Although I had good intentions of registering both children on the first day of summer, it wasn't until the last "reporting day" of the TD Summer Reading Club that I managed to go into a library branch. I obtained a notebook for each, a sheet of stickers, and a preschool pamphlet with colouring page.
I've decided it's one "club" that they can join every summer. It gets us in the habit of reading - to purposefully set aside some time to choose some books from our own library, read them together, record the titles & authors, and choose a sticker for the day. It's a memento to keep for later, this small passport-sized "this notebook belongs to" log of books that they enjoyed when they were 2 and 4 years old.
It completely suits me that junior kindergarten has some projects, but doesn't really have homework, except that they encourage reading every day, and may even provide a new book every school night for this purpose. There is a weekly school library visit, and a book is borrowed each week. It's the cultivation of these habits, instituted at school and encouraged at home, that I think will create not just competence and confidence in reading, but a love of reading, for its own sake.
Today, Tyler and I read the Eyewitness book set, a book each on Insects, Reptiles, Amphibians, Mammals, and Dinosaurs. He saved the Dinosaur one for last.
Ashley chose Sandra Boynton's "Happy Birthday, Little Pookie" and Barbara Reid's "Welcome, Baby!"
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Things I learned from my son today
That when we read books together, he will "read" his own story from a blank page.
That while we were racing down the hallway, we were "neck and neck!"
That the spinosaurus and the brachiosaurus are real names of dinosaurs.
That he can identify (from pictures) a platypus, a manatee, a llama, and an aardvark.
That when he calls me on the phone, he can hold up his end of the conversation without being prompted.
That he does not need a going-to-bed routine. He needs ten minutes advance notice (while playing) of bedtime. When the time comes, he will run cheerfully up the stairs.
That he was content to go to bed if I kept playing, in his stead. We made green 3-D dinosaurs using Play-Doh molds. He told me to keep playing with them, and have them stand together, and maybe fight. It was as if the toy dinosaurs could have life and attention beyond himself, he could go to bed.
That he still includes his grandfather when counting off family members in an imaginary story, told during his bath time. Some things a mother is wise not to question further, but to just accept, and be thankful.
That while we were racing down the hallway, we were "neck and neck!"
That the spinosaurus and the brachiosaurus are real names of dinosaurs.
That he can identify (from pictures) a platypus, a manatee, a llama, and an aardvark.
That when he calls me on the phone, he can hold up his end of the conversation without being prompted.
That he does not need a going-to-bed routine. He needs ten minutes advance notice (while playing) of bedtime. When the time comes, he will run cheerfully up the stairs.
That he was content to go to bed if I kept playing, in his stead. We made green 3-D dinosaurs using Play-Doh molds. He told me to keep playing with them, and have them stand together, and maybe fight. It was as if the toy dinosaurs could have life and attention beyond himself, he could go to bed.
That he still includes his grandfather when counting off family members in an imaginary story, told during his bath time. Some things a mother is wise not to question further, but to just accept, and be thankful.
Monday, September 1, 2014
Last day of summer!
Of course the last day of summer is the day before school starts. We received a letter from the school that Tyler's first day of junior kindergarten will be Friday! He gets three extra days of summer...
We are looking forward to the change. He is as ready as he could be, and we think he will enjoy it, after an initial adjustment period.
This is the beginning of the years starting to fly by, I think.
We are looking forward to the change. He is as ready as he could be, and we think he will enjoy it, after an initial adjustment period.
This is the beginning of the years starting to fly by, I think.
Friday, August 15, 2014
Why we will miss playing outdoors...
Here's what we have done on a Saturday earlier this summer:
Picnic lunch c/o food delivered to the house, hammock time, gardening game, police game, fireman game, digging with trucks, tag, swings, slides, Play-Doh, playing house, collecting maple keys, bug examination, trying on sunglasses, pulling grass, watching 7 year old neighbour with butterfly net, taking pictures, chasing birds away from the flowerbed, plane-spotting, leaping off rocks, transporting bricks, snacking on fruit, tricyling on the deck, singing, foot races...
