Ben's first day of kindergarten

Today was Ben's first day in kindergarten. I expected it to be a more bittersweet day than it was. He was SO ready, and just pulsing with energy on the one block walk to school. The school had an open house yesterday where he had met his teacher, seen his classroom and (natch) played on the playground. Ben walked in, circled the room (casing for legos, I think), examined a couple of interesting items and was pretty much done with it. Today he blazed right in, searching for his name on the wall in order to hang up his backpack, then found his name on a desk and was right at home.

My parents came over just after lunch to walk up and pick the boy up (the kindergarteners are given shorter days for the first few days of school to ease the transition). His first words as he emerged from the classroom were "I had a great day!"

I'm so proud!

I didn't set out to embarrass my brother, but...

I'm back home in Connecticut, sorting through the 37 years of stuff that my family accumulated. No, really, I'm working on a very small subset. Some bins of things like old college papers, photos, letters from my grandmothers, etc. Anyway, my brother was here to do the same about a month ago, but after he left my mom found another box of his stuff. I tried to email him photos of the contents after taking pictures with my iPhone, but he never seems to be able to see my damn attachments. So I'm posting the photos here, for all the world to see. If he doesn't want them, anyone want to offer me money for the manual on a '91 Datsun station wagon?

Michael, can you see the title on the first 5" floppy disk in the holder?!

Field trip number 2

Delighted with the success of yesterday's bus ride (see post below), I decided to try something unusual with the boys today. The morning is the only safe time to do outings, since I try to get them home around noon, or risk Rex falling asleep in the car on the return trip. By the time nap is over and snack has been eaten, there's usually only a small window in which to do anything before Glenn comes home from work.

So we drove down to South Lake Union, parked in a 2 hour spot and took the streetcar into downtown Seattle. It's probably been a year since we rode the streetcar, which means Rex can't even remember doing it. But when I announced the plan, and then when he got a look at the approaching streetcar, he started actually cackling with glee.

Both drivers were lovely, waving at the kids. One even came to talk with us as he moved from the driver's station in the back to the one in the front for the return trip. Ben was aglow.

We ate pretzels in a downtown park and then visited a Japanese discount store I had read about. I have an overambitious plan to put together some bento lunches for their child care days, hoping (probably futilely) that it will encourage Ben to try some new foods. And I had heard that Daiso was a great place to get inexpensive bento gear.

The store was fabulous, though navigating it with two preschoolers was a bit crazy. But I got what I wanted and we discovered this hilarious thing outside the store. It's a big interactive floor mat. It cycled through various video games and the kids' steps would make angry monkeys go poof, or cause animated balls to scurry out of their path. You could even play soccer with a virtual, underfoot, soccer ball! Awesome find.

$4 in parking and $2 for the streetcar added up to a lovely day!

Field trip number 1

Yesterday I went with Ben and his preschool class on a field trip to an unnamed Seattle museum. I'm not naming it only because I took photos there and was later told that I wasn't supposed to be doing so. Since I want to show one here, I'll just pretend I don't know that.

We all took a bus ride to get there, and I have a new appreciation for the teachers, who deal with more misbehavior in a single morning that I usually do all week. The kids really are good kids, most of them quite lovely. But wow, four year olds think of things to do wrong that I couldn't have even imagined!

Anyway, it really was a fun trip, and reminded me that it's been quite a while since I got any Ben-only time. I'll remedy that soon. Here is a photo of Ben, encouraged by a docent to imitate a sculpture. It's not immediately obvious, but the pose is of a tai chi posture. I loved the photo, so risk getting in deep trouble by posting it here.

Ben's new "computer"

Glenn bought a piece of software a couple of weeks ago so that Ben could play around on a computer. It's called Kid Pix and is a bloody cool application! It allows for some pretty fun graphic creation. When you get bored with that, you can put your art together into a slideshow, providing sound, if you want. Ben had it, and the mouse, mastered in about 45 minutes (spread over two days, that is). It was actually a little eerie to watch him figure out how everything worked, especially since he doesn't yet read and therefore has to navigate by memory after we tell him what a certain button does. He assimilated what the computer wanted of him, in terms of direction, in a way that my mother would envy as she wrestles with hers!

He only gets to play with it during the 30 minutes between Rex's bedtime and his own, but is often talking and thinking about Kid Pix. Some months ago I got a used keyboard at Goodwill, so that the kids could play around with it. Today Ben proudly announced that he had made a screen for it (see photo). I love the idea of using wooden unit blocks to make advanced technology!

Rex the orator

Rex's speaking skills have grown so quickly that I regularly find myself, mouth open, making startled eye contact with Glenn. The unspoken question is, "did I just hear what I think I just heard?!"

Usually the answer is "You sure did!"

I recently read that somewhere in the range of 18-24 months, most children will start stringing two to four words together. Well, let's just say that at nearly 22 months, Rex has that skill down. The child is using prepositions!

If you're not familiar with Goodnight Gorilla, it's a charming children's book in which animals help themselves to the zookeeper's keys, then follow him home to sleep in his bedroom. His wife, clearly accustomed to this behavior, wearily leads them all back into the zoo. There are almost no words in it, and like many such books, it's adored by kids. Yesterday I looked over to see Rex sitting with Glenn on the couch, "reading" the book to his dad. His pronunciation is still confusing, but we parents don't have much trouble translating the sounds into "elephant, lion, hippo," etc.

Ben hits the slopes and emerges triumphant

I utterly freaked out when I realized the winter was well underway and there had been no skiing of any kind whatsoever for any of our family. So I scheduled a ski outing with Ben for today, wisely keeping it a secret until it was time to climb into longjohns and load the car. Ben has issues with anticipation, to put it mildly.

To my surprise and great pride, he did a marvelous job! Not only did he manage to ski long into what most folks would call lunch time (thereby missing the worst of the crowds of the lodge), but he really pulled some skills out of his hat. Last year I was pretty much a crane, holding his full body weight while he glided on the skis. This year I stepped aside pretty quickly to let him glide or crash on his own. And in a very short span of time, he had it!

The current teaching mode is "french fry" (parallel skis) vs. "pizza" (snowplow position). It definitely helped, though he voted to substitute "pie" for "pizza." Whatever works. Riding up the Magic Carpet lift was another matter. The sucker is slippery! So standing in parallel meant sliding backwards while the carpet itself went forward. So we improvised, devising a "backwards pizza/pie" to keep from falling back.

I wisely skipped using my own ski gear this year, which meant I could concentrate on his skiing and gear, keeping good traction and comfortable feet in my apres-ski boots. We finished up with lunch at the lodge and he was delighted to find yogurt and muffins, since he won't eat any of the usual kid favorites like mac and cheese, hot dogs, burgers, etc. Sigh.

Anyway, great expedition and I'm determined to get him out another time or two this year. Next year I think we'll spring for some professional lessons and he'll be good to go (Just in time to ski with Grandma and Buppa!).