It's the little details that count

Joshua has recently taken an interest in drawing and coloring. He never cared for it much before. I don't know if it's because he has art once a week in school or if it is just an age or a stage or a phase...He started out drawing a lot of creatures with made up names but now, he is drawing more "real" things.

His current favorite thing to draw is an apple tree and a person with a basket who has been picking apples. His pictures started out pretty basic but are getting much more detailed...his apples now have stems, his trees now have branches, he added clouds and flowers, today he added an owl hole in the tree.

One day, he tore a sheet of paper into a triangle and said it looked like a piece of pizza. He colored the crust on the back and the edge crust on the front. He colored the cheese. He put green lines for green peppers and red circles for pepperoni. Then, he put brown lines where the cheese turned brown in the oven and red lines where you could see the sauce through holes in the cheese....very detailed.

In art class, he drew a picture of James Bond fighting a robot and also included Jaws with his big silver teeth. I thought it was very cute and a little funny. Most kinddergarteners probably draw people, trees, houses, puppies and kitties, Joshua draws James Bond and Jaws.

He may not be the most talented artist but he does put a lot of thought and details in his drawings.

Student of the Month

Congratulations!!! Your child has been chosen as an individual that has demonstrated growth, promise,and consistent excellence in character and/or behavior during the past month. In celebration of this achievement, you and your child are invited to attend a celebration breakfast. Please join us in the school cafeteria on __________ . We will have a delicious breakfast together while we recognize your son/daughter for helping to make _____ School a positive environment to learn in. We look forward to seeing you soon! Sincerely, The Positive Behavior Support Team

Yep, that's what the letter said. Joshua got off the bus, opened his backpack, handed me the letter. He was so excited. I don't know anything about Student of the Month. Do they choose one from every class? Do they choose one from every grade? There are 23 students in Joshua's class and there are 36 weeks in a school year, does every child get at least one turn? And, it's only the first month of school...Did they draw names out of a hat? Is it because he took the teachers candy one day? I guess later this week all my questions will be answered when I attend the breakfast (yummmmm, cafeteria food...I remember having hot glazed donuts and apple juice for breakfast in my highschool cafeteria).

It's really not that important how many or why they are chosen. What is important is that Joshua was chosen, I am extremely proud of him and he is proud too.

Hey neighbor, we're really not stalkers.

Scott and I have always kept pretty much to ourselves when it comes to neighbors. I like to be and like to have what I refer to as "Hey Neighbors," when you happen to pass each other on the road or otherwise, you throw up your hand to say "hey" and then you go on about your business. Well, since Joshua is getting older and the neighbors children are getting older and we spend a lot of time outside, I'm trying really hard get to know our neighbors, I guess.

I see the neighbor that lives two houses down quiet often. He is very sociable and will talk for as long as someone is listening. They have a 3 year old boy and a 1 year old girl. We were just hey neighbors and then when the 1 year old was born, we saw a bow on the mailbox and took them a gift, they brought us a thank you note, we now stop to chat a while when we both happen to be outside at the same time. We were even invited to the 1 year old's birthday party a few weeks ago. Joshua and I went and met a few more of our neighbors.

The family next door has a 7 year old girl and a 3 year old boy. We really don't see them very often, the kids are dvidently not outdoor kids. They do have swings in their backyard but we have never seen them out there. Joshua wants to peer through the woods all the time to see if they are outside. We were just hey neighbors until they were at the birthday party too.

The 7 year old girl just started 2nd grade and goes to the same school that Joshua goes to. At the time of the birthday party, school hadn't started yet so the mom and I had lots to talk about with my asking about school, teachers, riding the bus, etc. After the first week of school, Joshua began riding the bus home. He sits with the neighbor and the bus stop is at their driveway, which is right next to ours.

During the party, the mom also started talking about the church that their family goes to. I asked where it was, she told me, Joshua and I had been to the church a couple of times during the summer but we didn't see them there. So, I thought great! A Methodist church (what I have been looking for), locataed in Chatham County (where we live and Joshua goes to school and has the potential to meet schoolmates and make friends) and we know someone that attends (so Joshua can go to children's church without having me go too and will possibly even be up for trying out Sunday School). So, the very next Sunday we went. We sat beside the neighbors, Joshua and the girl went to Children's Church, after church, the kids ran around for a long time and neither wanted to leave.

