First Lesson in Diversity

N sits at a table with three other children at school. One is a boy and the other two are girls. Both girls have foreign accents. One is from Germany (I think) and the other is from India. N has found a fond interest in the way the little girl from India talks. Apparently he's been listening very closely to her all week because he has been speaking with a very thick Indian accent all weekend. We talked to him about it and he's not making fun of her. He's simply interested in her and thinks it's quite intriguing that she can use the same words he's using but she sounds so different when she talks.

Have a good weekend.

Kindergarten Day 2

This morning when I took N to school I was prepared to drive through the drop off line and let him out of the car to walk into the school alone. I thought that was the only option we had, so I coached him through it. As we approached the school I could see how quickly the kids jump out of their cars and I knew N wouldn't move that fast! When we got closer to the drop off point N said, "Mom. That looks like a looong walk! I think I'll do that when I'm six years old, but not today!" I saw other parents walking their Kindergartners into the school, so I did the same and N was really happy with that. He pushed L in the stroller as we dodged traffic. L and I stayed with N until we got into the building and up to a teacher who was directing the kids. I stood in the lobby until I could see that N made it to the Kindergarten line then I left. Good job, Buddy! Today N is really looking forward to eating lunch at school for the first time. The kids only get thirty minutes to unpack their lunch, get out their drink, eat and pack everything back up. So it's a pretty quick meal time. I said a little prayer during his lunch time that N would choose to eat instead of being "Mr Social." We'll see. I think they eat a snack in the afternoon, so if he didn't eat his lunch, he'll at least get a snack before heading home.

One thing I will add about drop off and pick up...Road rage. I've heard many a story about the Road Ragers (RR) who bob and weave through the traffic at drop off and pick up time. I met my first RR head on today! I was driving away from the school and she was creating her own lane in between to the two lanes of traffic to bulldoze her way through the traffic. She headed straight for me!! I had nowhere to go. I thought we were going to have a head on collision, but somehow we didn't. For a moment I thought I was driving the wrong direction, but I wasn't. I looked ahead and saw others driving the same what I was, so I think I did the right thing. She gave me a dirty look and blazed her enormous red SUV through the lines of cars....Maybe the police officer sitting at the front of the school saw her...

First Day

N's first day went really well. He and L are both early risers, so being awake in time for the morning school routine is no problem for us. In fact, we had some extra time to use, so N got to play on the computer before eating breakfast. N wanted little frozen sausage biscuits and strawberries for breakfast. (L and N call strawberries "straw-babies." L recently shortened that down to babies. So, to L we had "Babies and Biscuits" for breakfast) N was awake before Daddy left for work, so they got to chat and get pictures together before Daddy headed out. After getting dressed and ready to go, we headed outside to take pictures. The neighbor boy and his mom and siblings were out waiting for the bus. We talked to them for a bit. Both boys were really excited about their first day of school. They talked about their new backpacks. L picked up on that conversation and insisted on wearing N's "pack pack" for a minute. When I put it on him he realized it was too big and heavy for him so he took it off. I don't know how people get their kids to stand still and take a nice picture on days like these. You always see the first day of school pictures with the child standing nicely and making a sweet easy smile. Not my kid! He's a goof ball when it comes to posed pictures. I ended up setting my camera to "Sports" mode so it would snap ten quick pictures when I hold the button down. I'm glad I did because that allowed me to capture some good moments. Today (and today only) the parents were allowed to take the students into the school to escort them to the gym to wait for the class to be dismissed to their class rooms. I'm glad they allowed that today because that gym was full of kids! It was quite overwhelming at first, but once we found the Kindergarten line we felt better. The principal at our school is VERY involved in the daily activities. She directs traffic during drop off and pick up rain, snow or shine. She then hustles into the gym to get the students to their classrooms. She's involved at lunch time, etc, etc. During the morning gym routine she uses a clapping technique to get the kids' attention. She claps and the kids clap back. The kids caught right on and followed instructions immediately. (I wonder if clapping will work at home. Ha!) The principal allowed the parent to click a few pictures, then away the kids went. I happened to be standing close to the door the kids were exiting, so I reached out my hand and gave N a high five and a "all right" as he left the gym. That made N (well, both of us) feel good. I did see lots of moms crying. I chose not to look too closely at them 'cause I knew I could potentially start to cry and not stop for a while! Ha. That's how I am, though. I don't just shed a handful of tears, then move on. I cry for a good while. Then I get the classic puffy face, runny nose and headache that follow. So, I did my crying last night (as I said in my last post) and held strong this morning. L and I sat in the car for a few minutes after leaving the school and watched the school buses outside the school because he loves buses. Then we headed off to meet some friends at the park to eat muffins and commiserate over our kids going off to school. It was quite therapeutic. And L discovered that he loves "Fuffins" (muffins). A storm rolled in to town, so we headed home. L napped, I exercised and before we knew it, N was heading home on the bus! He said he had a good day. As the afternoon unfolded he remembered things that happened this morning and told me about them. Today was a short day, so the kids did not eat lunch at school. Tomorrow is a longer day and they'll eat lunch at school for the first time. We've got his Planet Box full of goodies. He's excited.

Kindergarten Prep

Today is the day before N starts Kindergarten. I decided to keep his last day before school starts low key. We've done a ton of funs things in the last few weeks to squeeze out every last minute of summer, so a low key day was great! (I'll blog more about our fun activities in a few days...I'll have more time to do that when N goes to school! Ha!). So here are a few things we've done in the last few weeks to prepare and what we're doing today.

I decided to "invest in" a really nice "Planet Box" lunch box that will hopefully last several years. N helped me pick it out and he really loves it. I highly, highly recommend it. N has asked to eat every meal out of it since we got it in the mail. I'm glad he did because we've had fun making various meals (even breakfast) in it and he's had time to "practice" using his Planet Box.....or "Space Box" or "Army mess kit" and my friends and family have called it. Call it what you will, it's one handy little thing!

