Nice Decor

After church, we grabbed brunch. Charlottesville has more restaurants than we could possibly visit. This one's been on my radar ever since I heard they had a pinball league. They had board games and vintage arcade machines, too.

I felt that the food was expensive for what it was ($13 for a burger meal better be the biggest and best ever), but the entertainment factor made it a fun morning out.

Star Wars Strikes Back

Another rainy Saturday, another Star Wars event! Dylan and his family were at this one!

The boys force popped popcorn.

There was a Death Star ball toss.

Use the Force, Shane. Don't cheat.

Eli, Dylan's younger brother, charged one. The librarians had to put a box behind it to keep it up!

The boys enjoyed themselves. Everything is better with a friend.

Then came the lightsabers.

Shane and Dylan grabbed front row seats (and nearly got stepped on).

Soon lightsabers were passed out...

...rows of padawans were formed....

...and class began!

Dylan was focused like a laser throughout. Shane? Not so much.

It was great fun watching him go at the teacher, though! My son has enthusiasm to spare!

Class ended when the Imperials from the 501st marched in.

Also, wildly exciting for Shane. He put those TKD skills to use.

Arts and crafts were present throughout. Dylan and Eli's parents are both artistic, and the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Shane had less focus, but he enjoys anything new.

The boys made lightsaber pencils together before it was time to go home.

Shane had a second surprise at 6:00 PM: Nana and Pop! They were on their way north to visit Jama....

...during a hurricane! I took the liberty of drawing their usual route on a weather map.

Pop, however, was much smarter than that and took the more westerly interstate. It added half an hour, but managed to skirt around everything but some green.

They arrived safe and sound. We ordered Chinese and chatted until they continued north.

They'll swing through Staunton on the way south again to visit Uncle Patrick. It's always good to see family!

The Rest of the School Week

Tuesday was the orange dot day. Wednesday, Shane popped up back to yellow. Thursday, Shane jumped all the way to blue!

It must have made him sick to do it.

No, seriously. Shane came home sick on Thursday. He napped on the couch. We weren't sure if he'd be well enough to go on Friday. 

He was. He got his second blue day, too!

Way to finish strong, kid. You got some toughness training in there.

Shane turned in his reading log this week, too. He hasn't been into Prince Caspian as much as he was into The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Shane and I went out to celebrate a good week on Friday. He got a foot long hot dog and ice cream at Jak N' Jill's.

It was a dual-purpose trip. It was Carrie's turn to nap on the couch.

Another week logged in the books! Kindergarten is going great!

Side note: I love it when Shane puts beards on his stick figures.

New Shopping Center

Carrie came home from work early and fell asleep on the couch, so Shane and I took the "long" way home from school.

The new shopping center near us has some massive stores.

I'm looking forward to see what smaller stores fill in the gaps (especially the food ones). The Wegmans will open in November. As convenience goes up, maybe our property values will, too.

Monkey Bars

These were easier when I was Shane's size. He's getting really good at them.

Orange Dot Day

After weeks of no communication logs, there was one in Shane's folder today. 

And it held a first.

I asked Shane about it on the way home. I wanted to see if he could reflect and identify why he had an orange dot. He couldn't.

The next step would have been to brainstorm a better path in the same situation. However, I didn't feel like I had enough information. It wasn't a red dot, but was it from disrespect? Or from too much bouncing around? I expect Shane to have some trouble sitting still (he's my son, after all), but if he was unkind to a classmate?

So, I wrote his teacher.

Hello,

Shane came home with an orange dot today, but he can't really explain to me why. It's not red, but I wanted to check in. Shane mentioned "He had a rough day," he "had trouble listening," he pointed at someone else's project with a pencil, and someone hit his shoulder and he "didn't like it." I wasn't quite sure what to make of his comments on the matter. He also said normally someone with orange had to miss some recess, and that he normally has yellow days.

How has he been doing overall? I saw he had a green day on Monday. Is there something he needs to be working on?

The turn-around time was half-an-hour

Hey there!

Shane has been doing wonderfully! The days that he's on yellow just means he has to think about his actions usually for talking, but he usually understand why. He usually has a mixture of yellow and green days. And if ever he moves down a color, there is always room and opportunity to move back up.

Being on orange is very rare and unusual for him. He received a couple of warnings about voice level during classroom testing which made it difficult for other students to hear me in small group. He was asked to move down to orange after numerous requests to bring his voice down (this was at the end of the day).