This week, we left our ho uses at the exact same time to take our respective kid to school. I turned left on our road, our neighbor turned right on our road. I was curious as to what route she took to school. Then, when we got to school, I was turning into the carpool lane and she was pulling out of the carpool lane. Her way to go was definitely a lot quicker than mine! So, the next morning, we left at the exact same time. She turned right, I waited and then I turned right too.

So, in less than one month, we have gone from being "hey" neighbors to our kids going to the same school, our kids riding the bus home together, we might start attending their church on a regular basis and now, I changed my driving route to school to her driving route!

I hope we don't appear to be a crazed, maniacal family. Really, we're not stalking you....we only want to be

It's an all new soccer game

After a lackluster spring soccer session, I wasn't sure if Joshua wanted to play again or not. It really surprised me when he said yes. We signed him up and waited...

The first email comes, we have a new coach. This is our third soccer session, our third new coach. Coach Cindy was anticipating a work transfer, Coach Alex's daughter is now in the U8 league so he is coaching U8 soccer, Coach Ann is our new coach.

The second email comes, we have all new teammates. Last session, we had 4 kids in preschool, 4 kids in kindergarten. The kindergarten kids, if they are playing again, have moved up to U8, the preschool kids, if they are playing again, have moved to a different practice field located closer to their homes. I wasn't aware of the new field location choice, I just signed up for our regular field.

We haven't received uniforms yet so we may also be a new color. I know we will be a new name.

I wasn't sure what Joshua would think about all the new changes. I talked to him about it before we went to practice and he seemed ok with it. I told him the coach's name, read the list of teammates, he really surprised me by seeming not to care. He was sad that he was no longer playing with Matthew and Ryan though.

Monday night was practice. Joshua is the only kindergartener on the team and the only one who had previously played. I think it really made him feel good that he was older, experienced and a better player than the others. Last season, the older kids on his team really out played him and it hurt his confidence a lot...I think that may be one reason why he moped around so much during the spring session. The coach even told Joshua he was a great player and used him as the example in several of the practice routines.

Maybe all new will not turn out to be all bad....I'll let you know...

Did you ever wonder?

Do you ever see odd things lying in the middle of the road and wonder how they got there? Yesterday, while going to dinner, I saw and shoe in the road and wondered how it got there. Going back home after dinner, Joshua saw the shoe in the road and said "I just saw a girl's shoe in the road. What is it doing there?" I told him I guess someone lost it and asked what he thought. So, here are Joshua's thoughts on what may have happened.

1. She was riding in the back seat playing Princess and bad guy or something and she threw her shoe at the bad guy and it accidentally fell out the window.

2. She was riding in the car with her feet out the window and a shoe fell off.

3. She had stinky feet and someone threw her shoe out the window.

4. She took her shoes off before she went in the house and left them on the front porch. It was night and the dog was in the kennel but someone forgot to close the door. The dog sneaked outside and took the shoe and dropped in the road and then ran back inside and got in his kennel and no one knew he was gone.

They all sound like reasonable explanations to me. How do you think the shoe ended up in the road?

School lunches

Today, Joshua decided he wanted to take his lunch to school. I made him a roast beef and provolone cheese sandwich, his favorite. He got out some plastic containers, filled one with exactly ten grapes and four baby carrots and filled the other with an unspecified number of pretzels...I usually give him ten pretzels when he eats a sandwich so I wish I had asked him how many he packed. He didn't want to pack the grapes, carrots and pretzels in plastic sandwich baggies because the teacher told the class they had to throw them away, he wanted them in the plastic containers so he could bring them home...I guess he is being green...He has a plastic container for his sandwich because I hate a smooshed sandwich. He also packed a box of yogurt covered raisons for snack and a bottle of water. I told him he could buy his milk at lunch because I don't want to have to bother with a thermos or anything. He was very excited to be packing his own lunch in his Scooby Doo lunch box. The first two days at school, he bought his lunch...chicken nuggets, tater tots and peaches, then a hotdog, broccoli with cheese and something I can't remember.

All of this lunch business got me thinking of my own elementary school lunches. I have to say that my very favorite lunch in elementary school were cowboy hats, a slice of bologna topped with an ice cream scoop of mashed potatoes and a slice of cheese, broiled in the oven until the bologna curled, the cheese melted, and the shape resembled cowboy hats. Another favorite was pinto bean day with a slice of white bread in a bowl topped with pinto beans. When we buy bologna, I often make myself cowboy hats for lunch and I have been known to still eat pinto beans over a slice of white bread. Another favorite lunch was bacon slices and melted, shredded cheese on a hotdog bun. I do still eat a lot of bacon and cheese sandwiches, but never on a hotdog bun. I also have fond memories of what I call schoolhouse rolls. I loved the rolls. I can also remember Mark Phillips loved the rolls too, many of the kids would give Mark their rolls and he would eat an entire plate of rolls. I also remember having milk drinking races. Oh, and bringing Strawberry Quik mix in an old prescription medicine bottle to mix into milk.

