Cheering for Motown from the hometown

Go Tigers!



Even if I didn't grow up with Sparky Anderson's voice drifting into the house from my dad's radio in the garage, Jett and Kai would root for Detroit just because their cousins do. Wouldn't you?

Wedding!

Uncle Dave and Aunt Megan got married on Martha's Vineyard and we all flew out there to see their first wedded kiss. Just getting there was part of the adventure, as it required a car, escalators, elevators, a plane, a bus, a car, a ferry, and a car all in one day. The boys loved it. I somehow came home without one picture of the bride and groom and no pictures of Charlie and I. But I made up for that in pictures of the kids. Here are my favorites:

On the plane. Notice that I am the lucky one with the seat across the aisle.

We were lucky to get a direct flight to Boston AND that our friend Pete woke up at 4:30 am on his birthday and drove us to the airport. Thanks, Pete!

Hallelujah! Papa has arrived!


Cousins striking a pose, and then a hug at the "welcome to the island" cocktail party.



A horse ride at the rehearsal dinner!


Who can resist a little girl with flowers in her hair? So pretty.


Never dress a kid in khaki pants for a wedding. It's like begging for grass stains before the walk down the aisle. Orange bow ties are perfect though!


Throwing rocks into the water at Aquanah Cliffs.


The entire week was wonderful, but I think my favorite part (besides the reception, which included babysitters!) was staying at this house and letting the boys tumble out barefoot onto the grass every morning and wrestle around like puppies half the day.


It was glorious. What a wonderful way to start. Congratulations Dave and Megan!

Victories

1. The toilet paper dispenser at Jett's school has been lowered so the 5 year olds can reach it now.

2. For the first time in three weeks, Kai walked in to school without crying.

3. I made a friend - a friend! A FRIEND! at Jett's school who has offered to watch Jett on the playground after school until I arrive from picking up Kai at his school, which ends at the same time and is 6 blocks away. And even if she didn't offer to watch Jett on the playground, the fact remains that I made a friend! At our new school! A new school friend!

4. I got both boys to school on time.

5. Jett is starting to read!

6. Both boys let me brush their teeth tonight.

7. I bought a great dress at Akira.

5 yrs and 2 months

You know what else happened this summer? Jett turned 5. Five!

Ever since all of our pictures look like this. I may never take a family Christmas photo again.


One of his favorite presents was the web shooters. First they shoot silly string. Then we've you've used up the silly string, you can shoot water. As soon as he opened the shooters he donned his Spiderman costume, put Kai in his super hero cape, and talked Charlie in to taking him outside. They boys used up the silly string in 30 seconds, almost before I had time to run outside after them. We put on quite a show for all of the church-goers who attend church at the school across the street. The trees over there have never looked so colorful!





Jett wanted to go to the zoo for his birthday, so we did. We had a hard time tearing them away from the ducks on this pond, but we eventually made it around to see all of the animals on Jett's list and ride the carousel too.





a proper birthday lunch

We couldn't avoid a stop at Chuck E. Cheese. He did turn five, after all.


It was really one of the best days of summer. Happy Birthday, Jett! We love you!

School is Hard

The toilet paper dispenser for the boys' bathroom in Jett's school is attached to the wall outside of the bathroom. If you need toilet paper, you have to get some from the dispenser before you walk in to the bathroom.

Below is a real email conversation I had with Jett's principal today.

Dear Miss XYZ and Mr. ABC,

My son is too short to reach the toilet paper dispenser that is outside of the boys' bathroom at the bottom of the stairs near Miss XYZ's classroom. Today I sent him to school with toilet paper in his pockets. Not all of his shorts have pockets, so.....can the toilet paper dispenser please be moved lower so the five-year-olds can reach it? Until it can be moved, can you please, today, make sure that those students who can't reach it can still get toilet paper when they need it? Maybe you can put a step-stool or chair under the dispenser for a short-term, immediate solution.

Also, until today [9 days in to the school year] my son did not even know where the toilet paper dispenser was. I had to walk down to the bathroom with him this morning and we looked for it together - it was not that easy to find. Can you please make a point of showing the new students where the toilet paper dispenser is in every bathroom that they might use during the school day?

On a side note, Mr. ABC, I hear that you are working to make pick-up and drop-off less chaotic and safer for the students on the playground. I really appreciate that. Thanks.

Thank you.

---------------------

Hello Ms. Johnson,

Thank you for your email. I will touch base with Ms. XYZ to make sure that all of her students are aware of where the washrooms are located, as well as, the dispensers. In addition I will let her know to keep an eye on your son to make sure he has what he needs in order to use the restroom. I will also talk to your son and reinforce the idea that he can always ask his teacher for assistance.

Thank you for the feedback on pick-up, its still a work in progress, but I am confident we will get it down to near perfection very soon. Thanks.

Sincerely,
ABC

---------------------

Thank you, Mr. ABC. It still seems there must be a way to make the toilet paper accessible to all students without the students requiring special assistance from their teacher, but as long as someone is available to help him, I guess the problem is mostly solved.

Jett really enjoys being in Ms. XYZ's class. We are enjoying it too.

I thought pick-up today was a huge improvement. Thank you!

