Fast times and wild living with (the former) Baby Whozit…
Posted in Jessica, Little Boy on Feb 13th, 2012
So asked Julie, Simon’s much loved swim teacher. She was laughing because my cautious, tentative child had just dived into the pool (from the pool deck, not a board) three times on his own. And done the butterfly stroke’s dolphin kick on his own. And asked what else he could try on his own. It’s […]
Posted in Elementary School, Jessica, Little Boy on Feb 9th, 2012
This is my fifth post in two weeks about kindergarten. Oh! You only saw the one? Well, that’s because I spared you the tedium and me the embarrassment of the Great Kindergarten Freak-out of 2012. You’re welcome. Included in the missing posts were rages about the complexity of the system, confessions of test-score Excel spreadsheet […]
Posted in Jessica, Little Boy on Feb 3rd, 2012
Two survival tests are incorporated into the Lenny K Swim Academy Simon is enrolled in. The first was supposed to involve a staff member catching Simon unawares and fully clothed and pushing him into the pool. If he had the presence of mind to roll over on his back and float for 10 seconds, he […]
Posted in Elementary School, Jessica, Little Boy on Feb 1st, 2012
I’m sitting at my desk right now, staring at the 2012-2013 Registration Packet for school next year. And after 3 months of reading, touring, interviewing, and stewing, I have arrived at an uncomfortable place. I DON’T KNOW HOW I’M GOING TO FILL THIS SUCKER OUT!! Three months of touring. Talking to parents and staff at […]
Posted in Jessica, Little Boy on Jan 28th, 2012
It’s a custom in our family that upon remaking the acquaintance of our pediatrician at Simon’s annual exam, we so enjoy our visit that we return one to two weeks later to continue the conversation. Two years ago that conversation was about anxiety. Last year it was to determine whether or not Simon had an […]
Posted in Jessica, Little Boy, Simon says... on Jan 27th, 2012
Here are the top two… no three… no four… no five signs that your child has watched too much English Premier League football (soccer) of late: Sign 1: Not-So Casual Observation Side A [“side” = team in the lingo] makes what looks like a great goal to me. Simon chimes in: “Why didn’t they say […]
Posted in Jessica, Little Boy, Simon says... on Jan 25th, 2012
At last, Simon has come to terms with the fact that we, unlike Mr. Gabriel and Ms. Alek, are not going to be providing him with a baby sister like Anyieth. He put it all together in one hilarious and sad free association ramble today: “I sure wish our house were like theirs [the Kwais’] […]
Posted in Little Boy, Matthew on Jan 23rd, 2012
Simon has recently picked up the expression “the usual” (as in, “bartender, gimme the usual”) from a Daffy Duck cartoon, and has been champing at the bit to try it out in public. Since I rarely take Simon to bars, he figured that maybe the ice cream shop would be a good place to try […]
Posted in Jessica, Little Boy on Jan 21st, 2012
The adventure began today with his grandmother. Evie wrote out some three-letter word families (think “hat” “sat” “mat” “rat”) and helped Simon sound them out. He’s been able to sound out each letter for months now, maybe even close to a year, but he couldn’t blend the sounds to form words. Well, today he did. […]
Posted in Jessica, Little Boy on Jan 19th, 2012
In the last week, I’ve gotten to learn a bit about what happens when Simon’s extreme caution comes up against something he badly wants, and I like what I’ve seen. Simon has been a Kicker (level 3) in his swim class for two months now. He quickly mastered most of the Kicker skills with one […]