Luke's First Christmas Concert

Despite his refusal to participate in the Christmas concert, at the very last moment (while the other children were walking past him ringing their bells), Luke grabbed some bells and walked up on stage in his Pink Floyd t-shirt with the rest of his sweater-vested, frilly skirted preschool class.  He rang the bells (a little), and he did the motions to the songs (when everyone squatted and for him to continue standing would have drawn too much attention to his non-participation), and at the end he received a little gift from his teachers and let me take his photograph.  Mostly he watched the other children in a bemused sort of way that seemed to be saying, "I am participating in this culturally approved holiday rubbish as an experiment to discover why children smilingly insist on humiliating themselves in front of their parents," and occassionally giggled.  I may never know why he didn't want to participate (all he would say was that he wanted to sit with me and Derek), but I will never stop wondering what was going through his head as he stood there with his lips sewn shut, watching the other children recite poems and sing Christmas songs.  I can tell you what was going through my head:  Why do we make our children do this nonsense?  Isn't it all a tad ridiculous?  Does it have potential to damage my son, or is it all in good fun?  Who is having fun?  Is anyone having fun?  What is it they are enjoying about this? And why am I such a party-pooper? Let's eat the cookies, already.

Perhaps Luke was channeling my own thoughts...

Luke says; Mom says

Mom (me):  Even Batman wears nicer pants than those to church.
Luke:  But these are fancy if you wear them with a cape!

(after I cracked an egg and had it splash in my eye!)  I have never had egg in my eye when I was a baby and I never will.

A holiday is for hauling.

(while eating cranberries)  Branberries take away our sickness because they have fiber in them.

 Luke had his last day of his first year of preschool yesterday.  He passed with straight A's!  I didn't even realize it was the last day until just before he walked into the classroom, so I didn't get to really prepare him. But with the weather as nice as it is, and kid's soccer coming up in a few days, I think we won't have much trouble finding ways to spend our time!

kid of the day

Today Luke was kid of the day in preschool.  If you remember, he was kid of the day once last term as well.  Kid of the Day gets to be line leader, push the buttons on the elevator, help the teacher teach a new letter, wear a special sticker, and bring something for show and tell.  The Kid of the Day's parent is in charge of snack and is welcome to spend the morning helping out around the classroom.

Luke played nicely with his classmates during play time.  His favorite thing to do was stir up the buttons in the play table with the magnet stick and collect the metal magnets into an "ice cream cone".  Luke loves to play with his cousin Roehn, mostly racing cars.   Luke must be dragged away from playing to do his craft.  Today the craft was making little nests.  Luke put two green eggs in his nest.  I asked him who was inside the eggs, was it perhaps Luke and Seamus?  No, he said.  Those eggs were for eating.  Green eggs!  All we needed was green ham.

I didn't get to participate in gym time because I was setting up the snack:  rice krispy treats and bananas.  When the children came back from the basement, Luke produced his show and tell during circle time.  He brought the horse that my Great-aunt Deanna gave to him before he was born (and which he rarely plays with, I might add).  The teacher asked if the horse had a name and Luke said, "no, it's just a boy horse".  He went on to talk about how this particular horse doesn't have a working mouth, so he doesn't eat, but he's very soft and perfect for hugging.  He also reminded everyone that this was a "very special horse" that was given to his Mom when Luke was still in her tummy, but she gave it to him when he came out at the hospital.  The teacher whispered in my ear during snack that she would like to ask Luke more questions and just let him talk because he always has something interesting to say, and she is so right!

It's special to have someone tell you something they've noticed about your child, and put into words what you may already know.  Those things that most drive me crazy are skills that Luke is perfecting and may someday be his greatest strength!  When Derek and I can't get a word in edgewise at the dinner table I need to remember this may be annoying now, but if we help cultivate it, Luke could turn into a famous author, or an amazing public speaker, or a fantastic father who makes up original stories for his children's delight! Dear Luke.  You play so hard.  You love so strong.  And you always have a story to share.

You are my kid of the day, everyday (I can say that because Seamus is my baby of the day, everyday!).

A couple of weeks ago we made a snowman on a Friday.  On Saturday I watched it's head fall off, on Sunday there was nothing left but a little puddle of snow and lily stalks (arms).  It has stayed very warm since then - we even had a thunderstorm. I do believe we even hit 80 degrees F one day last week!

PHOTOS!

Here are the photos I just couldn't resist taking with the digital camera over the last few weeks.  These are photos that I wanted to see right away - call it impatience, it is what it is.  The film I've taken has yet to be developed, and I think I'll be so broke after getting it developed that it will be the last film I use for a while.

Don't miss Luke's quotes at the very bottom, collected over the last couple days.  I get such a kick out of that guy.

First day of preschool!!  Wednesday Sept. 14, 2011.

I'm experimenting with adjusting the color levels manually to make the photo look vintage.  It's kinda fun!  Still not sure how I feel about mucking up perfectly good color in a photo to make it look old, faded, worn.  But it's amazing how it changes the feel of the photo.

I let the neighbors water the flowerbeds one day several weeks ago and it got a bit out of hand when ALL the neighbor children wanted a piece of the fun.  Many toes were squished, pants and shirts were sprayed, and most of us ended up wetter than we intended.

Luke has discovered a new storage space for his race cars.  I heard him shouting, "Ow! Ow! Ow!" and found him trying to slide down the stairs to the basement with cars in his gitch.  I'll be lucky to have grandchildren at this rate.

The harvest.

An ordinary moment.

Laughing after Luke gave him a raspberry

Luke says:

Your hands will be full so you should put Seamus in his bouncy seat.  

Why will my hands be full?

Oh, will you read me a story?

Seamus is my brudder, and I'm his big brudder, and Linus is my brudder too.  We're free (three) brudders.

I will just walk home, only it's a rather long way.

*with his underwear pulled down over his head and his eyes peering through the leg holes*

I'm gitch-man-superhero

I wish I had a ship and my Dad and I could have swords and we would push that Pirate Hook off the ship with a mighty splash.

I just thought it would be a good time to be upside-down.

Say hi to your big bruver, Seamus.

No.  I'm his big brudder.

I'm gonna sword fight.  Oh.  Hm.  Maybe I need a sword.

What do you want for breakfast?

Peanut butter and jelly.

Peanut butter and jelly is not a breakfast food.

In the morning it is.