It's interesting how Kindergarten has changed since I went..One thing I don't recall doing is labeling everything. We might have labeled our shoes and our backpacks, but I don't remember labeling every marker, colored pencil, glue, etc. A friend recommended some vinyl labels that are supposed to withstand everything (including the dishwasher) so I bought some. N helped me label all of his supplies. He did a great job with it and now he's familiar with what items are his.

Little Brother has to get in on everything, right?! So he tested out N's backpack (or pack pack as L calls it). He approved. He approved that it's too big for him, so N can take it to school.

N leading L to the park. So cute of the two of them to hold hands!!

Playing on top of the spiral slide

Hide and Seek

N leading L to the swings

We had gorgeous weather this morning, so I scrapped my plans of working out at the gym and decided to take the boys for one last bike ride. Taking the boys for long bike rides and then to the park has been one of my most favorite things to do this summer. I put N in the rickshaw basket, L in the baby seat and away we went. I road for about 35 minutes and the deal is, if they're good, we stop at a park. They were good, so we stopped at N's park of choice. He chose the playground at his school. We've played there several times the last few weeks. I like the idea that he's getting acclimated with the playground. The three of us have come up with a few games N can ask his friends to play on the playground. One of them is hide and seek (L's playing hide and seek in the picture above). The three of us enjoyed going down the big spiral slide numerous times. We tested out all the swings and the boys took turns holding my hands and balancing on the edging that surrounds the playground. After eating a short snack, we headed home, ate lunch (N's in his planet box of course!) and L went down for a nap. I told N I'd play whatever he wanted with him while L napped. He immediately chose Bingo. N and I have played many a game of Bingo this summer during nap time. Somewhere along the way he instituted the policy that if he wins Bingo he gets a piece of candy...so, I went with it. One piece can't hurt, right? Most of the time I have Bingo two or three times over before he does, but I don't say so. I let the game keep going until he wins. That way he practices number recognition, he wins, and he gets a piece of candy! Someday I'll tell him this little secret. We played One, Two, Three Stomp after that. Then N and I stretched out on the couch and took a little nap together. I needed it because the boys were up six times in the night last night!! Eek! now I'm letting him watch a little "television" (as N is currently calling it). Tonight is N's "Meet the Teacher" night and supply drop off. We're looking forward to that. Then tomorrow is the big day! His first day of Kindergarten!!!

Update...

We met N's teacher, Miss G, and saw the classroom tonight. D was very patient and let us stay for about a half hour to let N get familiar with the classroom, bathrooms, lunch room, his locker and and the gym. We couldn't find the library, so we decided he can discover that with his teacher, Miss G. The only concern we have is that the teacher has trains in her room...N is soooo particular about trains that he tends to be possessive of them and doesn't share them very well. Sooo, we'll see how that goes. D and I both had conversations with him about the fact that he needs to share the trains and if he doesn't get a chance to play trains at school he can always play them at home.

I must admit. I got a little sappy about N going to school this evening. I was giving him a bath and I had the thought that it seems like yesterday that I was giving him a bath in his little baby bath seat. And, bam, now he's five and off to school! I told myself not to get too sentimental about it 'cause I didn't want to cry in front of him. I didn't want to give him any indication that Mommy is sad about school. I don't want him to be sad about school! So I held it together. He asked me to read him one book before bed, so I did. Then he asked me to read it to him again....so I did. Then he asked me to sing him a song...So I did. I asked him what song and he request Sunshine..Ugh! I knew the tears would come..and they did. I just told him Mommy's crying 'cause I'm so proud of him and I can't believe he's growing up so fast. He was okay with it.

Hopefully I'm not a hot, crying mess tomorrow. :)

Scotcheroo Trail Mix

I have several friends who make the most wonderful, delicious chocolaty peanut butter-y bars called Scotcheroos. I have attempted to make these bars a handful of times and, for whatever reason, mine always turn out hard as rocks. I tried making them again last week and failed miserably. So, I have come up with an alternative I'm calling Scotcheroo Trail Mix. It's really simple, there' no real science behind it. You can mix in whatever quantity of each item you'd like until you find just the right combo of sweet and salty that suits you.

Honey Nut, Rice or Corn Chex Cereal

Chocolate chips

Butterscotch chips

Mixed Nuts

Pour into a bag and enjoy. I'm sure there's a sauce you could find to pour over it and bake, but I haven't figure that part out yet. I like the above the way it is because it's an easy "throw together" afternoon snack. Pair it with some ice tea and your good!

Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms

I found a recipe in a magazine that looked good. It was breadcrumbs toasted with garlic and other seasoning served over noodles. Now that I'm trying to stay away from gluten, I decided to use the breadcrumb (with gluten free bread) part of the recipe stuffed inside of portabella mushrooms. Here is what I made. It was good. D even ate it and went back for seconds!

1 cup (2 slices) gluten free breadcrumbs

1 TBSP finely chopped garlic or garlic in the tube

2 TBSP parsley

2 TBSP Parmesan cheese

1 TBSP butter

Salt and Pepper

1 cup ground breakfast turkey sausage (browned)

3 Portabello mushroom tops

Shredded Cheese

I chopped the breadcrumbs, garlic, parsley, butter and Parmesan cheese in my mini food processor. I cleaned up the portabello mushrooms a bit and filled them with the breadcrumb mixture. I topped it with a little shredded cheese (or sprinkle cheese as N calls it). Then I baked them for 20 minutes in a 375 degree oven.

The only thing I would change about the recipe is the cheese I used because my shredded cheese wasn't a great melting cheese.