Roo finally did it. He decided to figure out how to ride his bike. On Friday evening, he hauled out his little bike and very firmly said, "Don't help me!" He worked and worked with Far Far at his side brandishing a camcorder. Being the pessimist I can be at times, Gramma and I went for a walk (not at all confident that he would really do it) while EJ and G-man went for their own ride. Upon return to the house, we found a Roo riding his bike. He is so proud of himself that he has been riding non-stop since. As an added incentive, EJ told Roo a while ago that he would buy him a new helmet once he could ride his bike. So off he goes, with his new cool helmet wondering if now he can ride his bike to school himself.
On another riding note, EJ had a bike race this weekend. I had planned to go and cheer him on but standing in the rain to watch 30 seconds of riding wasn't what I considered the best of plans for my Saturday. In hindsight, I should have. My guy rocked! He is racing with a local team this year and competed in the Tour of the Bitteroot's road race placing first for his category! Next time, maybe I'll show up and give him a smooch at the finish line.
Roo is charming, yes it's true. He's continually charming those around him with his wit, brown eyes, and as a friend says...scrappiness. So for those of you who don't see him on a daily basis, here's a dose of Roo.
This conversation occured during G-man's baseball game between the coach and Roo and was relayed to us after the game by the coach.
Roo: Hey coach, see that pink thing down there by your foot?
Coach: Uh, yeah, that little pink thing down there?
Roo: Yeah, that pink thing by your foot. Could you pick that up for me? I dropped it.
We took our first camping trip of the year this weekend. With temps in the high 80's we couldn't resist. We had an invite from some soccer/baseball friends and decided it must be done. Here's the scene...we arrive to a camp swarming with 6 boys all aged 6-9 and brandishing sticks. We arrive and add two more boys to the scene so now there are 8 boys and two more sticks (BTW, this does not include the dads who could at times very well be counted in this scenario). They managed to create some kind of game involving a stash of weapons on the hillside and using them to "attack" anyone who was not on their team. Now, I may not have this game correctly documented, but you get the point...a bunch of boys with sticks as weapons. What else could we expect? To add to the fetish with weapons, my two boys got their first attempt at shooting a BB gun at beer cans on this trip. Are we in Montana or what? I'm waiting for the conversations about Christmas presents to come up now. The term "You'll shoot your eye out" may be a frequent one in the coming months. Needless to say, the females on this trip (never more than 3 of us mom's at a time) spent much of the time laughing at the boyness, the lack of nutritional content on the food labels, and comparing notes about where our boys have chosen to relieve themselves. Oh, and the girls also got a stellar mountain bike ride in. As for photos, the boys also enjoyed long boarding and biking. Here's G-man's first long board casualty along with Roo deciding how exactly to cross the creek (EJ carried him). I may be able to get a BB gun photo from a friend. If I can, I'll enlighten you all with some true Montana camping images.
G-man brought home a sweet Mothrer's Day surprise from school on Friday. It was the top 10 things about his mom...me! It was very thoughtful and sweet and though I cannot likely match his youthful honesty, I thought doing the same for my mom would be a nice tribute.
The Top 10 Things About My Mom
10. She can answer all my baking quesitons.
9. She lets me change the station on her car radio.
8. She shares her stash of Swiss chocolate.
7. She gives me the clothes from her closet that don't fit her anymore.
6. She will still buy me things when we are shopping, even though she shouldn't.
5. She wants all the details, even if I don't want to tell them.
4. She checks in with us almost daily.
3. She was always around for my brother and I growing up.
2. She will babysit my boys (just the two), anytime she can.
Well, when I said I wouldn't update my blog on a regular basis, I guess that meant I would consider actually blogging about once a month. How do monthly updates sound? No, but seriously, any of you who know me on a daily and personal level likely know that I am not generally a happy-go-lucky kind of gal in April and much of May. The profession I have chosen requires an insane and mind numbing amount of craziness during these times. The level to which this effects my life can best be put by telling you that G-man's birthday was quite a while ago and he has yet to effectively cash in his promised birthday party (on that same note, presents he has received thus far are not adequatley "thanked" for...if you are an "unthanked" soul, it's coming, probably after summer break starts...as is the birthday party). I'm sure some of you are wondering what a special education preschool teacher could possibly need to do that would send her to the dark side for six weeks. Well, allow me to enlighten you. TRANSITIONS and ESY. Got it? No? Okay, allow me to explain since you are all feeling deprived of my negligent blogging behavior. (If you really don't care, skip down to the photo section).
