Starting the morning out right...

...with coffee and more Legos.

Italian cookies

Wonder.

Santa Claus comes to Quaker Hill.

Helping.

Zack and I stopped by Cessy's house the other night, just as she was decorating her tree. Zack immediately wanted to help.

Metal guitar

(That's what he keeps calling it). He's taking lessons until June. Looks like a natural, huh?

Testing...

...the furniture at Room and Board last weekend. He took it upon himself to go through all the searches and tell us what different colors everything came in. He really liked a cowhide ottoman and declared we should get it. When I asked him where we'd put it, he thought for a moment, then said "In the big room." There was very clearly an implied "duh" in his statement. He might have a bit of his father in him?

Quote of the day

Me: You know, it's about time to get your jammies on. 

Zack: But...I have to turn into an African Crested Porcupine! 

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Gingerbread house

Black Friday

So cool.

Zack wrote the sentence "I like my Dad and Mom" all by himself tonight. A couple of those words are sight words that they work on on school, but he sounded some of them out by himself. 

Last night he sounded out a sentence in the book we were reading, too. He just grinned from ear to ear. 

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First Parent-Teacher Conference

As I mentioned, yesterday was Zack's first parent-teacher conference. Unfortunately, Rob had to travel, so I went by myself. As I was sitting there in the hall, waiting my turn, I was really nervous! I mean, it seemed like he's been doing fine, but you never know. Plus, I kept thinking that I'm not old enough to be on this side of parent-teacher conferences---that's for adults! It's strange how some milestones hit you like that.

To start, I have to say that I really love his school. Our county is known for having an excellent school system, and all, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the schools are likable. I really think ours is. It seems like a really close-knit community and the school and PTA seem really focused on doing good things for the kids. Zack's teacher is fresh out of school, but she's so enthusiastic and just loves those kids. A friend of ours is a teacher in the school system, and he said that if they hired her right out of school, she must be exceptional, and she certainly seems to be. Another great thing about our school is that there are only about 18 kids in the class. (My friends with kids in other schools all say their class sizes are closer to 30.) As a result, each child gets a lot of individual attention and encouragement.

The school also has a great aftercare program that's well integrated with the school and it's activities. The PTA brings in after-school classes that the kids can sign up for, too. There's a broad range, from soccer to yoga to karate. We signed Zack up for Young Rembrandts, a drawing class, which he loves and is learning so much from. I've posted pictures he's done in that class before.

So now to the conference. In sum, he's doing great, as you can see from the report. He's at a level 2 in reading (though she thinks he'll be moving up to 3 soon), which means he knows some sight words and can figure out some words from (what we used to call) context clues. She said he's sounding some words out, and he's writing simple sentences. She challenges him to do that instead of just labeling pictures (one example of individualized attention). They do a lot of activities where they have to draw pictures, then label them or count things or something like that. She said he doesn't always have time to finish the project, but it's because he's so detailed in his drawing, so she doesn't mind.

He's doing great in his math skills, no problems.

He is also doing well in his social skills, which I was very glad to hear. She said he's a very kind boy, that he talks with everyone, and he has lots of friends. She'd noticed that he was a little slow to warm up, but that in the last couple weeks she's noticed him chatting more, and when they're doing their table work she can hear him talking to his tablemates. She said she was glad to see him coming into his own, but that she hopes he won't get too chatty!

He sometimes comes to her a little too readily to solve problems with classmates, but they have a system for working on that, and that he's improving. He knows what he's supposed to do, but he told me that he sometimes forgets. He's apparently very protective of his personal space and doesn't like others to touch him too much.

He apparently is also very good at keeping his space clean and neat, and putting away toys. All I'm going to say here is that I'm glad that behavior occurs somewhere.

His teacher was really excited to hear that he brings a lot of what he learns home--patterns, sounding out words, sight words, etc. She said he asks lots of questions and raises his hand to answer a lot. So he's doing great!

Weekend

What a great weekend we had this past weekend.

Rob was at a work retreat on Saturday, so Zack and I had a day for adventure. Earlier in the week, Zack had commented that we hadn't gone to the zoo in a while, so off we went. We had a great time. It was a gorgeous fall day, not to cold, beautifully sunny. Zack was in a great mood all day. First stop was the reptile house (of course). We managed to hit feeding time for both the green anacondas and the alligator snapping turtle. Then we checked out the invertebrate house for the first time. Somehow we'd always missed that before, but we found a lot of cool stuff there: cuttlefish, mantis shrimp, bird-eating tarantulas (I maintain that there is no good reason for a spider that big), hermit crabs (substantially bigger than the ones we've found in CT), and lots of other bugs and sea creatures. We saw lots of other fun things, too. It's so obvious he's getting older because he'll spend more time at each exhibit and is so interested in all the animals. We did a ton of walking, since we took the Metro, but he did great walking around all day. That didn't preclude a nap on the train ride home, however.

