What are they teaching at that school??

Since the middle of last week, his first week of Kindergarten, Nicholas has been repeating things and telling us about things that have gone on in the classroom....a truly amazing time for Lisa and I. We are witnessing the blossoming of our little boy right before our eyes. I really wish I could go and observe him in class one day, but as Lisa found out, that is not the best idea.... Lisa volunteered to be one of the Room Mothers for his class. She went to the school yesterday and as soon she was spotted, he proceeded to clamp down on her leg so she couldn't 'get away.'

"I want to keep you. I want you to stay in class," he said while constricting Mommy's leg.
As his teacher slowly peeled him off of her leg,
Lisa offered to get some "frozen ice cream yogurt" after school.

Today he said to me, "You're famous." To which I replied, "You think I am famous?" Then he said, "I want to famous artist.....someday." I of course gave the proper parent answer of, "You can be anything you want!" :-)


Nicholas, you continue to brighten our lives each and everyday. Your Mother and I promise to always keep you safe, happy and healthy. We love you so very, very much and look forward to walking by your side as you grow older.

Kindergarten!!!

Monday, August 22, 2011

This is the day Nicholas began his academic career! Apparently, he was not the only child starting school that day since there was a lot more traffic than usual. I had a vacation day from work so Lisa and I could drop him off and pick him up together. Our transfer was approved for him to attend Stephens Elementary so we no longer qualify for bus service. This means Lisa, who has SO much free time, now gets to take the boy to and from school each day. Since we still have not been able to move closer to his school, this is about a 25 minute trip each way.....and right now it is well over 100 degrees in the afternoon so waiting to pick him up shall be a steamy situation for a little while.....but we think it is all worth it because this is the best place for our son to be able to flourish. Due to the traffic conditions, we arrived too late to drop him off at the normal spot. Instead we had to park, and walk him into class. Since all the other kids in his class were already seated, we just stopped at the door of the classroom and off he went....never turned back..

We immediately went back to the car and did some adult things...you know....went to get the car inspected, went grocery shopping and then went to lunch! The car ride was strangely quite, as was the house the couple of hours before we left to pick him up. When we first walked into the restaurant (Blue Goose Cafe, Highland Village, TX) we saw a group of ten parents who obviously also had children who started school that day. They were all drinking heavily and talking about their kids. One gentleman, with a Margarita in hand big enough to choke a horse said with a slurred and choppy cadence, "Emma...is totally a visual learner and her brother, uh, uh, Brennen, Brandon isn't." Hopefully they sobered up before 2:50 pm.

It was now time to retrieve the Boy.

The picking up process is quite elaborate.

When you register your child for school you are given a number placard for your car. (It hangs from your rear view mirror) This number must be visible by the time your car has made it through the long, long line of cars that snakes around the back of the school and crosses in front of the cafeteria. Each afternoon, the cafeteria is transformed into a transportation waiting area. As your car creeps towards the front, a man speaks your number into his walkie-talkie. His counterpart on the inside relays the number to the massive team of volunteers. When a child's number is up (that doesn't sound too good) they are escorted out of the building and into (hopefully) the correct car so they may begin their journey home. As we got up to the front, we did not see Nicholas. So we waited and waited. The assistant to the walkie-talkie dude, who does not yet have his own device, yelled our number to the volunteers. Still no Nicholas. When the other volunteers noticed the line of cars had come to a complete stop (not a good sign) they yelled at us, "What's your number?" We yelled back. They gave us a waive and 26 seconds later, our dangerously cute little boy who had just conquered his first day of Kindergarten came bounding out of the cafeteria and got into our car. Day one complete. Only 13 more years to go....

Day two...

Lisa arrived in plenty of time to participate in the normal dropping of process. As she pulled in front of the school she saw five orange cones on the sidewalk. Standing behind each cone was a ready, willing and able 5th grader wearing some kind of official sash. These kids are there to help the little kids get to their classrooms. When the volunteer approached the door where Nicholas was climbing out of his car seat, Lisa noticed she was not much taller than our Boy. The dear sweet little volunteer girl said to Nicholas, "You're big." Lisa made sure to say very loudly, "Make sure she takes you to Mrs. Maplestone's KINDERGARTEN class." The last thing she heard the girl say after taking Nicholas by the hand was, "Let's go buddy.." Since we never received a phone call about him not being in class, we figured he got to the right room!

