Wednesday, September 17, 2008

My Little Cheater

Yesterday, when Alex came home from Kindergarten, we checked his worksheet. He had been working on the letter "J", and wrote the capital one quite well, but still needed a little bit of work on the lower case "j".Then I looked at the bottom of the sheet where they fill in the missing letters. 3 out of 4 blanks needed to be corrected because he put in capital letters, instead of following the pattern of the small letters shown. I had gone over how he needs to follow the pattern of either capital or smaller case letters earlier that morning, but went over it again. Then I tried to praise his effort by pointing out that he got the last letter right - a small "j". He said, "I didn't even write that one!" I said, "You didn't? Who did?" He proudly explained, "I asked someone else to write it -- and they did! And I didn't tell the teacher! I cheated!" Trying to ignore my overwhelming pride I felt right then (said sarcastically), I then said, "It looks like we need to practice your name a little bit - it looks like your teacher corrected some of it." He said, "I wrote that." I said, "No you didn't - it's in the teacher's red pen." He said, "She gave it to me and I wrote it."
Right now he's practicing his "k" letters, soon to be followed by his name.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Alex and the Sharks!

Today Alex played in his first AYSO game. He and his two same-aged cousins are on the same team, and their dads are the coaches. Right before kickoff, the kids chose a team name in keeping with their grey uniforms: the Sharks. However, the intimidation factor was low as the opposing Tigers seemed to dominate the 25 minute game. Everyone had a great time and enjoyed the post-game fruit snacks and juicy juice. We are already shining up the cleats for next week's game.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Alex's first *real* day of kindergarten

Alex had his first *real* day of kindergarten yesterday, as last week was just the orientation and testing. We were rushed to get there on time as I had Alex dressed for a cool day (like the day before), but as soon as went outside, realized it was nice. Alex had to hurry and change his shirt to not be hot. I ended out driving him to get there on time so I wouldn't have to worry about keeping him focused on our quick walk to school. Because I had the baby in the car and couldn't get a close parking spot - Alex was left a little to his own devices to find the right line for his class. By the time I parked and went in to help him, another mom told me she showed him the right class. I asked her how she knew which class he was in, and she said he told her. So, I felt terrible about not being there to help him, but he seemed to do just fine on his own. He went right in without looking back for me. I'm proud of his independence.
Aidan was of course all smiles to have his mom all to himself. Just kidding - he didn't notice as he slept the whole time Alex was gone - which was a nice break for me - I almost didn't know what to do.



Kindergarten must have worn Alex out - when he got home, he wanted to take a "little rest" on the couch. Before I knew it, he was asleep - and there was no waking him. He was cozy with his thumb and his favorite night-night blanket.

I can't believe my little tiger is in school. I did get a little sad thinking that now that he's started kindergarten - it's just going to keep going for the next 13 years! I have loved our time together and miss my little friend when he's gone.