Pride Will Come Before the Fall

Daniel's school conferences were this afternoon.  As his mother, I would be remiss to not mention that statements like "greatly improved," "so polite, " and "star pupil" were tossed around by his first grade and reading teachers.  I walked home with a little spring in my step, eager to tell Daniel how proud we all are of his progress.  He had a very rough start to first grade and he really has made huge leaps in his confidence as a learner and his ability to make mistakes and move on, instead of falling to pieces. 

At dinner we again doted on Daniel and his accomplishments.  Not wanting to build resentment, we turned the conversation to Addie and how we love how she turns even mundane conversation into a musical.  This led to some pretty spazzy singing and falling on the floor in hysterical laughter.

Daniel then announced over the hub-bub, "HEY! HEY!  I have to tell you something that everybody NEEDS to know!"
"NEVER do THIS." And he flipped us the bird.

Steve and I were in tears.  Once we were able to compose ourselves we asked where he learned such a gesture and explained what it means (in loose terms) and why, indeed, we should never use it.  Turns out the boy who sits next to Daniel has been tutoring him in Profanity 101.  Kahlil, you are in my prayers, you little @#$*.

Life As We Know It

...has forever changed. One of the blessings and curses of being a firefighter is the rotating work schedule. Up until now our family has operated around Steve's random work schedule. We didn't have normal weekends, which gave us a lot of freedom to do "weekend" things on other days of the week. It seemed almost indulgent to have a family outing on a Tuesday morning when we knew most of the rest of the world wasn't able to. But now that Daniel has started Kindergarten 5 days a week, our family's schedule is becoming incredibly normal. It's a little sad.

But exciting at the same time. Daniel loves his teacher, Mrs. Wisdom (awesome name, huh?) and only has 5 kids in his class. 4 crazy boys and one sweet, yet spunky girl. The kids are going to become close friends over the next year and I'm eager to get to know their families, too.

Here's Daniel at his desk:

Addie started preschool this year. She LOVES it and asks to go every day. Her teacher is Mrs. Visintine. She seems like a real pro; not too tender, not too strict, and incredibly patient. Addie is giving up her afternoon nap to attend school so I am concerned she will throw herself on the floor and scream when things don't go her way...even more than usual. But so far so good.

The kids think it's really fun when they see each other in the hallways at school.

On the days that Addie is home, she is busy smothering and mothering Nathan.

And Lindy-dog tries to figure out where she fits in our ever-evolving pack. Poor dog is an emotional wreck.

Father's Night

Last night was Father's Night at Daniel's school. Steve and Daniel toured the different classrooms, listened to stories, and made a couple of Halloween crafts. During the tour, Daniel showed Steve a special tree he made for him and a nice letter the teachers helped him write about his dad. The teachers hung the pictures and letters in the hallway for everyone to see. Steve took a picture of Daniel's art and letter for me. Isn't it cute?


Allow me to highlight my very favorite part of Daniel's letter about his dad:

I wonder how much the teacher loved writing this down. Once Steve got over the initial embarrassment we had a good laugh. I laughed a little harder than he did.

Daniel's First Day of School

Daniel started school this week. This year he will attend three mornings a week and his homeroom class is The Rainbow Room, which is a pretty big deal in the land of Union Preschool. The Rainbow Room is where all of the "pretend play" toys reside, along with the fish, hamsters and science toys. There is a play house, a loft, and all kinds of God-made goodies in boxes and jars around the room.


This year he will be learning about numbers and letters, and he'll have a few field trips to the library. When his first day was done, as usual, all he had to report was that they had juice and pretzels for a snack. He described the pretzel shapes and juice flavors in great detail. I have no idea what else they did all morning.


Addie was disappointed when we left Daniel at school in the morning, not because she misses her brother, but because she wants to go to school so badly. Even so, she was happy to see him at the end of the day.