The many faces of kindergarten

So we've officially been in kindergarten a month. How's it going?

Well . . . . Turns out there is a universal public elementary school discipline scheme that involves students starting each day with green, progressing to yellow for questionable behavior, and moving on to red if they are really delinquent. The end color is communicated to Travis kindergarteners in their folder by way of a happy face (stayed on green), straight face (got yellow), or sad face (the dreaded red). Now, I have long given up any notion that my kids are the idyllic, obedient children that I always imagined they would be in school (after all, I was exactly such a kid). But I thought we would have at least a couple of months before their behavior warranted discipline.

No such luck. In the first full month, the boys collectively had 3 happy faces that nevertheless included notes from the teacher about problem behavior, 4 straight faces, and one sad face. Most of Joe's transgressions have been behavior typical of him -- rolling around on the rug, playing when he is supposed to be working on something. Charlie, on the other hand, has been hitting. Seriously, HITTING???

But we think we are rounding the corner. The last week produced happy faces all around. I guess the adjustment to kindergarten is just bigger than we realized.

In other kindergarten news, the boys seem to be really enjoying their new school. They do not seem bored at all. The basic material--reading, math, etc.--may be what they already know, but they are presented in a way that makes all the kids think. For example, they have been reading simple stories (Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks and the Three Bears), but have been reading different versions, comparing and contrasting them, discussing concepts like the characters, setting, etc.

And the reading itself! So far the "books" they bring home as homework are FAR below their reading level, but somehow between the class discussions and the books being read to them, the boys are now head over heels into chapter books. They are currently very into the Magic Treehouse series. We read to them at bedtime, but they've also started sneaking in a chapter here at there themselves -- getting up early and reading before breakfast, reading during naptime at school, reading while we're in the car, and reading while they wait for their after-school program to start. This morning, I had to tell Charlie to quit reading as we walked into school, for fear he was going to walk into oncoming traffic. It's so good to see them enjoying reading so much!

They've also been on TWO field trips already, including their first trip to the opera. That's what you get when you live in the big city -- their first opera experience at age 5 coincided with my first opera experience at age 38 (as chaperone). Even more exciting (to them), it was their first trip on a school bus. And they have made new friends and have had their first official playdate, with a little boy in Charlie's class. They are learning the ropes, getting comfortable with the school, and becoming more and more independent. At the same time, they are still young and sweet enough to occasionally hold hands with other little boys they have made friends with, as they walk together to class.

All in all, we are happy to be at Travis, happy we made the school decision we did, and particularly happy to see "happy faces" at the end of the day.

Why we do it

Every Tuesday night, we go out to eat. With four kids. Sometimes it goes better than others, but it's always exhausting. At least one kid usually has to go to time out before he (or usually she!) will behave. We know people who won't take their one kid to a restaurant. People think we are crazy. And many Tuesday evenings, I wonder why we do it.

Then we come home to a clean house (our housekeeper comes on Tuesdays) that has not yet been messed up by cooking dinner, eating dinner, and four kids doing both and the various other things they do to destroy our house. We put them to bed, come downstairs, and relax without having to clean up. And we give thanks for Tuesday nights and kid-friendly restaurants.

Makes my Monday

HISD holiday. No school for the boys. Took off work as a result. Cort decided to play hooky from work with us. We ran errands together, then took the boys to a playdate with a new friend from school. Came home and read chapter books individually to each of the boys.

Makes my Monday!

But this is for you, Mom

While we were in Henrietta, Charlie and I spent some time playing catch with a baseball in the back yard. At one point, one of my throws landed short and I apologized for the bad throw. Charlie replied, "That's okay, Mom. I already know how to catch. This is so you can practice."

This is why we don't do family pictures

When we were in Henrietta this weekend, Grandad and Gransan wanted a picture of them with all four grandkids. They like to use such a picture for their Christmas card. Easier said than done.

Right side looking good, left side - not so much


Are those big grins supposed to make up for Will?



Only Grandad is salvageable in this one


Camera's over here guys

And this is why we don't have pictures of our entire family together

On the road again

This weekend we made our annual trek to my hometown of Henrietta, Texas (population almost 3,000 - woo hoo!) for the Pioneer Reunion celebration. Three days of parades, events on the courthouse square, and rodeos. Except that because it is a six-hour drive for us, and because the boys are now in school, we are pretty much limited to Saturday. To be precise, we left after school on Friday, arrived in Henrietta Friday night, Pioneer Reunioned our hearts out all day Saturday, left Sunday morning, and arrived back in Houston Sunday evening just in time for dinner and bed. Whew.

As a general rule, Will cries 95% of the time that he is in a car. That can make a six-hour trip vveerrryyyy llooonnngg. So we had a plan. On the way there, we gave Charlie and Joe a map, and we had designated activities between each and every town from Houston to Henrietta. It worked really well. The kids were occupied, Will did not cry ONCE the whole trip, and we made it there in six hours WITH a stop to use the bathroom and stretch legs. We were extremely proud of our parenting prowess.

