Monday Letter Home

Shane got on Carrie's nerves at the end of last week with making non-stop noises. Especially, fart noises. 

Genevieve and Chris mentioned the fart noises bothered them to Shane over the weekend. In particular, the particulate spray that came out and got on their arms or was near their drinks.

Then, I found this note in Shane's backpack on Monday.

I was mad. "Your mom asked you to stop. Genevieve and Chris asked you to stop. AND THEN you did it at school!?"

"No, Dad! That note was from Friday!" Shane replied.

We had a talk when we got in the car. The order didn't matter to me. Three different sources said, "This is a problem," and Shane refused to get the hint.

I'm not opposed to potty humor, but when it's done to the point of being obnoxious and you disregard everyone else around you it's a problem.

After we had our discussion, I turned on the car to leave and found we couldn't. We drove up the hill and the lot was blocked off by a host of emergency responders of all types.

I parked the car and turned it off. In case it was anything too tragic, I decided to keep Shane in the car. We said a prayer for everyone involved and for guidance for all the responders. After 15-20 minutes, I had to let him out to do some climbing. (Side note: I couldn't believe people had gotten out their cars and left them running the whole time. Why?)

I went over to the crowd and spotted some people I knew. Shane ran up and some kids quickly told us a woman had been hit by a car while crossing the street. She was in the ambulance already when we walked up. 

After another 10 minutes or so, the injured woman was rushed off and the way was cleared. I didn't see anything in the news, so I don't know how it ended. 

1st Quarter Teacher Conference

Pretty much what was expected.

Shane's doing fine academically. His math scores are superb. His reading scores were good last year, but they were significantly lower than I expected on his MAP test at the beginning of the year. I suspect a lot of that is because Shane does not want to sit still and read. He wants to move, talk, and interact. Always. Carrie and I have been making him read for ~20 minutes a day to earn electronics after school to try and help him focus on it a little more.

Behaviorally, Shane doesn't want to stop talking, humming, making fart noises, or interacting with those around him. If he does stop interacting, it's because he's engrossed in something and then doesn't want to transition or do anything else while he's super-focused. He's nice and kind about things, but he can also be stubborn about insisting on or explaining something before yielding.

The teacher had a story about how the school was having a lock-down drill at the beginning of the year. She gathered all the kids in a corner out of sight and then noticed Shane was not among them. Instead, he was sitting by himself in the middle of the room looking at a book. She called his name multiple times and went out to get him before he looked up and looked around. By then, the principal had come around and saw both of them through the door window. He pulled Shane afterward to talk to him.

So far, Shane still likes school overall. He lets me know when there's a good day, but he also lets me know when there's a rough day with misbehavior in the class (him or otherwise). One day, he wanted to let me know if the teacher called home it was because he burped so loud the kids in the other classes all heard him! Some of the charm seems to have worn off, but he (and his teacher) seem to be hanging in there.

Shane's teacher seems to be doing okay, but she sounds overwhelmed by the kids in some of his stories. Hopefully, that's not true. Shane is dramatic and a kid. He's not the most reliable narrator, but he's what we've got! I feel like we had two fantastic teachers already for Kindergarten and 1st Grade. Our expectations were sky-high, so even a good teacher would feel like a let-down.

Ecstasy to Agony.

All signs pointed to snow. I was beyond excited. I woke up throughout the night and had to resist the urge to check my phone. "Did they call it yet? A two-hour delay? The whole day?"

I checked the radar while Shane ate his breakfast. 

95% chance of snow.

Outside:

Shane and I found ourselves at the bus stop. He was cranky and I was tired. 

The school system made the right call. The roads were fine and nothing was going on. I was bummed. I'd known there was a chance for a bust all week as the forecast shifted daily. However, I held on to hope that "the school system owed us a day" from a bad call they'd made earlier.

The weather decided to add some insult to the injury. After the students showed up it started to snow. They were already cranky and lamented their fates all the more loudly as the snow floated down on the wind.

Two counties away to the south and west of us it was a different story. Which made it extra difficult when almost half of our staff could not make it in to work!

Twas a rough day. The only thing that made it easier was a few kids declared it was a snow day for them and never showed (and "F*&$# what the school says!").

This was probably our last chance at a snow day. At least we had two days off school this year (there were none last year!) Three weeks to spring break and counting!

Superhero Day

Shane dressed up for spirit week. 

"Is the Pikachu lanyard, because you can shoot lightning?" I asked.

"No," Shane replied. "I just like Pikachu."

Carrie called him Super Halloween Man. I recommended the blue shoes to match the cape.

1st Grade Parent Teacher Conference

I looked at Carrie before we went in. "Hyper, can't sit still, but friendly and does well?"

Carrie nodded. "Sounds like Shane."

Guess what the teacher said?

Shane is hyper, but well meaning. He rolls around on the carpet, so she's learned to let him sit on a medicine ball or be moving behind the group so that he won't distract other kids. She thought he was goofing off at first, but whenever she asked him a question he was spot on. She looks at letting Shane move around some as a learning accommodation.

Speaking of accommodations, there was one that I thought was pretty neat. Maybe it's common knowledge among 1st grade teachers, but I've never heard of a 'personal telephone.'  

Shane talks and sings to himself incessantly. This doesn't stop him from learning or working, but it can distract others. He has a headset he can wear with a hollow piece of plastic. It lets him talk quietly but amplifies the noise he hears. That allows him to talk to himself, but now he's doing it much more quietly. Brilliant.

The rest of the behavior conference was things I've heard before.