As I write this, the boy is sleeping and has completed three days of Kindergarten. We have noticed that he has already begun to repeat things he is hearing and experiencing at school....thankfully he is only hearing 'Kindergarten things' so far.

He has said..... "Voices off!" "That was great. Let's do it again!" "I don't like when he blows the whistle." (P.E. teacher is our guess)

He has also sung bits and pieces of some songs...once we get all the lyrics down, we will share them with you.

Here are the only pictures I was able to get on his historic first day...

The only thing worse than your parents waking you up at 6:30 AM
is when your Dad has a camera!

Wake up sleepy head!!

Dressed and ready to go!

Buckling his seat-belt all by himself!

SCHOOL TODAY!

I managed to snap this shot while we were rushing down the hallway towards his room.

Since his whole class was already seated I did not want to freak them out by bursting into the room with a camera flashing at them, so I settled for this fine picture of his classroom door.

FINALLY he emerges from the holding area!

Almost to the car...just a little further...

Moments away from getting into the car!

A very special bowl of ice cream for a very special little boy!
We love you lots and lots Nicholas....

August 15, 2011

We nearly had a record breaking summer here in Dallas with 41 consecutive days of triple digit temperatures. The record is 42 days in 1980..... Warm temps = pants are optional!

Today is my brother's birthday......Happy Birthday Howard!!

We are also just seven days away from the beginning of Kindergarten. (OMG!)


Although our house has not yet been sold, our roof and gutters have been replaced, our windows have been repaired and our house has been painted. The main reason for our move is to be closer to Nicholas' school, to which we applied for a transfer.....and we still have not heard if it officially went through! Did I mention school starts in 7 days?? When Lisa went to register him last week, a few of the staff members at the school made it seem like the transfer was a done deal, but since we have not received official word yet, we must wait.

In the words of Inigo Montoya, "I hate to wait."

But hey...while we have been waiting.......Lisa recovered from skin cancer surgery and scheduled her eye surgery for mid-September....the Federal Government nearly shut down....the same Government got it's credit down graded.....Warren Buffet got mad about it....the same Mr. Buffet got his credit down graded....Nicholas lost his first tooth....the guy who sits next to me at work took a job in a different department......that same guy is my usual back up when I am not in, so now I have to train someone else.....my entire division is going to move buildings on Sept 9th....I bowled a 249 in the first round of the Wii Bowling tournament at work but have not yet heard if I qualified for the second round....we had an open house and only two people showed up.....we found a house we would like to purchase and move into but cannot since we have not yet sold our house....and finally the burritos I made for lunch this week are not that great......

Now back to the boy.....He has created some new words that we must document before he stops using them so we can prove to him how cute he was...

He has started called me: Daatoowuh (daa-tu-wuh)

He has started calling Lisa: Mossmuh (moss-muh)

He likes to say that he is going to "Skeek"or "Sheeek" the cat. We think that means he is going to 'get' the cat. We know the cat does not appreciate being Skeeked or Sheeked and tries to avoid the boy altogether.

Other words he has been saying.... Jig-Jig, Deedutch, Titch, Tutch and Arune-it. We have not yet figured out the exact meanings of these words since they are used as both nouns and verbs and in so many different situations.

Lisa wants to start writing a Science Fiction or Fantasy novel using his words.....

"Greetings, I am Jig-Jig son of Daatoowuh and have traveled to Earth from the Deedutch System." It really writes itself...

To get him ready for Kindergarten, we have been working on recognizing letters and reading whenever possible. Unfortunately since he is so active and is perpetually tired from lack of sleep, there are not many 'teachable moments' during each day. We are looking forward to school beginning for many reasons. He is starting Kindergarten at a great school. He will be going for a full day for the first time. He will be getting back into a routine. He will be getting the structure that he has been craving since school ended back in June. (The first couple of weeks of summer vacation he kept saying, "School tomorrow?") We have also been trying to get him to write his name...this has proven very difficult since he can barely draw a straight line. He has a special pencil gripper from his therapist, but when he is tired, he gets easily frustrated (like his Daatoowuh) so writing is just not happening yet. We have already begun daily prayers for his Kindergarten teacher! Hopefully she will not be charmed by his smile and cuteness, like his Daatoowuh and Mossmuh!


Love, Happiness and Good Health to you all....