The kids had a really great time at Pioneer Reunion. There is lots to see and do. The little ones were excited about all the horses, and the big boys liked to look for the floats in the parade. There was also an Elmo on one of the parade floats, which excited Helen to no end. She was a little bit worried though. The Elmo costume was one like this, and she kept saying that Elmo had a person in his mouth.

The boys also LOVE the rodeo. I seriously don't know anyone else who enjoys a rodeo like they do. I guess it's just another sporting event to them. The little kids also made a brief appearance at the rodeo before their bedtime, and they enjoyed it. (Grandad sacrificed his rodeo time to babysit and watch the UT-Texas Tech football game.) The boys participated once again in the calf scramble, but they still haven't caught a calf.

Helen, Charlie, Will, and Joseph checking out the arena

Not quite everything was all roses though. Will got sick and had a fever most of the trip, although he did pretty well when drugged up with Tylenol and Benadryl. And any thought that our wonderful parenting skills would transform driving with our four kids into an enjoyable event was put to rest on the trip home. If Will hadn't been sick--and thus actually asleep (on and off) for three hours -- it would have been downright miserable. As it was, it was bearable, but not the success we were hoping for. We managed to keep all the kids happy at times, but never at the same time. And then there was the activity that seemed to keep everyone occupied--stickers!!--but once we got home it turned out that wasn't the greatest idea either.


I spent a good ten minutes trying to get these out of her hair Sunday night, and still found two I missed on Monday morning.

Nevertheless, Pioneer Reunion is now a family tradition (personally, I haven't missed one since 1971, the year I was born!), and we'll brave the road trip again next year.

True love

Will and Helen learned a new word at school: booger.

And when Will gets one, he doesn't like it stuck there on his finger. So he holds it out for me. "Booger, Mommy. Booger."

And I take it.

Love. True love.

Way Back When-esday

This is Joseph wearing Daddy's cowboy hat when he was six months old.  We were at the Clay County Pioneer Reunion, which is my hometown's three-day celebration of float parades, rodeos, and other small-town festivities.  Pioneer Reunion is always held in September, and we are headed there once again this weekend.  We are looking forward to being there.  We are not looking forward to the 6-hour drive(s).

What worries him

Charlie brought home some paper from kindergarten today.  On one side, the teacher had written:  "What worries me . . ."  One the other side, she had written:  "What makes me feel better . . ."  On each side, there were three spaces, presumably for the kids to write/draw something in each category.

On the "worries me" side, Charlie wrote three baseball scores:  

STL 2

HOU 1

LAA 20

HOU 2

HOU 3

NYY 4

All were accompanied by little sad faces.

On the "makes me feel better" side, there were three different scores:

HOU 3

STL 1

HOU 11

NYY 1

NL 6

AL 1

Oh, the troubles of a 5-year-old sports addict.

We did it! Now I'm tired

Well, I got by for almost a week and a half, but it finally happened. Cort was out of town today, and I had to take Will and Helen with me when I dropped Charlie and Joseph off at school. That means that we had to get all four kids ready to leave on time, park a couple of blocks away, walk the two traffic-filled blocks to school, walk down the incredibly crowded hallway, drop the boys in their respective classes, and go back out the school and the two blocks back to the car -- all without losing anyone or, hopefully, having any meltdowns.

And, we did it! I got up at 6am, having already showered last night, and was fully ready by 6:30. Then I went downstairs and got breakfast completely ready, fed myself, and fed the dogs. At ten minutes till 7, I got all the kids up early. Everyone got dressed before breakfast. I set the parameters: at 7:18 the kitchen is closed and nothing else will be given for breakfast, at 7:25 breakfast is over and everyone goes upstairs to brush teeth and hair, at 7:35 we are getting into the car. And guess what -- we ended up loading into the car at 7:34! Woo hoo!

We also spent all of breakfast talking about how exciting it was that Will and Helen get to go see Charlie and Joseph's new school, how we have to hold hands all the way there because there are a lot of people and cars, etc., etc., etc., ad nauseum. I spent lots of energy building this up.

When we got to school, I got Will out first because he is great about staying put when asked. So, I had him sit down on the curb where we parked. Charlie got out, got his backpack, and joined him. Followed by Joseph and his backpack. Then I got Helen out. Of course, she had to join them too, so she sat down on the curb for 5 seconds, then we were off!

All five of us held hands all the way to school. Me-Will-Charlie-Helen-Joe. We blocked more than the entire sidewalk. We went inside the school, and Will and Helen seemed a bit disappointed not to be able to go into the classrooms, but they were very good about it. We dropped Joseph off, then Charlie, both on time, and then the three of us held hands all the way back to the car. Success!!

Now I'm at work, and I'm totally exhausted due to the energy expended preparing for and making this happen. How the heck can I be expected to practice law for the rest of the day?