See you at school,
Amy

PreK Wrap-Up

Jett had a homework assignment last week, which I remembered on Sunday, just in time. He needed to make a collage about himself. The idea was to include things like your favorite color, favorite book, what you like about school, etc. I wish I had taken a picture of Jett's collage before he brought it to school today. The things he put on his collage were:

1. His favorite color - green (heavily influenced by the Green Bay Packers).

2. His favorite TV show - Wild Kratts.

3. The names of everyone in his family (Jett, Kai, Mom, Dad). I ordered him to write our names on his collage in red and followed by a red heart.

4. A photo of him playing his favorite sport, soccer.

5. A photo of him and his friend taken at preschool last year.

6. A photo of his preschool class from last year.

He also asked me to print out a picture of his preschool teachers, although in the end he decided not to add that to his collage.

The end of preschool was sad for me, but not as sad as last year. Last year I was sad because it looked like he and his friends, although returning to preschool, would be in different classrooms, and our first year together had been wonderful and we wanted the second year to be the same. In the end we got all of the kids back in class together and had another terrific year together. This year, although all of the kids were "graduating" from preschool, I wasn't quite as sad, because we were all getting scattered to the wind, split up among various elementary schools. Somehow knowing that almost everyone is splitting up wasn't as hard to take.

Anyway, the last week of preschool was filled with parties, treats, and special events. These are some of my favorite pictures from that time.

Dress Up Day

Another spirit week day - I think it was dress like your favorite decade day.


Counting on the abacus.

Working Hard

Performing one of their many dance routines for the last time (sniff!)


I loved all of that singing and dancing. Do you see Kai in there?


The last day of school they took a walking field trip to a nearby park.

We loved preschool!

First day of School!

I know it's the middle of summer, but Jett and Kai started school today. Kindergarten and PreK! Don't the boys look great?

They are both in (different) public schools. They are both Track E schools (which start in early August and have longer breaks throughout the year) and they both require uniforms. I am not a fan of uniforms but there is something a bit charming about the white and navy look.

Charlie took the day off of work today to help with school pick-up and drop-off, so the 4 of us piled in to the car at 8:30 this morning and drove the 1.5 miles to Jett's school. Parking was an absolute circus. I know parking is an issue for most schools everywhere, but schools in the city don't have parking lots, so I think it must be even crazier here. Thankfully Charlie could just hop out with Jett, and Kai and I could be on our way.....

...and 6 blocks down the street is Kai's school. By the time I parked (with flashers on, in front of a fire hydrant), Kai and I only had 5 minutes to spare. Thankfully he had stopped crying ("I want Daaaaaaddy to take me to school!") by the time we got out of the car. He put on his big backpack, grabbed my hand, and walked me across the street to school. We made our way through the chaotic playground of older kids and parents, and found the door where the three-year-olds enter. The door was open, kids were inside, so he dropped my hand and walked in. Just like that! I had to ask his assistant teacher to bring him back to me so I could say good-bye and give him his backpack (which I was now holding). Kai dutifully walked back to me, put his arm around my neck, and let me hug him and kiss him. Then I handed him his backpack and he walked back to where he was supposed to sit. He is so CUTE.

Where he was supposed to sit was on this very high bench in front of the drinking fountains. I know you can barely see him in this picture, but if you can make him out, look how small he looks! Three year olds are amazing.

middle of the picture, on bench, white shirt

So all of the kids sit on these benches, organized by classrooms, and wait until it's time to go to class. Their teachers are with them. Parents are not supposed to go in to this room - we say good-bye at the door. The doorway, of course, was crowded with parents taking pictures, peeling off their kids, teachers coaxing children in, big bags of school supplies being handed over....I hovered there for a few minutes and then spent the last few minutes squinting into the room through a dark window. I saw Kai line up with his backpack on and walk out the door with his class, and then he was around the corner and out of sight. I tried to picture which window was his and I couldn't and I felt a little sad. Then I remembered that I had parked in front of a fire hydrant and rushed to move my car.

Charlie dropped Jett off and was walking to Kai's school to meet me, so I walked back to the playground and stood by myself amongst many small groups of parents talking and laughing together. I busied myself with my cell phone and thought about my preschool mom friends and wondered how long it would take to make friends at this school. Then a mom walked over and introduced herself and her three friends and I felt like a puppy waiting for adoption. I hope they come back and buy me tomorrow.

Now Charlie and I are home and the house is wonderfully quiet and it's already 11:00 and the day is going by so fast already and I hope it's going by fast for the boys too and I hope Kai isn't hungry because he barely ate breakfast and I hope Jett isn't sweating because Charlie said his classroom was really warm and I hope they both eat a good lunch and aren't disappointed that I didn't put a cookie in their lunch bags but they only get 20 minutes to eat and I was afraid that if I put dessert in there they'd eat it first and wouldn't have time to eat the healthy stuff and how am I going to make the most of the few hours I have left because I'd sure like to relax and Charlie and I want to go for lunch and I should get some groceries and unpack from the weekend and clean out their toys and organize the closets and look for some freelance editing work and update this blog with a million more posts about the summer and and and but wait. They go to school every day. Every. Day.

Whoever invented school was a genius.