Field Trip

Tyler's class went on a field trip to downtown Sacramento where they ate lunch on the Capitol steps and walked to the Crest Theater for a theatrical production of Winnie The Pooh. Mrs. Chalas had extra tickets due to flakey parents so Gavin & I got to attend as well. This was so chaotic being downtown with 50 kids, traffic, construction, crossing busy streets and picketers all going on at the same time it made me glad I had gone to keep my eagle eye on Tyler. Of course, he was fine and very safe. And Gavin did an excellent job of blending in with the kindergarterners. I didn't want to deal with the wrath of any of the other moms who had to find a babysitter for their younger kids so I had him wear a uniform and everything, he did great. But man was I way out of my comfort zone walking around and crossing streets in downtown Sacramento with the kids. Winnie The Pooh was okay, probably some college kids' drama class or something. The story was cute but a little complex for kinders to *get* but it was a little interactive allowing the kids to yell out to tell Pooh where Eyeore's tail was and stuff like that. Oh, the wrath of other moms inevitably did come out but I did my best to ignore their whines. I am so glad we are not in the AM class where there are too many helicopter parents. I was very proud of what a big boy Gavin was and how well Tyler behaved.

Shoe Tying

Tyler can now officially tie his shoes. This was one of the goals I had set for him at the beginning of kindergarten so I am so proud of him for pulling it off! We started with a technique a friend who teaches kindergarten suggested, start tying with a jump rope. I drove around with a jump rope in the back seat for a few days and he just couldn't help but tie it, over and over and over. Once he mastered that, he was determined to do his shoe laces but there is such a big difference between a big fat jump rope and those short and flimsy shoelaces. So we moved from the jump rope to a karate belt around the waist. It was flimsy but still long so it was a good transition. Then all of a sudden over the weekend he decided to try tying his shoes and about 25 minutes later, they were tied! He was so excited to share his good news with Mrs. Chalas.

Secret Code

It seems Tyler and Gavin are developing their own secret language. I haven't cracked all of the code but I can tell what some things mean. When one of them wants the toy the other one is playing with, they say "oh fifty-six" until they switch. This usually occurs in the bath tub or the car. It's funny to hear "oh fifty-six...oh fifty-six...thank you." If they want to make each other crack up, one of them says "Peeka" to which the other replies "Koocha" and they get the belly laughter going. So not funny to any other ears but their own. They also are big on telling each other secrets. Last night Tyler was asking Gavin if he wanted to go to Daddy's softball game. Gavin didn't so Tyler told him a secret. Suddenly Gavin came around and said he did want to go to the game. What do you suppose Tyler could have said to get Gavin to change his mind? We are so onto them, Shawn & I both asked simultaneously if Tyler's secret was about girls. Gavin rolled his eyes back while Tyler's hands clapped onto his face, shocked at our discovery. I think they will now need to come up with a code word for girls.

Skipping Soccer

The boys are in a soccer clinic to learn basic techniques and decide whether they'd like to play soccer on a team this year. Watching yesterday's class Shawn and I noticed all the other kids were skipping when Tyler was doing some strange stepped jog. I swear he knows how to skip. I swear he learned it when he was 2 or 3. But today when we asked him to skip for us, we discovered the poor boy is skip challenged. I feel so badly to have let this slip past me unnoticed. Gavin is a great skipper and really wants to teach Tyler but this is a job for a daddy so they are in the living room teaching Tyler to skip. Who would have thought it would take a soccer clinic to learn to skip? Hopefully it's not too late!

Back to School

After 4 weeks off track, we're finally back to school and back to normalcy. Thank goodness, I thought we were all going to go crazy with all the arguments over how much TV the boys could(n't) watch. But here we are, day three of school and I feel so much better. Wednesdays are my days to volunteer in the classroom. When I walked in I did notice the other moms smiling at me a little bigger than usual. Finally one mom pointed out an exercise the kids had done earlier in the morning. Mrs. Chalas asked them to think of ways they could make the world a better place. There were nice answers on the board like "Be helpful to everyone" and politically correct answers like "Be nice to people from other countries". Then there was one answer that jumped out at me right in the middle of the board. "Clean the house so your mommy doesn't get grumpy." The moms and teacher got a big kick out of Tyler's contribution.

April Fool's Day

Oh the jokes have been going strong all day long. Yesterday I explained to Tyler & Gavin what April Fools Day meant and they started bright and early this morning. First, Gavin told me he saw Spiderman outside the window. Then Tyler told me he pulled out his tooth. The upper one that has been loose since before Christmas and I forbade him to wiggle it until after I finally got around to getting professional portraits taken of him & Gavin. Kids are so strange looking when their adult teeth grow in, I really needed to get that done. (It's done now thankfully and I just may have the pictures hanging in the house by this time next year at the rate I'm going on my To Do list). So now that it's afternoon, the jokes are getting more silly and a little gross. Joey told his Mommy he threw up in our house when she picked him up from a play date. Tyler told Joey, who's afraid of dogs, Chili was out and coming to get him. Gavin told me he was going to drive to school and Mack told his Mommy they moved Disneyland across the street so now he could go there whenever he wants. It's just a silly day today so I'm putting on my happy face!