I don't think we had choices in elementary school, I think we just ate what they gave us on the divided trays. We didn't have beverage choices other than milk. We didn't have any food choices until high school. We also didn't take our lunch unless it was a field trip day...taking lunch to school was not at all cool until after we had a big walk-out in high school to protest not having a long enough lunch period to get through the line and eat and then we went through a period of brown bagging as a form of protest. Now, I think it's the norm to do a combination of both.

So, next time you drink a glass of milk, see if you can remember your favorite elementary school lunch...and try not to laugh and spit milk out your nose...

Oh, and to go even further back, I can still remember the tuna casserole with peas and topped with crushed potato chips from Kindergarten.

Noah? Perhaps Huck Finn?

The following is a conversation Joshua and I had right before he went to bed the other night.

One day, when I'm older, when I'm probably 6 years old, can we build a boat together?
A boat?
Yea.
What are we going to make the boat out of?
Wood.
I don't think I know how to make a boat.
That's ok, I know how.
You do? How do you know how to make a boat?
I just know how. I was just born that way.
Sure. We'll make a boat one day.

Then, he went to bed. After he went to bed, I started thinking about this...is he thinking a big boat we can ride on? a raft? a toy boat out of a chunk of wood to play in the creek with? I haven't asked yet but can't wait to hear the answer!

It's official. I'm the parent of a Kindergartener.

Thursday was Joshua's first day of Kindergarten. I don't know how it's done throughout the country, but here, Kindergarteners have staggered entry days. The Kindergarteners are broken down into three groups with one group going Tuesday, one going Wednesday and one going Thursday. Thursday was Joshua's assigned day. Tuesday, he cried because he couldn't go on the first day. He didn't understand why he had to wait until Thursday. I didn't dare tell him that his best bud Ben went on Wednesday. I guess staggered entry is a good thing. The teachers only have 6 or 7 kids for the day instead of 20. The kids have less competition for attention.

We all gathered outside the cafeteria and waited for the teachers to come meet us. There were lots of picture taking and video taping going on. I took Joshua's picture before we left home and I didn't even take my camera to school with me. I'm not sure if he is still too young to be embarassed by all the picture taking that moms tend to do but I didn't want to press my luck. And, I didn't even cry!

Amazingly, Joshua was most forthcoming with information about his day. After preschool, I could get nothing from him unless I asked direct pointed questions and then it he gave very little info. But yesterday afternoon, wow! They did a shortened version of the daily routine. First, they had circle time and the teacher read a book...but he couldn't remember what the book was about. Next, they did an activity...he drew a picture of an apple tree. Then, they went outside where he mostly climbed on some red thing and hung upside down. He bought his lunch, chicken nuggets, tater tots and peaches, and carried the tray by himself. After lunch is a little sketchy...they did another activity, he chose pattern blocks and chose a hard one, a pineapple. They also went outside a second time. They did an abbreviated rest time but didn't get out their towels. And, they had snack time. We were able to pick him up a few minutes early that day.

Friday afternoon was no class for kindergarteners but we did have meet the teacher that afternoon. I met the teacher, the teacher assistant and the student teacher that will be helping on Wednesdays. They all seemed super nice. Matthew from soccer and t-ball is in his class. Ben is in the class next door...they share a hallway and a bathroom so they could potentially throw things at each other if they wanted to (Joshua overheard me tell someone this and he said matter of factly, The teacher isn't going to let us throw things at each other). Oh, and he is very excited about having a "sports" teacher (PE teacher) and can't wait until the school's fall carnival thing.

Monday is his first "real" day. I hope I get as much detail in the coming days as I got on Thursday.

The smell of money

Today, we said good-bye to a dear old friend, my 1990 Toyota Tercel. Hard to believe I've had her for 18 years. She was a terrific little car, haven't had to do anything to her except regular car stuff, oil changes, tires, brakes, struts, a few thermostats. She currently needs new shocks but the buyer took her as is.

