Cutest ninja ever!

Off to school

He really wanted his own umbrella, so after searching high and low (I never thought it would be that difficult!), I finally ordered one online. And since it's arrival, it hasn't really rained. He was soooo excited that it was raining this morning when he got up! He could finally use his umbrella!

It stopped raining by the time we walked to the bus stop. But he was determined.

Soooooooo cool !

He sounded out the words and wrote that sentence all by himself!!!!

Pictures by Zack

Playground. Soccer. Playground.

He went to the playground before soccer yesterday, and to another one this afternoon. He's one busy kid!

Pictures from the Nature Lab

Here are Zack's sketches from the RISD Nature Lab.

RISD

Zack and Rob left Friday night to attend Rob's 25th college reunion at RISD. Originally, I was supposed to be on work travel, but that ended up not happening because of the shutdown, so I stayed home. As anticipated, he did great on the flight up to Providence, even though the flight was delayed for nearly an hour. I got these pictures today. They apparently stopped at the Nature Center on campus and did some sketching. Doesn't he look great sitting there drawing? I can't wait to see what he drew.

And in that picture from behind him? There is just no good reason why a spider needs to be that big. Just no good reason.

Portrait of an artist

This is the picture he brought home from his drawing class yesterday. He said they were looking at a picture of an artist, but he forgot her name. My first thought was Frida Kahlo, but that didn't ring a bell with Zack, and it doesn't really look like her anyway. Finally, Rob mentioned Maya Angelou, and Zack said that was it. Regardless, I love the turquoise lips.

King Tut

So far we are really loving Zack's new school. His teacher is great, he's enjoying it and learning a lot, the aftercare program is wonderful. Through the PTA, they also offer a number of after-school classes for the kids. There's Track and Field, Yoga, Karate, and others, along with a drawing class. We decided to sign him up for the drawing class. He goes right there from his kindergarten class, draws for an hour, then goes to his aftercare program. It's hard to get the entire story from him, but they seem to be learning about lines, how to sketch something in pencil first, things like that. Last week he came home with this piece. They were drawing from a picture, pencil first, then a Sharpie, then color.

This boy...

...might love his pooch just a little.

Teeth

Zack went to the dentist this morning. He did great, as always. The news, however, is that two of his bottom front teeth are loosening up!

It seems like his teeth just started poking through (on his first Christmas, to be exact). Can't believe he's about to lose some!

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Sent from Mailbox for iPhone

Emergence

A few weeks ago, Zack found a wooly bear caterpillar outside and wanted to put it in his Bug Playground. We read up on how to care for wooly bears, and gave him grass and maple leaves. In a day or so, we couldn't find him. Turns out, he'd created a cocoon. I did a little more reading, and found out that we needed to put him in a cool place and that a moth would emerge in spring.

Tonight I just happened to look in the box as I was walking by, and saw a moth! So much for a long over-wintering! Given that he wasn't all beaten up as he would have been had he been trying to escape for a few days, I think he just emerged. He was a little groggy. Zack immediately agreed that we had to let him go outside, so we left him on the bench outside the back door. When I just looked, he was gone, hopefully flying freely.

We both agreed that we wouldn't have expected this kind of moth from a caterpillar colored like a wooly bear. This picture doesn't capture it well, but he was a lovely golden color.