The Night Before First Grade

There is a post I wrote a couple years ago, though it seems more like days ago.  It was about Cortlan starting preschool.  I read it and could hardly believe how much has changed since then, and how much has stayed the same.  (Read it here.)

Tomorrow, my little boy starts first grade.

Many parents do the whole "I can't believe my son/daughter is going to Kindergarten!" thing.  I got to put that off for a year, as Cortlan attended Kindergarten at the same school he had gone to for years.  There wasn't much new about it except the advancing curriculum and a different teacher.  There was no bus.  There was no buying/packing lunch.  His same friends were there.  It was the same drop off procedure...the same routine.

Tomorrow, Cortlan starts first grade.  And everything is going to be different.  And he is entering a whole new world.  And I am doing the whole "I can't believe my son is going to first grade!" thing.

I went to his "Meet the teacher" night yesterday.  I sat in his little desk, the one with his name attached.  I looked around and took it all in.  His teacher seemed so nice.  In the folder on his desk were papers that I needed to complete.  What bus number is he?  (I texted John to look on the fridge to find out.)  Would you like to sign up to be a guest reader?  (I would love to.)  What are Cortlan's strengths and weaknesses?  (You only gave me three lines to tell you?!)  And included in the folder was a poem with a baggie of magic confetti attached to it:

I started to tear up a bit when I read it and I thought about what a huge change this is going to be in so many ways.  When asked (and sometimes when not), I have mentioned that Cortlan is nervous about starting first grade.  But, maybe it is just me.  Maybe, I am not quite ready.  But he is.

Today, I showed him the papers that he had to fill out before his first day, fully anticipating that they would be met with resistance.  He enthusiastically completed them.  I read to him about the project that he had to do.  He quickly found five objects that would help him tell about himself to put in a brown bag:  A lego man holding a beaker and wearing a sign that says "I love science," a picture of our family, a cork, a rock, and a lego pizza (because that is his current favorite food).  

He excitedly (and with great precision and as if he had years of experience) made his own lunch, an idea that I proposed without much hope, an idea that he jumped on with more enthusiasm than I could have imagined:

And as I watched him carefully spread the peanut butter from edge to edge and scoop the yogurt into a container without spilling a drop and pick out just the right grapes and fold his napkin just so, I realized that he is far more ready for this than I will ever be.

Tomorrow, we don't get to put him on the bus and wave goodbye with tears in our eyes.  We will instead drop him at the school quite a while before the rest of his classmates will get there.  (And that is ok with me.  I will cherish that four minute drive and walking him into the building and the hug goodbye for as long as I possibly can.)

Tomorrow, we will be the ones anxiously and proudly waiting at the bus stop with a camera to see our first grader step off of the bus for the first time, with what I am guessing will be a huge, yet exhausted grin on his face.  I hope I can capture it.  And I am sure there will be tears in my eyes.

Tonight, Cortlan went to bed with Magic Confetti near his pillow.

I wish I had some.

When life gives you lemonade...

Cortlan has been asking to have a lemonade stand for quite a while.  I keep telling him that it is something that takes work and preparation; you can't just wake up one day and decide that you will have a lemonade stand in an hour...especially if you also want to sell cookies and you are depending on your mom to have lemonade in the house.  Last week, we finally got on the same page and got all our ducks in a row.  The most important step - I bought the lemonade.  Once that happened, everything else fell into place.

The kids made their signs.

We made chocolate chip cookies...on a 92 degree day.  And the next day, we made the lemonade.

Soon, we were ready for business.

The kids worked well together as a team, which I was happy to see.  They asked, "Would you like ice?"  And they said, "Thanks for coming!"

They sold most of the cookies...and ate the rest.  They sold about three gallons of lemonade...and drank the rest.

What are they going to do with the money?  They already put it in an envelope...they are saving in hopes of a trip to Disney.

10 weeks...

I have been quite the slacker when it comes to writing these posts.  Somehow, I always feel like I am going to have so much more time to do things like this in the summer.  But that just isn't the case.

Sometimes, I feel that we put our lives on hold for 42 weeks of the year and we have to live it all in these 10 short weeks of summer.  Considering all that we do and accomplish in the school year, I realize that isn't true, but the contrast of feeling like everything is a balancing act (and a tough one at that) during the school year versus the freedom to just do things in the summer is a stark one.  And we always seem to put things off until the summer.  And then most of those things don't get done, anyway, because, well, it is only 10 weeks, after all.  And when you spend your time at the pool, at the zoo, at family picnics, at the museums, riding bikes, running, going to gymnastics, and catching fireflies, it is hard to tackle those major projects.

I just haven't figured out how to maintain this casual and free feeling into the school year, when I have about 50+ hours a week less time to do all of the things that I am enjoying these days, plus the things I don't enjoy so much, like cleaning and grocery shopping.  And this year is going to be a doozy...with Cortlan and Everly in two different schools, with two different days and times for gymnastics and soccer, with my fall play stuff, with John's federation stuff...and then Cortlan's allergist recommended that he get allergy shots once a week. (I am still trying to figure out which day that would work.)

But the bottom line is that we are having a great summer and we are so lucky to have these 10 weeks to spend together and make great memories.  The kids spent a good bit of time arguing and making me crazy for a while, but that has lessened considerably in the last week.  We still have a great beach vacation to look forward to, and plenty more time to enjoy the summer life.

And enjoy, we will...

Summer reading...and loving.