Things to work on:
Shane has trouble taking commands the first time. It's not that he's defiant, but he doesn't like to stop what he's doing and he seems to think at least a couple asks are required for it to be a serious request. When he's working in a group, he gets frustrated quickly when people don't agree with him. He can be dramatic.

Things to encourage:
He's precocious. Both Shane's preschool teacher and now his 1st grade teachers have called him "an old soul." Shane likes to talk, discuss, and has insights. Apparently, he's pretty funny. Shane likes school and his classmates. He's good at pretend play ("with all the screens nowadays..."). Shane's very curious and interested in learning. There was a lesson where the teacher wanted to use magnets. Shane was mesmerized and wanted to know why the magnets worked one way and not the other. She abandoned the lesson, but it became a great learning moment.

Academically, he's doing great. Math is Shane's strongest subject. He enjoys reading, spelling, and his writing has come a long way in one quarter.

Left: Beginning of the year. Right: After he was sick recently (Carrie was impressed by the picture. Shane wanted to know what strep bacteria looked like, so she googled it. He recreated the image she showed him).

Shane didn't hear any of this. He was at TKD day-camp. I went to vote and work afterward. Carrie hopped on her own projects at home.

However, Carrie was in a good mood when he got home. She made some gak from a kit! She made Shane close his eyes and then dumped it in his hands.

Rocktoberfest 2017

I took Shane and Raheem to Rocktoberfest at their school today. Rah was laying in the front yard waiting for me to walk outside. I'd told him he could come earlier in the week, but we knocked on his front door to make sure it was okay. His mom answered, said "Sure," and we marched on.

Shane was surprised to see Rah when we picked him up from afterschool.

After a little playground time, I gave each of the boys a five and said, "Go buy tickets." Shane was thrilled to bump into Pikachu.

Then, it was game time. Rah and Shane's teachers were both on basketball duty. Rah hit the court for his first game.

Shane ran to the cakewalk. He won on his first turn, too!

His face was blue the rest of the night. Who needs face-painting?

The boys hung together for a little while.

However, they each kept bumping into classmates and friends and ended up doing their own things. This year, the whole Rocktoberfest was in the back of the school (instead of around it), so it was fairly easy to follow Shane and still keep tabs on where Rah was.

I recognized kids and parents I would have loved to have talked to, but the boys kept ricocheting all over the place.

I got to talk to Andrew (from our old small group!) for a little while, but then I got a text from Carrie. Raheem's mom had knocked on the door looking for him. She seemed confused and then said she was going to the store. That left me confused. I showed Rah the text that she'd come by and he joined in the confusion.

Not that it slowed the boys down. I got to be the only one to worry a little bit. I figured it would take her a little bit to get back from the store (she walks slow) and encouraged the boys to use up their tickets.

Which, they were happy to do.

Rah spent some of his own money and dropped a bunch of tickets on pizza.

Shane gamed on.

Everyone spent their tokens on prizes at the end. Shane got a fidget spinner.

He was very excited. He kept singing, "I've got a fidget spinner!" as we walked out. He would have bragged to anyone who stopped to care (only no one did but me! ha).

I tried to get a final group shot on the way out, but the boys ducked the flash.

I let Rah off at the mailbox and watched to make sure he got inside before Shane and I pulled up the street. I'm amazed Shane didn't fall on his face getting out of the car or going up the steps. His eyes were locked on his whirling fidget spinner.

Back to School Night

Shane's back to school night was tonight. I forgot to take pictures. Apparently, the school forgot to get a working microphone for the principal, as well. We couldn't hear a word he said, so we hung out in the office until it was time to visit the classrooms. Sounds like Shane is off to a good start. He enjoys school and being around other kids. I hope that lasts a couple more years.

First Week of First Grade

Well, Shane survived his first week! Carrie and I tried to pick him up Friday.....Key word: 'Tried.' He was playing on a computer. We got a nod.

After we pried Shane's hands off the keyboard, we went out for dinner. We finally went to the new Korean restaurant on Main St, Doma ('new' as in 'open last year').

If someone opens a Korean Bakery Carrie will drag us to that much quicker.

Shane enjoyed his first week. He didn't have much to report. My first week went well, too. We had a lot of kids Wednesday and then our numbers dipped. I guess the kids wanted to make sure we were still around. That filled their work quotas.

First Day 1st Grade

First grade begins! Carrie, Shane, and I all walked down to the bus stop together to kick it off.

Shane got all of the serious out of his system in the first picture.

Sorry, teacher.

I thought I was the most pumped for Shane to go to school, but then there's this picture.

Shane said he had a great day when I picked him up after school. I picked him up a little early in case he was tired, but my fears were unfounded.

Open House Eclipse

There was a solar eclipse. You may have heard about it. I wasn't going to look, but my boss bought glasses!

She even led the charge out of a meeting when it first started. The glasses made the world look pitch black until you centered on a dull orange circle. The moon was creeping in from the right. Think Pac-man.

When we went out again: Clouds. Thunder. Then rain.

I thought it would be neat to see the eclipse, but it's not like we were somewhere the lights would go out (which would have been awesome).

There was a break in the clouds right before Shane's open house, though!

Shane and Carrie pulled up just in time.

Aaaaaand then the clouds covered it up again. I'm glad Shane got to see it!

We went inside and met Shane's teacher. She was super excited! Shane ate it up (and I reconfirmed I'm not cut out to be a K or 1st grade teacher. I am not that effusive!).

Everyone else must have come earlier, because we were the only ones. Shane went crazy on the yoga balls, and Carrie and I had visions of him bouncing all over the room come Wednesday. Hopefully, it won't be a problem!