TRANSITIONS...any of the students in my classroom who are of kindergarten age in the fall are required to have a transition meeting. This starts with organizing a time for every receiving special education teacher (and sometimes counselors, psychologists, principals, coordinators, or general ed teachers) to come observe their incoming students. Next comes planning a time to meet. This involves coordinating a meeting with the incoming school, the parents, and sometimes additional schools (the reason for additional schools is really not worth explaining). Then comes preparing information and paperwork about the child to share at the meeting. Then I actually have to go to the meeting. I only mention this small detail because since many of these meetings are at unusual times in order to fit them all in, I actually almost forgot to go to one last year. Now, when I say "almost forgot" I don't mean that I remembered at the last minute and got there. Nooooo, this meeting was scheduled from 8-8:30 in the morning on a day that I teach but the meeting was not at my school. So off I went to work and started about my day when one of my paraeducators arrived and said, "Aren't you supposed to be at a meeting?" (My paras truly keep me in line on a daily basis! I would not survive without them!) So off I went, 15 minutes late for a 30 minute meeting that they could not have without me. Luckily this has not occurred this year but my last meeting is a similarly scheduled meeting so I'll keep you posted, unless I forget.
ESY...also known in the special ed world as Extended School Year and to the general public as summer school (but this is more specialized). The kids we teach often show a loss of skills after a break and if we can document and prove that summer break will cause a loss of certain skills that they will take a significant amount of time to recoup, then we nominate them for ESY. (Don't we all regress over summer break?) Guess what nomination involves...lots of documentation, photocopying, and filling out paperwork. Oh yeah, and trying to track down parents to see if they actually want it. It's all great fun and after leaving work at 6:15 on Thursday, since it was all due on Friday, I actually made it in time to see half of G-man's baseball game. And on that note, I'll fill you in on our happenings on the range.
BASEBALL SEASON
G-man has been waiting so anxiously for baseball to start and is loving every minute. He is doing great and getting a chance to try different positions as well as making some great plays. We love watching his enthusiasm but EJ (it's been a while but remember that's Endorphin Junkie) is pinning for the fast pace, one-hour games of soccer.
RUN ON THE RIVERBANK
We all ran in a great community race a few weeks ago. I raced the 5k in preparation for my marathon and the EJ ran with Roo in the jogger to support G-man running the 5k as well. Then the EJ and G-man ran with Roo to support him in the one mile (first photo). I decided to skip the one mile for any of you who wanted to wise crack that they all ran more then me. Besides, someone had to get a picture (at lest of Roo, G-man came by too fast and I missed him...one mile in under 10 minutes after running a 5k...you rock G-man!) We had a great time, all did better than we thought and enjoyed one of the first awesome days of spring!
TOO OLD?
Wilco "I'm Always in Love"
EJ and I went out last week. This wasn't just a regular night out, oh no...we went out with the havurah without any of our children (now, I should mention that 2 members of the havurah...the very ones who gave us this label, couldn't be there due to being in Seattle or something not nearly as fun as the havurah). Nonetheless, it was a great time that involved dinner and a concert. I managed to keep this little date night a secret (until another friend spilled it) almost to the end. The funny part about this being a secret was that this concert was not one either of us had a clue about. Neither of us knew the band or their music. So in preparation, I put a few songs on my iPod, borrowed a CD and strategically played it while EJ was in the car. I came to like these guys but EJ didn't catch on. So as we jammed, tried to avoid the smell of pot occasionally floating around and enjoyed a night with no babysitter curfew, I think EJ wondered if we are just old.
WILD
Today, yes we are finally updated, we went wild! Roo was dressed to the hilt as a ferocious cheetah and we marched our way through downtown with a lot of other fun and furry characters for an annual parade. He had a great time but for once, turned off his showmanship and walked along without his mask while his friends roared, growled, and purred. Maybe he isn't such a clown after all.
So that's where we're at folks. Sorry for the delay and hopefully this will satisfy your appetite for a while.
Roo finally did it. He decided to figure out how to ride his bike. On Friday evening, he hauled out his little bike and very firmly said, "Don't help me!" He worked and worked with Far Far at his side brandishing a camcorder. Being the pessimist I can be at times, Gramma and I went for a walk (not at all confident that he would really do it) while EJ and G-man went for their own ride. Upon return to the house, we found a Roo riding his bike. He is so proud of himself that he has been riding non-stop since. As an added incentive, EJ told Roo a while ago that he would buy him a new helmet once he could ride his bike. So off he goes, with his new cool helmet wondering if now he can ride his bike to school himself.