He's becoming a pro at the Metro. He used the card to get through the gate. Then he decided he'd put his card in his coat pocket and zip it up, so I let him hold onto his card all day. He held onto it all day.

Kelly came over to hang out with us on Sunday. We went to Ikea, got our fix of Swedish food, did a little shopping. Again, Zack was in a great mood and was a lot of fun. He finagled a rather sizable shark out of the deal, which he carried around throughout pretty much the entire store. We came home to a lovely crock pot chicken dinner by Chef Roberto. It was really great to have a family day--it felt like it had been a long time since we'd just hung out together like that.

Today I went to Zack's first parent-teacher conference. More on that later.

Playground

Zack and (mostly) I were a little under the weather thus weekend, but we couldn't resist a leisurely walk down to the playground this afternoon. Such a gorgeous fall it's been!

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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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.

Not-a-box

Zack has a book called Not-A-Box, about a bunny who imagines his cardboard box is everything from a race car to a rocket ship. This is Zack's Not-A-Box.

Cousins

We're on Block Island for a family wedding. Zack gets to hang out with his cousin, Ella, all weekend and have sleepovers. They're so cute together.

What a beautiful island! And it looks like we're in for gorgeous weather, so we should have a fabulous weekend.

Strange

It's a strange thing, watching your child grow up. I've been thinking this a lot lately, as Zack is older, as he goes off to school. Watching his growing independence is fascinating.

Last night, two other neighborhood families joined us for dinner. We all decided we were going to cook our way through some new cookbooks, and last night was our first feast. We all have kids, four between the three familes, three girls and Zack. Zack is the oldest, with M right behind him. L and J are both three. As soon as everyone got there, the kids went off to the living room, and the adults went off to the big room. We decided to eat first, in relative peace, while the kids played, which they did with nearly no need for any intervention from us. They were busy turning the living room into a fort, drawing pictures, who knows what else, all on their own initiative. Apparently, M got thirsty, because Zack came out to the kitchen, got cups for both of them, filled them with ice, filled them with water, and acted like the perfect gentleman and host by giving M her cup of water. He had no idea I was watching as he did this, but I was so pleased with him!

Both M's mom and I kept commenting on how big they are, how much they've grown up. I'm not even sure we can put it into words. While they have their trying moments, it's also just wonderful watching them become so capable and independent.

Buddies

Georgia came over and laid near Zack while he was playing this afternoon. She kept him company for quite some time. It's really sweet to see them together these days. He's super sweet with her, very gentle, and takes his "big brother" role pretty seriously. To say nothing of the fact that he loves her to bits.

Cantaloupe from our garden.

Tastes pretty good for the first 'lope we've ever grown.

After care

Kindergarten is "full-day," the definition of which seems to be 8:50am to 3:00 pm. Rob and I wish that was also the definition of a full day of work, but it isn't. So Zack goes to aftercare, which is conveniently housed in his elementary school. The program is run by Kids After Hours (KAH; which also runs the summer camp that he'll be going to for the next 5 years or so), and so far seems very cool. The staff know all the kids' names, they really enjoy being there, and they make it fun for the kids. KAH works closely with the school, particularly in getting the kids from their classrooms to the aftercare site. They have a snack, and an opportunity to work on their homework if they have some. Then they can do various things, like go out to the playground.

This week they started having clubs on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I was looking at the list of clubs as I was waiting for Zack to come out last night, and saw there was a construction club. I asked about it and was told it was an opportunity to play with Legos, TinkerToys, etc. I commented that I'd have to mention it to Zack for the future. The staff person told me that Zack had already chosen to be in that club and had participated that day.

Alrighty then. I was also informed by Zack himself that I could pick him up later on Tuesday and Thursday nights so that he could be in the club longer.

I think he's adjusting OK.

Oysters

We can add one more thing to list of what Zack will eat--oysters on the half shell.

What an awesome kid!

One week down

I feel like I've been telling everyone I talk to about Zack's first week of kindergarten, so I forgot that I hadn't checked in with the blog. I think we were all a bit tired, and there was about a ream of paper worth of forms to fill out (yes, more of them. ugh).

Let's just start by saying that he did AWESOME! He came home the first day and said "Mommy? I was shy at first, but then I made new friends." That warmed my heart to no end, let me tell you.

By day two, he acted like it was no big deal. He went right into his classroom, he was happy as a clam when I picked him up from aftercare. There is apparently some sort of behavioral chart in the classroom, where blue is excellent behavior, green is good, yellow is a warning, and red is big trouble. He informed me that he was in the blue zone on the first day. One day everyone dropped down to green (he wouldn't tell me why), but he was back up to blue the next day. He likes his teacher, and is having a great time in the aftercare. Really, we couldn't have asked for a better first week. We're so proud of him!