I finally picked up a book this summer.  It has been a while, and boy do I miss the days of laying around and reading whenever I felt like it.  We have been on the go quite a bit and have been having a ton of fun (more to come on all of that).

Anyway, I am reading Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, simply because I found it recently on my shelf and remembered that a friend had lent it to me last year.  I should give it back, but there is a reason that I have it.  I am a bit more than halfway through, and am not 100% sure how I feel about it yet...I find it intriguing and somehow personal.

But I just read a line that caught my attention, and I just wanted to write it down.  I want to think about it some more later.

"It's the tragedy of loving, you can't love anything more than something you miss."

Thought-provoking.

Well worth the 30 tickets

Cortlan has not shown much interest in learning to ride a bike.  Whether he was nervous, intimidated, or just plain didn't care, I don't know.  But it took no time at all with the promise of 30 tickets (and the thought of redeeming them for a trip to the Children's Museum) for him to get it all figured out.

We started him off with some practice at just coasting down the driveway and getting a feel for balancing the bike with no training wheels.  With his seat lowered so that he could easily reach the ground, and his pedals removed, all he had to do was enjoy the ride down hill.  Once he got that figured out, we replaced the pedals and told him to just use them to rest his feet on them as he coasted.  He instinctively pedaled them anyway.  The final challenge was getting it all to work on flat and then an uphill grade.  In one day, Cortlan was riding his bike without training wheels.  Way to go, buddy!!

Taking it to the park...next time, I will have to have a scooter or bike; I couldn't keep up!

Summer Learning Ticket System

Knowing my shortcomings, I decided to let my kids hold me somewhat accountable for their learning this summer.  Yesterday, we implemented a Summer Learning ticket system.  My theory is this: If they know they are getting something out of it, they will have the motivation to initiate the process, whereas I would otherwise forget, blow it off, or seem like a nag about yet another thing.

The kids each decorated their ticket envelopes and journals, and we were on our way.  There are many ways to earn tickets: 1 ticket for writing a journal entry or reviewing sight words or completing a worksheet from the summer bridge book.  1 ticket if they clean up after themselves before bed without needing to be reminded.  30 bonus tickets for learning to ride a bike with no training wheels (a one time offer).  And a few more, as well.

Deciding what they could "purchase" with their tickets was much more challenging.  Seeing what they decided to do with their tickets on Day 1 was somewhat enlightening.

An incomplete list of examples of what can be purchased: 2 tickets will buy a 30-minute television program.  8 tickets gets a movie and popcorn at home.  15 tickets may be traded in for a Build a Bear outfit (hand-me-downs that are like new from someone we know) or Lego figurines or a trip to get ice cream.  30 tickets gets a trip to the Children's Museum or Chuck E. Cheese.  (We figured that learning to ride a bike was worth that reward.)

What did I think would happen?  I thought the kids would each earn 4-5 tickets.  I thought they would spend 2 and save the others in hopes of earning a bigger prize someday.

What happened?  The kids each earned 3 tickets in the morning.  Cortlan promptly spent 2 so he could watch Phineas and Ferb.  Everly's eyes lit up when she realized that she could spend hers on Band-Aids (if there was an actual boo-boo, she wouldn't get charged) and she promptly spent 2 on a Band-Aid that she plastered across her forehead.

Later in the afternoon, they each earned 1 more ticket as we did a "Sink or Float" activity.  They chose objects and wrote down in their journals whether they thought the objects would sink or float.  Then we tried the experiment and they recorded the results.  They enjoyed the activity.  Cortlan now had 2 tickets - enough for another TV show - and he spent them.  Everly now has 2 tickets in savings.

Cortlan asked to have his training wheels off and is now more motivated than ever to learn to ride his bike.  It will be interesting to see what he does with the 30 tickets...a trip to the Children's Museum (which he has been begging for) or 15 TV shows.  Tough call.  Everly is not much into TV.  I guess I better stock up on Band-Aids.

Weekend recap

Friday was the last day of school for the kids, but the first day that John and I had off for the summer.  We took full advantage and had a great day together...we needed that.

Saturday was full of fun.  The group that I co-sponsor at school had raised money for Alex's Lemonade Stand (to help fight childhood cancer) in the spring.  Our local Alex's hosted a great event full of fun for the whole family, at which the president of the Actors' Society accepted a very nice award for our fundraising.  I had to be there for that, so why not bring the whole family?  Pizza and rides, face paint and Storm Troopers.  And raising funds for a wonderful cause.  What more can you ask for?

We ended Saturday with a family birthday party, also full of fun.  The kids donned their swimsuits and got to go down a huge inflatable slide that was made into a water slide.  They jumped on the trampoline.  They got balloon animals made for them.

Sunday wasn't quite as much fun...I shrunk two of my favorite shirts because I forgot to lay them to dry and instead tossed them in the dryer.  I butchered my bangs.  (It was bound to happen at some point, but did it really have to happen just before I need to get my driver's licence taken?  Guess I will eek that one out til the end, hoping that the bangs will grow back quickly.)  I realized that my kids aren't big fans of yard work, which is going to be a problem, because they will be helping around here.  And they did, after a while and much frustration.

But Sunday ended on a high note...a nice dinner on the deck, a bike ride around the neighborhood.  Smiles and laughter as Everly told us we can call her "Miss Beautiful."

And today is our family's official start of summer.  And I am ready to squeeze everything I can out of it...

Let's go summer!!