes (too excited for pjs) and that he has set his dog and robin along the side of the bed to keep watch.  In the foreground, he's built traps (red) and "places for presents" (yellow).  This followed one of my favorite quotes so far this year "Mom - I need an empty beer bottle."  To trap the Leprechaun, of course.

The Leprechaun apparently forgot what he did last year.  At 5:30 am, I was roused from my sleep "to check the traps."  While the Leprechaun left an abundance of chocolate gold coins - alas - there was no "gift."  Also, he was not trapped, but his "get-away car" was discovered in the hallway.  He borrowed one from Wolverine.

Allison - awake a bit later - was delighted by the abundance of gold coins, with no feeling of loss over the potential gift.  BTW - what did the Leprechaun leave you last year, Jacob?  A green ball.  Clearly, tragic that such a magical gift would have been forsaken this year.  It did become much less tragic when the kids learned that the Leprechaun didn't even visit the house next door - which made the gold coins a little more special.

I mark this day as the halfway point of "candy season" which coincides roughly with Lent - beginning on Valentine's Day and ending at Easter.

Parent-teacher conference

We had our parent-teacher conference with Jacob's teacher on Tuesday.  I don't think there was anything too surprising that we learned.  His reading is on track - level "G" - and they expect to be at level "I" when they leave first grade, so he should be there or a little ahead.  He's good at math - he's missed only one question on all the math tests this year.  There isn't anything they can do to "accelerate" (their word - mine would be "challenge") him given the district's new math program.  I find this a little frustrating; because if he were a really good reader, they could assign him more challenging books.  But he's good at and likes math - so......

He also has difficulty with changes in his school day routine.  My impression was that it was not always a problem, but if he dug his heels in then he could be very stubborn.  This is very similar to what we see at home.  Is it maturity?  (he is the youngest kid in his class) Will he just always be someone who likes more structure to his day?  Should we intervene in some way to increase his flexibility?  I don't know.  It doesn't seem to be daily and/or detrimental to his learning, so we're just going to let it be for now.

He loves his teacher and I think his teacher really likes him too.  I think given the other 1st grade teachers and their personalities - this was a good match.

Cleaning Post #2

"Don't make me dust!!" yells Jacob.  Dusting the piano room is his chore/consequence for some behavior last night.  He asked that I choose something other than taking away his video games.  I thought dusting would be simple.  It led to a near meltdown.  "Can't I do vacuuming?"  Sorry.... too early.  (who would choose vacuuming over dusting??)

The problem was apparently that Jacob had never dusted and therefore thought it would be a big project.  Once he realized there was no ipad until his dusting was done, he went to work.  "Hey, I kindof like this...... just a little."

Quality.... eh, not so great.  I'll get the white glove out next time.

The nature of dirt

Since Astro's passing, I've noticed a change in the type of dirt we have around the house.  This has been compounded by the loss of the cleaning lady - forcing me to have to deal with said dirt on a more, ah, regular basis.

I was remarking over the complete inefficiency of the swiffer the other day, when I realized that I wasn't picking up dust and hair - I was trying to pick up crumbs.  Yes, crumbs.  Swiffer does not swiff crumbs.  We never had crumbs before.  Hair - yes - lots of hair; but anything that even resembled a crumb (edible or otherwise) went into the digestive system of the organic hoover.

So off I went to find the broom, which had long been relegated to basement and garage duty.  Good old trusty broom.... great for crumbs!

So sorry swiffer..... you've been sidelined.  As it is with many new fads, you've faded and the old standard has returned.  It was fun.  I loved your "directly into the bin" approach and your stylishly green handle.  But alas, I need something more reliable.... something for crumbs.

The dessert

You can get candy corn all year round.....

Just a post...

Nothing notable or exciting in this post, just what we've been up to this weekend.  Friday night we had a gaggle of kids over - reminding me why I opted to stop at 2 rather than say.... 5.  The therapist canceled at the last minute, which left Allison without plans and inviting over her friend Isabella while Jacob played with his friends Brett and Tyson.  The boys (proving that the I-have-more-toys-than-you-have tendency may begin early) had a long conversation where each one-upped the other with the number of TV's in their house.  Jacob had to stick to the number 3 because (a) he threw it out there first and (b) it would have been possible to go around the house and count them.  I don't know if he would have stuck to the truth otherwise - I'd like to think so, but kindof doubt it at this age.  I believe the others claimed 8 and 12.  This occurred after a long escalating discussion.

Saturday morning included a trip to the YMCA - which is an absolute zoo on Saturdays.  It's as close as I come to imagining living in Bombay or Shanghai.  Jacob had a near melt-down because "we" forgot his water bottle.  He managed to work through it (more-or-less) and had an OK game.  He's got a good kick, but still lacks any aggression/desire to get to the ball first.  "Oh, you want that ball.... sure, I'll just stand right here."  I don't think soccer will be he long-term passion (not just for that reason).  That's OK.

Saturday afternoon we had a full-blown meltdown from Jacob because he didn't want to change his clothes and missed going to the library and almost missed getting to pick out a present for his friend's birthday party.  He's going through (what I hope is) a phase related to gaining independence but not quite being there yet.  Each day seems to sway between "help me!!!" and "I want to do it!"  Seriously, I thought this phase came and went at aged 3.  Little did I know we would play out this scenario over and over as the kids grew up.  It's the topics that change: "Why can't I go to a sleepover party even though you have no idea who this girl is?"  "I want to stay up as late as you!" "Why can't I make my own dinner?"  Ack - because Nutella is not a food group, that's why!

Saturday night we went out to dinner and a comedy show with some colleagues from school.  It was fun, but we returned home to a little girl with a "really, really sore cheek!"  Molars?  That's my guess.  One girl in bed with Mom and Dad.  One accident in bed with Mom and Dad.  One meltdown out of bed with Mom and Dad.  We should clearly have had more to drink before coming home - or stayed out later.

Today has been pretty low key.  Jacob went to a birthday party, played some video games, played outside while the snow is still here (50 degrees in a few days!), and finished his homework.  Allison prepared a dessert to make, shopped for all the ingredients at the store, and cooked in the afternoon - sprinkled in with a few games and TV shows.  They got to watch "The Fresh Beat Band" which is the TV show associated with the CD currently playing in the van.  Now, it's time for baths and getting ready to start the week.  We'll hopefully get to taste Allison's dessert (a graveyard-themed cookie/whipped cream concoction - Halloween is only like 8 months away, you know).

And tomorrow begins a new week.

Finally