Anyway, I got her while I was in college. I was visiting my dad, we went shopping and found her. The 1991 models were already on the lot, she was the last 1990 model they had and she was kept in the showroom. I don't know how much she cost, my dad did the haggling, I just remember him saying "How much do I need to put down so that she can have payments around $X.XX for 3 years?" and I drove her away.

I've put many a mile on her cruising the roads, going nowhere, listening to music, first with my best friend/roommate from college, then with my best dog, lastly with my best husband.

She was replaced in 1999 by a Camry. I've only driven her a few times since then. Scott, however, drove her to and from work all the time. I guess he adopted her as his car and she served him as well as she served me.

Now, 18 years later, she belongs to Zack, a 16 year old who was just so excited to buy his first car. His dad said we made Zacks day. I gave her a little pat on the hood, told Zack that Lynyrd Skynyrd was her favorite tunes...luckily he said he likes Skynyrd so it won't be a problem playing them for her. He was going to take her home, clean her up, he has plans to replace the stereo, which will probably happen before he replaces the shocks, he is a 16 year old boy you know.

So, Joshua got to see and hold a $100 bill for the first time. He was somewhat disappointed that he couldn't have it and somewhat disappointed he couldn't have half of all the money but felt a little better when I told him that most likely, some of it would be spent on him. I mean, most of my money is spent on him in one way or the other. I let him hold the $100 while we were in the car going to the bank. He held onto it tightly, looked at the front and back closely, then stuck it up to his nose and said "Mmmmm, it smells good!"

Let's Get This Party Started!

This is Joshua's current favorite phrase. Like all his phrases, I'm not sure where it came from but I have to laugh when he says it. He gets dressed in the morning and runs out into the living room "Alright! Let's get this party started!" "Come on Joshua, we've got to go to the store"..."Alright! Let's get this party started!" "Let's brush teeth"..."Alright! Let's get this party started!"

And speaking of parties, we went to a birthday party yesterday evening. I' had wondered about kids with summer birthdays before. When you are 4, 5, or so, most of your friends are your preschool friends. If you have a birthday in the summer, many families are on vacation, you haven't seen the preschool kids in a month or two, will they remember you? Will they come?

The party we went to had a really good turnout of preschool kids and friends of the family kids. Joshua, Ben, Caitlin and Daphne were all there...During preschool, Joshua, Ben, Caitlin and Daphne went to just about every birthday party there was. Other kids were hit and miss but you could always count on those 4 to be there. And there were some kids that didn't attend any of the birthday parties.

I think people are either party attenders or not party attenders. We just happen to be among the party attending group.

The Dog Days of Summer are upon us

Everyone knows that the “dog days of summer” occur during the hottest and muggiest part of the season. Webster defines “dog days” as...

1 : the period between early July and early September when the hot sultry weather of summer usually occurs in the northern hemisphere2 : a period of stagnation or inactivity
But where does the term come from? Why do we call the hot, sultry days of summer “dog days?”
In ancient times, when the night sky was unobscured by artificial lights and smog, different groups of peoples in different parts of the world drew images in the sky by “connecting the dots” of stars. The images drawn were dependent upon the culture: The Chinese saw different images than the Native Americans, who saw different pictures than the Europeans. These star pictures are now called constellations, and the constellations that are now mapped out in the sky come from our European ancestors.

They saw images of bears, (Ursa Major and Ursa Minor), twins, (Gemini), a bull, (Taurus), and others, including dogs, (Canis Major and Canis Minor).

The brightest of the stars in Canis Major (the big dog) is Sirius, which also happens to be the brightest star in the night sky. In fact, it is so bright that the ancient Romans thought that the earth received heat from it. Look for it in the southern sky (viewed from northern latitudes) during January.

In the summer, however, Sirius, the “dog star,” rises and sets with the sun. During late July Sirius is in conjunction with the sun, and the ancients believed that its heat added to the heat of the sun, creating a stretch of hot and sultry weather. They named this period of time, from 20 days before the conjunction to 20 days after, “dog days” after the dog star.

The conjunction of Sirius with the sun varies somewhat with latitude. And the “precession of the equinoxes” (a gradual drifting of the constellations over time) means that the constellations today are not in exactly the same place in the sky as they were in ancient Rome. Today, dog days occur during the period between July 3 and August 11. Although it is certainly the warmest period of the summer, the heat is not due to the added radiation from a far-away star, regardless of its brightness. No, the heat of summer is a direct result of the earth's tilt.

Copyright © 1999, 2000 by Jerry Wilson

Thanks to http://www.wilstar.com/dogdays.htm

ok...so do you have to go somewhere EVERY day????

