Conferences, Harvests, and Poison Control...

So the last few weeks have been...um...crazily busy and interesting! October has been a wild month in teaching. At the beginning of the month, I took a 3 day trip to Colorado with 12 other teachers from my school for a Christian Educator's conference. Upon returning, we promptly took another Friday off school for Fall Break (a.k.a. -good excuse to go see the Balloon Fiesta). We had one actual full week of school, then last week was a short week again because of Parent/Teacher Conferences.
I have now experienced conferences on both sides of the table...as parent and as teacher. Let me just say that neither side is a walk in the park, but the teacher side is about as fun as a root canal! (I've never had a root canal, but just guessing!) It's a fine line to walk between "Your kid needs a swift kick in the behind" and pretending nothing is wrong. Actually, my conferences went very well -no one stormed out or yelled at me! Of course, I have a great class, so that helped too!
As far as the parent side was concerned, I continue to be surprised by Garrett's change of heart this year. Over the last year, I have tried to work with him on his letters and sounds. I tried to wait for that "teachable moment" when he was ready to listen...and I waited....and I waited.... He was never ready! Any time I brought up anything academic, he either got mad or was suddenly insanely interested in a toy. So, I pretty much gave up, expecting that he would learn when he was ready.
Apparently all it took was a nice teacher named Mrs. Houston to whip Garrett into shape! Within 2 days of starting kindergarten, he could write his name in lowercase letters. Before, I'm pretty sure he didn't even know lowercase letters existed!! He can now sound out small words and knows a few sight words. He's in no danger of being the class genius, but he has made some pretty astounding progress in my book! One of the teacher's comments was actually that he was a "perfectionist" and that he needed to learn that it was OK to make mistakes! -Wait--are you sure we're talking about the same kid? The kid who last year would write an "r" for his "t" and then tell me he "was just doing it his own way" and refuse to fix it?? What a difference!
Both Garrett and Paige also had their "Harvest Festivals" this week. The school fixes up the gym to look like a farm, and the kids do all kinds of fun games. They even set up a little petting zoo outside. I've been to two of Garrett's festivals already, so I just snuck out of class long enough to take a couple of pictures. But, since this was Paige's first run, I had someone cover my class so I could see her enjoy the whole thing. Paige's whole class was extremely quiet and shy, almost as if we were torturing them instead of putting cute tattoos on their hands and helping them make bracelets! Once they saw the animals, however, all shyness vanished! They were all over each other trying to be the first to feed them and touch them! They had a great time.
Our final joy of the week was my call to the Poison Control center on Tuesday. Paige hadn't been feeling well on Monday, so I gave her some Anti-Nausea medicine and left the bottle on the cabinet. I completely forgot about it and came downstairs Tuesday to find the bottle opened, and nearly empty. Apparently that whole "child-proof cap" thing didn't stand up to a 3 year old! I figured she was OK, since it just says "take as needed" without any doses or anything. But, I called Poison Control Center anyway. Sure enough, it seems that anti-nausea medicine is pretty much just like Coca-Cola syrup in a bottle. Hmm....wonder where she got that sweet tooth from? So, the nice guy on the phone told me that she would have an upset stomach, but that was all. Ironic, isn't it? Thankfully she didn't get into anything dangerous. It makes you realize how easy it is for accidents to happen! And now my name is in the Poison Control database. I tried to get off the phone as soon as he told me she would be fine. But he says "Wait ma'am... I just need some information from you." Then he proceeds to ask my name and how she got into the medicine. Nice. Now I have a file somewhere marked "irresponsible parent". I've got a rap sheet!
Enough blabbering...here's some pictures of the harvest cuties!

Storm Troopers and Santa Claus

As anyone in New Mexico knows, the first two weekends in October are Balloon Fiesta time. The kids and I had off school yesterday, so Dave took off work and we headed out to the Special Shapes Rodeo. We got there really early, hoping to avoid the crowds for the shuttles. We had plenty of time to enjoy the amazing cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate and soak in the atmosphere (which mostly consisted of Garrett asking if he could buy a glow in the dark sword and Paige whining because we got up so early).
It turned out to be a beautiful day for the balloons, and a 7:00 am on the dot, the first balloon rose into the air with lots of cheers. We happened to notice a black balloon being unrolled, and Dave said "I wonder if that's the Darth Vader balloon I heard about." So we went over to investigate, and found a line of Storm Troopers and a Bounty Hunter guarding the balloon. Garrett was beside himself with joy! We stayed to watch the whole process as the balloon got inflated. When it finally took off, Garrett got to have his picture taken with a storm trooper. That almost made him forget about the glow in the dark sword!
As we left the Darth Vader balloon site, we ran into another familiar figure...Santa Claus! He was walking around the field handing out candy to the kids. That was the highlight of Paige's day! I suppose even Santa needs a break now and then!
We stayed to watch the rest of the balloons take off, and then headed home for a lazy day on the couch. Paige fell asleep in the morning, and then took a 3 1/2 hour afternoon nap! Mom even got some snooze time! All in all, a successful day!

Balloon Fiesta

Return of the Soccer Mom

It's that time of year...school has started, the leaves are beginning to turn, and kids everywhere are playing soccer. Once again, I have joined the ranks of the "soccer moms" who escort their kids to and from practices and games. Garrett decided to play soccer again this fall, and we were happy to oblige, considering that he didn't need a new uniform or shoes and shin guards. Or so we thought...
He changed teams to be on a friends' team, so he ended up with a new uniform. On the first day of practice, he tried on his cleats, (which we bought a size too big in March so they would still fit this fall). However, they are now a size too SMALL! The boy has gone from a size 1 1/2 to a size 3 in a matter of months, it seems! When will it all end?? He is happy about the change, however, because Daddy purchased him this new pair:

He was SOOOO excited about the "flame shoes", and then his joy was complete when he received his new soccer uniform:

Flame shoes AND flame shirt??? He is in heaven!!
Garrett's first 2 games have gone well. They are definitely a far cry from his very first game, where he stood still and then got upset. In his first game last week, he scored 2 goals. Yesterday he seemed rather distracted, and was enjoying running along watching the other team instead of playing the game. I guess focus comes with time...or so we hope!

The month of September flew by, and I find myself already at the end of the first nine weeks of school! Garrett is LOVING kindergarten, and can already sound out some words. His schoolwork is so neatly done that I'm suspicious that maybe he has a body double doing his work for him! Here's a sample of his work -note the very cute Incredible Hulk he drew for "h" words:

Paige is not to be outdone. She has decided to "read" every book we have and spends hours paging through her favorite stories. Often she turns the book around so that she looks like a tiny teacher reading to her class. I am so glad they like school!!