 Overall he's been doing really well. He's very helpful and encouraging to peers and a great joy to have in class. :) We've just been struggling with indoor voices which is very important during testing. At recess we spent a few minutes talking about the importantance of voice levels and how other students may not be able to hear. 

Trying to end the day on a positive note, we said that tomorrow we would work on our voice level and during small groups. 

Aside from voice level, I assure you, he is doing great! Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help. I hope that the orange dot didn't get him down too much. If so, I can talk to him about it tomorrow. Give him a hug for me, until then! 

I was impressed by the fast reply. Very professional. Kindergarten teachers must expect and experience a very different level of parent communication than I do at the high school. Or maybe we just got a good one.

Back to the matter at hand: Why am I not surprised my son can be loud?

I read Shane a small selection and we talked about voice levels. He should have a better day tomorrow.

Shane really, really wanted to use the drone, but I told him no drone on an orange day. Otherwise, the night unfolded as usual. I told Shane there'd be no TV or electronics on a red day, and that we'd think of something fun to do if he made it to pink. Hopefully, I'll be able to make a fun Pink Dot Day post sooner rather than later.

Mondays Are Busy

It's always interesting at school after a weekend. Then the new HS wrestling coach holds open mats at 4:00 PM, too. I advertised to my wrestlers and show up to help.

If I had remembered, I could have asked Carrie to pick up Shane. I didn't.

I left practice early to pick up Shane and run him home for cleats. Carrie coordinated chicken nuggets.

Shane arrived to hot food, had 10 minutes to eat and shoe up, and then we were off to soccer practice.

Of course, we played on the playground with the team after practice.

Tuesdays are wide open, though.

A Forgotten Rule

 I forgot. Carrie and Petsmart are a combo.

Shane wanted to go "the long way" home from church. We showed Carrie the new Petsmart store and now we have a second beta fish.

 

Half the time, I don't remember we have the one. I had no interest in a second. Carrie and Shane overruled. Carrie's plan is to make Shane do the feeding and care. If he learns some responsibility, I'll concede it was a good purchase.

I like mine better. Same price, but from Costco.

Rainy Day Library Fun

The coach emailed early in the morning. The fields were closed. No soccer.

Shane was still as fully of energy as ever. Carrie was not. The weather was wet. What's a dad to do?

Library programs. Lots of library programs.

Shane was the oldest kid at story time. He still enjoyed "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly!" When his attention wandered, we looked up storm books...

...and played around.

We didn't have to wait long for the next program, the one that captured my eye.

Lightsaber Training.

The blades were padded, but the peril real. The instructors taught their padawans four basic strikes and a few basic stances (including a force push).

Then, they paired the kids off...

...and told them to whack each other's sabers!

There were many, many close calls. One lady almost lost her phone moving in for a picture. The funniest moment was when the instructor asked the kids to spread out. Shane nearly stabbed a little girl in the butt when he checked distance. Then he kept his saber up like he was contemplating it. She never noticed. Her mother started to laugh and laugh...

One instructor tried to introduce meditation. He had the kids closer their eyes and imagine what he described. "You're in the kitchen....you go open the fridge....you get our a lemon....you give it to your mom....she cuts it open....pulls out the seeds......and hands you a slice.....you take a bite!" Faces were made. "Aha! Do you see the power thoughts can have on your body?"

By that definition, I have meditated all my life. I've called it daydreaming and zoning out.

It was a good mini-lesson. Visualizing is a good skill to have.  

But wait....there's more. There was a third library program I spotted. It was at a different library, though. Shane snacked in the car to keep the grumpy away.

We worked out some of our energy outside before we went in, too.

Which was a good idea, because the next program was not likely to appreciate extra energy (physical energy, at least).

Shane went to a beginner chess meeting for K-2nd graders.

It helped that Shane already knew most of the rules and how to play. The teacher was an avid chess player and thorough. I learned the history of en passant (it took a minute).

Shane did well all things considered.

The teacher knew his stuff, but his lesson sweet spot was a little older and less energetic than Shane (unless he was purposely trying to set expectations and increase patience...chess is a deep game like that!).

He had all the kids play a game with kings and pawns only. Before that, he pulled me to play a speed demo of what he expected. I lost, of course.

I thought Shane performed admirably for the first fifty minutes. We needed some run breaks in the hall to finish the hour.

Survival meant popcorn!

And chessman cookies!

We stayed out and about for almost five hours. Meanwhile, Carrie got a good nap in and the weather cleared out! Shane spent some time with Henry digging up mud and yelling into a sewer grate.

It was a productive Saturday. Happy October!