Lucky #7

Happy birthday to Sam! It's hard to believe it's been 7 years since this day:


But here we are!

First Grade Isn't What It Used To Be!

The farther we get into the school year, the more amazed I am by the things that first graders are learning now. When I was in first grade, it was generally expected that you know the alphabet, and most of first grade was spent teaching kids to read. Those of us who were already reading were few and far between, and just read along with the other kids in the beginning reader books.

Now kids are expected to be reading well by the end of kindergarten, and in first grade they have weekly spelling tests! Some of the words that have been on Sam's spelling tests in the past few weeks are:
cheetah
mystery
fantasy
chalkboard
and beanstalk.

And math! When I was in first grade, we were counting. And learning to count by 2s and 5s and 10s. And learning the difference between a penny, a nickel, a dime and a quarter. And how to tell time. By the end of the year, we were doing some addition and subtraction, in the 2+3=5 or 6-3=3 sort of way.

Sam came home from school today with a math test that had 157+225=382. And 268+79=347.
Yikes. And they're doing multiplication and division--third and fourth grade work back in the OLDEN days when I was in school (as the kids would say)

Anyway, I now think that I don't want to go on the "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader" show, because if they're doing this in first grade, what are they doing in fifth grade? Calculus? Molecular biology?

I know I'm probably not smarter than a fifth grader. I'm just hoping to still be smarter than a first grader by the end of the school year!!

Things you'd never imagined yourself hearing....

Paul: "Moooooooooommmmmmmmmmy!!!!!!!!!!"
Me: "what?"
Paul: "Come here, you've gotta see this!"
Me: "okay."

I walked into the bathroom (with a sense of dread).

Paul: "Look! I made one big poop and one little poop!"
Me: "Um, good for you!"
Paul: "And I named the little one Cutie!"
Me: "oh dear."

Adventure!!!!!!!

Back in the days before kids, if I thought about having an adventure, it would've likely been something like skydiving. Or a big road trip. Not so much anymore.

Friday night I went on an adventure. I took 3 kids to IHOP for dinner. By myself. I know, 3 kids? Where'd the extra one come from? And why the heck would you go to IHOP? Well, I've been making the mistake of letting the kids watch Spongebob episodes on Nickelodeon, which has commercials. Lots of commercials. Most of them either for some sort of plastic junk, some sort of breakfast cereal, or IHOP. Right now IHOP has the "Horton Hears a Who" special menu. And the kids REALLY needed to go to IHOP! (their words, not mine.) On Monday, the kids asked if we could go there for dinner. This was in the middle of eating dinner, so I said absolutely not! And then they asked "can we go tomorrow?" I said "hmm, probably not." And so on. Until I finally decided that I'd take them on Friday night. Clark was going to be at a friends' house after work, so I'd be on my own with the boys. Perfect night to have pancakes for dinner. So, promises were made, and the kids started counting down the days (and minutes) until IHOP night.

Friday morning, a friend calls, saying that she has a client in labor, and nobody to watch her one year old. Could I please please watch him? I said, sure no problem! Then remembered IHOP night. I decided, what the heck, what's one more kid? Besides, IHOP is right by this little guy's house, so I could just drop him off at home after dinner. So I spent a good 45 minutes trying to wrestle 3 carseats into the back of a Civic, and off we all went.

At IHOP, the kids decided they definitely wanted to order off of the Horton menu, (except for the 1 year old who kept pointing to the menu and saying "kickin!" "kickin!" so I ordered him chicken strips)

Sam got the "JoJo's breakfast" which came complete with green eggs and ham (he ordered his eggs "without the green" though) and who-cakes.

Paul got the big order of who-cakes. Who-cakes are pancakes of varying sizes, stacked to look similar to a tiered wedding cake. With bright pink and blue syrup drizzled over the top. And colorful sprinkles. And a lollypop sticking out of the middle. Basically a giant plate of sugar.

And I decided, what the heck, and joined in the spirit of the night and had the mayor's breakfast.

Of course, Sam ate all of my ham, and the 1 year old ate most of my pancakes, so I was left with eggs and spinach. But it was worth it. The kids had fun.

It went amazingly well, the kids were fairly well behaved, and everyone had a good time. I may be brave enough to have more "adventures" although next time I want a bigger car!

Everything Old Is New Again.....

Sam went to a birthday party last weekend for one of his classmates. The party was at a bowling alley, and the kids all had a wild crazy great time. At the end of the party, the kids all got to sign a bowling pin for the birthday boy to bring home. Sam wrote on it "SAM BFF" As we got outside, Sam said "I bet you don't know what BFF means, Mommy!" I said, "believe it or not, I do!" Which brought back memories of passing notes in class in elementary school. Anyway, I'm happy that my kid has a best friend, and I thought it was awfully cute to see him write BFF and think that he was the first kid to think of it!!!

Free To A Good Home:

One Adorable 3 Year Old.

Very polite.

Loves to play and talk loudly, especially between the hours of 1 and 5 AM.

Yet Another Reason I Want To Move To Canada....

http://www.tsn.ca/oln/feature.asp?fid=10845

Ed. On TV. Flying a plane. Need I say more?

*This post is mainly meant for Liz and Sandy, who will get the reason why this would be such a big deal!