Sean announced today that he knows what he wants to be for Halloween:
“An elephant, like the Republicans. And I can go around to people’s houses to get candy and tell them to vote for Bush, because the election is two days later.”
And amazingly, they exist. Although that one looks a bit on the cheap/lame side.
I love my son!
Another sign of growing up … Sean lost his first tooth today, less than a week into 1st grade. But he doesn’t want the tooth fairy to come; too scary. Cute boy.
When you have kids, and while the kids are young, you spend a lot of time wondering what they’ll be like as they get older. And you spend a lot of time hoping that they share what you consider to be your own best traits.
For me, this was especially true with Sean. My first child. My son. Mini-me. I’ve always hoped he’d turn out just like me and have the same personality traits that I like in myself. One of those is that I’m a neat-freak. I like things to be clean — the floors, the carpets, bedrooms, bathrooms … hell, the whole damn house! I like stuff to be clean and neat.
I realized fairly early on that Sean hasn’t (yet) developed my interest in having things neat and clean. He shows no interest in keeping his room clean and organized, for example. Toys are tossed anywhere. Same with shoes, clothes (dirty or clean), and just about everything. Yes, I know he’s only six. But I think I was keeping my room nice and clean by that age.
I’m not at all disappointed that he doesn’t share this trait, only surprised. You assume your son will be just like you. I love, appreciate and respect that he’s his own unique person. I’m just surprised this one thing didn’t get passed down his way.
On the bright side, it appears it may have been passed down to T. She loves to help clean up toys. She started helping me load and unload dishes as soon as she learned what a dishwasher was. And lately, she’s been telling Cari in the morning that she needs to take a shower! Funny girl. Sure, her room’s a mess at the moment, but if you asked her to clean it up, she’d do it and she’d like it. At least someone got one of my best traits.
— said by Sean this morning upon seeing the weather forecast in today’s paper, with an expected high of 102 and a “feels like” temperature of 109
For the past two weeks, my son — and his entire kindergarten class — has been counting down the days until May 25th. That’s not the last day of school. No, that’s the day an incubator full of eggs will hatch live chicks in their classroom. According to the “Egg Countdown Calendar” on our fridge, tomorrow they may be able to see the chicks pecking at the inside of the egg as they try to start getting out. Oh, and it also tells us that the eggs sit inside the incubator at a temperature of 100-degrees, and that the incubator must stay closed these last few days in order to keep the humidity high enough to soften up the shells so the chicks can get out.
Meanwhile, in other kindergarten news, the entire class has already been taught the differences between the various types of clouds — cirrus, nimbus, stratus, etc. Oh, and Sean has recently passed his first Advanced Reading test which says he’s reading at least at the 2nd grade level.
When I was in kindergarten, we didn’t have Advanced Reading tests. We didn’t learn about clouds until 2nd or 3rd grade, and we sure as hell didn’t incubate eggs for the purposes of watching chicks hatch in front of our eyes. When I was in kindergarten, we learned about colors. We learned simple addition, like 2+2 and 3+3, and even 4+5. We learned how to tie our shoes and button our jackets. We learned, most importantly, how to get along with one another. We learned to share and take turns. We even (gasp!) took naps.
They don’t have time for naps in the 21st century kindergarten. They might sleep right through the chicks cracking their shells. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy with what Sean’s learning. This isn’t a complaint. It’s more of a documentation, a “is this really how much things have changed?” post. I just can’t believe what they’re teaching in kindergarten….