Let's Play Catch Up

Let's see, not a lot has happened in the last few months but a lot of fun stuff has as well.

We spent a week in the Outer Banks with our best friends in July. The same family from our joint trip to Costa Rica two years earlier.

Troy started second grade.

He is playing soccer again.

Troy got his hair cut and styled.

We take a picture to practice on picture day. These are the practice shots over the years.

We took a trip to Blacksburg to see Virginia Tech play football.

Troy lost two more teeth in the same week as being the student of the month.

Then a week ago cracked his adult front tooth in half in P.E. class. He was walking at the time he fell.

We are already making plans for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Plus, our first vacation to St. John in 2015 is booked. Time is going by so fast.

 

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Wordless Wednesday - I Blinked

I blinked and kindergarten is over for Troy.

Today was his last day of kindergarten. He started the year knowing his alphabet to reading, learning how to play baseball, tie his shoes and develop his own unique sense of humor among other things.






These crazy smiles have been around for years.

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Wordless Wednesday - Kindergarten Picture Day - - Take One

Long time readers know that picture day hasn't always been a successful one for Troy. Years ago, I started taking shots of him in the morning so he would be at ease and practice his smile.

Here is the dress uniform for kindergarten.








Previous picture days in March 2011, March 2010  and March 2009 and November 2008.

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Summer is Over

Troy has had an incredible summer with trips to my parents’ lake house for weeks at a time, a week in the Outer Banks (OBX), two weeks with his sister by our pool, a week in Costa Rica, in Kentucky for two weeks, time at our house with his Mamaw, my parents and The Bobfather and the other Deb Thaxton.

And just like that - - summer is over and Troy is in kindergarten.

Unlike the local public schools that start after Labor Day he was back in school on Wednesday for a half day and his first full day was yesterday.

After back to school night on Monday I told him his new teacher has been teaching kindergarten for over thirty years and knows ALL the tricks.

He said, “Well, she doesn’t know mine and I have trickier tricks.”

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And Then My Baby Turned 1,825 Days Old

Today is Troy's fifth birthday. He was awake before me and when I found him he was sitting on the couch watching Power Rangers with a blanket covering him up.

I asked him, "Did you get taller overnight now that you're five?"

Troy said, "Yes, see, my feet are sticking out of the blanket."

I carefully ignored the fact that he had hiked the blanket up higher to expose his ankles.

He had a great week last week at school and didn't have to write sentences mainly because we bribed him with tickets to the monster truck show.

As the old radio ad used to say in the deep voice,

"$10 buys you the whole seat.......but you only need THE. EDGE."

I think everyone had the same idea because all of the seats were sold out, including the edges.

Last Friday when I picked him up from the after-school program, Troy saw his classroom lights on.
I said, "Mrs. C. must be ready to go home and enjoy some peace and quiet."

Troy said from the backseat, "Yeah, she probably is ready to go home, sit on the couch and Drink a Beer!"

I checked with his Pre-K teacher and she said it was actually a glass of wine.

Tomorrow we'll have his fifth birthday party where there will be a lot of people talking at the same time. Cheers to you all.

Click to read about my thoughts on The Day I Became a Mom.

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I will listen in school and obey class rules.

Since the beginning of October, my almost 5-year old’s Pre-K teacher has been sending a calendar home with a sticker for good behavior or as I’ve been seeing a lot in the last few weeks, yellow for having received a warning for bad behavior or red for more serious offenses. The red offense includes a more detailed note about the behavior with my child’s signature on it.

These offenses have ranged from not listening, not following classroom rules and for not keeping his hands to himself. We have tried several forms of punishment to curb this classroom behavior and Troy has a few good days and then reverts to getting in trouble.

Yesterday, he came home with a yellow mark. Remembering the approach we used earlier in the year when he was still in daycare, Troy had to write sentences last night.

Although we assigned him to writing the sentence 10 times, “I will listen in school and obey class rules” was scribbled out about five times.

It took him almost an hour.

I believe that one reason my handwriting looks the way it does now is because I was always punished in school for talking and had to write the same sentences 100 times.

I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class.

One of Troy's classmates invited him to her party at the zoo on Sunday. Since they have been together in daycare since they were three months old and sit next to each other now, it only felt right to go to the party. Also, I wanted to talk to some of the other parents to see how their children were behaving in school too. I found out that one of Troy's partners in crime friends had already been to the principal of the school for his bad behavior.

This actually made me feel better.

At the party there was a private room with a zookeeper who allowed the children to touch a few animals. Then after lunch and cake, we were allowed to explore the zoo.

The monkeys were entertaining.


I have a fondness for the elephants.


I like the gracefulness of the giraffes.


But it’s the beauty of the lions and tigers that makes me glad there is significant fencing between us.

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