Having Fun Is on Our List

Nick asked for graham crackers today. I told him we didn't have any but we could put it on the grocery list to get this week.

He said, "Yes. Go-shee list gam cackers putting on."

He continued, "Have fun, go-shee list putting on."

I said, "You want me to put having fun on the grocery list this week?"

"Yes."

Awesome.

This month at Xander's school is Loyalty month, and the school newsletter recommended Charlotte's Web as a good book about loyalty. I love that book, so I decided to borrow it from the library and try it out with Xander. Our read-aloud time is in the early morning during breakfast, when he and I are usually alone. I picked up the book, but he had an immediate negative reaction. He really didn't want to read this book. Eventually, he told me he didn't like the spider on the cover, but I'm not sure if that was the real reason.

A week later, I picked it up at breakfast and said I was just going to read it to myself. I did, for about a chapter.

Xander said, "Mom? I think I'm ready to listen to that story now."

So we are reading Charlotte's Web together. He identifies with the love that Fern has for Wilbur - I knew he would.

Yesterday, I helped with an activity in his classroom while Nick played at the YMCA Child Watch. The children did well, especially since it was a very long, involved activity about counting to 100 by 10s. (I love that his teacher was willing to do this activity with the kids even though it was extra work.) It's interesting to see your child's behavior in class. I noticed that at times Xander was one of the slowest in getting his work done, as his teacher has told me and as we are working on at home and at school, but he was also extremely attentive even with all the shenanigans around him. Unfortunately, it only takes one or two to be disruptive, and his class (probably most classes) has three or four off-task children at any given time. Xander seems to remember every single thing his teacher says, verbatim, and I could see why. He sat still, looked at her, and listened quietly. This made him one of the best-behaved kids in the classroom. :)

Even though Xander does not take very special care of his appearance (wearing his pants backward as often as forward, and not being embarrassed by it), I could tell he was excited about the care I took with him and his outfit this morning. Today is....Picture Day. In the pictures, he is likely to have a goofy grin, his eyes closed, and hairs sticking up from the natural progression of the school day, but we did put a nice red dinosaur sweater on him that should show up well in a group picture. School is fun!

Put that on the grocery list, too.