Picnic lunch c/o food delivered to the house, hammock time, gardening game, police game, fireman game, digging with trucks, tag, swings, slides, Play-Doh, playing house, collecting maple keys, bug examination, trying on sunglasses, pulling grass, watching 7 year old neighbour with butterfly net, taking pictures, chasing birds away from the flowerbed, plane-spotting, leaping off rocks, transporting bricks, snacking on fruit, tricyling on the deck, singing, foot races...
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Monday, July 14, 2014
Questions
Things my 4 year old son wants to know, in no particular order:
"Is there only one God?"
"Can we eat dessert first?"
"Why do we die?"
"Why don't you pee standing up, mommy?"
"Did you bring candy?"
"Is lightning going to hit our other tree?"
"Is there only one God?"
"Can we eat dessert first?"
"Why do we die?"
"Why don't you pee standing up, mommy?"
"Did you bring candy?"
"Is lightning going to hit our other tree?"
The big game
I had said ahead of time that I wanted to be able to watch the World Cup final, uninterrupted...but it turns out the kids weren't otherwise engaged, and the other grown-ups were busy, so they ended up with me.
Here's how to make the best of things (with kids) when you really wanted to be alone. You involve them, with enthusiasm! I prepared my 4 year old, telling him we would be watching the big game!
Kids get right into the spirit of things, so he quickly chose his team: "the blue ones! I love them!" He fetched snacks for all, included everyone's favorite drink: 2% milk for little sis, soy milk for him, ginger ale for mommy.
He gathered together all our assorted soccer balls, including the small replica FIFA World Cup ball I'd bought. He set up a net, and then settled in to watch.
The 2 year old woke up from her nap, found us, and jumped on the bandwagon. Still sleepy, she selected and clutched a soccer ball to her, and started in on the snacks.
It was nice while it lasted, but kids don't appreciate a stalemate in which there aren't a lot of replays of goals bring scored. The 4 year old's attention lasted into the second half. The 2 year old enjoyed the extra snuggling time on the couch but grew restless by the end.
And so, I did get to see the whole game, into the extra time, not exactly as planned, but life unfolds just as it should on a Sunday afternoon. A few distractions, a few tweets, but then something momentous, the thing that changes everything from the meausured and the practiced to the epiphany, the fulfillment, the culmination of things, light streaming through the clouds, lightning striking, the ball crossing the invisible line into the net's embrace.
I will tell my kids in four years that they did watch the big game in 2014.
Here's how to make the best of things (with kids) when you really wanted to be alone. You involve them, with enthusiasm! I prepared my 4 year old, telling him we would be watching the big game!
Kids get right into the spirit of things, so he quickly chose his team: "the blue ones! I love them!" He fetched snacks for all, included everyone's favorite drink: 2% milk for little sis, soy milk for him, ginger ale for mommy.
He gathered together all our assorted soccer balls, including the small replica FIFA World Cup ball I'd bought. He set up a net, and then settled in to watch.
The 2 year old woke up from her nap, found us, and jumped on the bandwagon. Still sleepy, she selected and clutched a soccer ball to her, and started in on the snacks.
It was nice while it lasted, but kids don't appreciate a stalemate in which there aren't a lot of replays of goals bring scored. The 4 year old's attention lasted into the second half. The 2 year old enjoyed the extra snuggling time on the couch but grew restless by the end.
And so, I did get to see the whole game, into the extra time, not exactly as planned, but life unfolds just as it should on a Sunday afternoon. A few distractions, a few tweets, but then something momentous, the thing that changes everything from the meausured and the practiced to the epiphany, the fulfillment, the culmination of things, light streaming through the clouds, lightning striking, the ball crossing the invisible line into the net's embrace.
I will tell my kids in four years that they did watch the big game in 2014.
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