Joshua and I met Kelly, Sydney and Mollie for dinner at Chick-Fil-A last night. Chick-Fil-A is a great place to go with kids because they have a great play area. After eating, the kids can go play while the adults sit and talk to each other. After our friends left, Joshua and I stayed a little longer, he was playing with some boy in the play area, they seemed to be having a good time, I thought we could stay until 8:00 or until the other kid left, whichever came first.

I didn't have a book to read, any one to talk to, no food to eat, so I got out my phone to see what all my Facebook friends were doing. I updated my status saying I was at Chick-Fil-A watching Joshua play. Then, a friend makes a comment asking if I have to go somewhere EVERY day.

I guess it may seem like we go somewhere every day. We do go a lot. I work from home and have to keep regular 8:30 to 5:30 hours. Some days we do play or go outside with me coming in every 15 minutes or so to check my phone, fax and email. Some days I'm too busy to play and Joshua has to play alone or watch tv. Some days, I can only play Legos, superheroes. hide and seek or talk about bugs for so long before I go bonkers. Some days I take an actual lunch hour to go eat or to go to the store, but most days I don't take a lunch hour and I don't leave home . We live, some might say, "in the country" and there are no neighborhood children for Joshua to play with. Scott works a noon until midnight shift so we only see and talk to him for 2 1/2 hours between the time he gets up and the time he leaves for work.

When I'm finished work for the day, I like to take Joshua somewhere where he can play with other kids, run around, yell, scream, have fun, talk to someone other than me. I also like to take Joshua somewhere where I can sit, read a book, talk to someone other than him. Actually, I think our going somewhere may be more for me than for him.

Stay at home moms probably have some of the same problems as they are at home with the kids all day and no adults to talk to, but they can go to the park, go to the playground, go on a picnic, attend a playgroup, all designed so kids can play and adults can talk. Work outside of home moms have kids in daycare, designed so kids can play and adults can talk (while at work). Working from home with a kid in the home can be hard to do....But worth every bit of frustration.

Joshua starting kindergarten is going to be such a bittersweet moment.

T-ball

I'm sad to say that T-ball is over, Saturday was Joshua's last game. I think he really enjoyed playing. I know I really enjoyed watching. I've always liked watching live baseball. Maybe because it reminds me of when I was a kid walking home from elementary school and passing by the highschool baseball field. Lots of times when they were practicing or playing, I would stop and watch. Pre-Joshua, Scott and I attended numerous Durham Bulls games, Joshua has been several times, but only once since he is actually old enough to know he is at a baseball game. And I've just recently discovered college baseball on TV.

Joshua played T-ball for the first time this year for the Chatham County YMCA. I wish I had known Chatham County had a YMCA before this year as T-ball starts at age 3, but, better late than never. The Chatham County Parks and Rec also offers T-ball but I've heard from other moms that they are very competitive, have multiple practices and multiple games during the week, not something we were looking for with our first experience.

YMCA T-ball was perfect. All the games/practices were held on Saturday morning at 9am. The kids did some warm up exericises, then played a game. Their version of playing a game was one team in the outfield in a semi-circle from the 3rd baseline to the 1st baseline and a kid on first while the other team batted. The batter would hit the ball, run to first base. In the outfield, every single kid ran for the ball no matter where it was hit. When someone caught it, they were so excited to get it that they would hold it way up in the air, look around and smile so everyone could see they caught it, then they would throw it to first base. Every kid got to bat. After the last kid on the team batted, the inning was over and the teams switched sides. Then every kid on the other team got to bat. Depending on how long an inning took, the game was either over, or they kept switching back and forth until it was 10:00 and time to stop. The parents then had to go into the field and make a "spirit tunnel", holding hands forming a tunnel for the kids to run through while we whooped it up for them. Finally, snack and then home.

I'm hoping Joshua grows to like baseball as much as Scott and I do.

Franklin's Fossil

I love watching the kids cartoon Franklin. In case you don't know Franklin, he is a turtle, his best friend is Bear and his other friends are Snail, Rabbit, Beaver, Goose and Fox. Franklin seems to be about Kindergarten age, his teacher is Mr. Owl. There are a lot of good stories on Franklin and I often find myself explaining things to Joshua by saying "Remember on Franklin when ..." And while it has no relation to this blog entry, it something I often ponder, how Franklin can have a friend Goose but when he finds a baby duckling, it's a pet?

Anyway, one day Franklin and Bear are working in the garden digging potatoes and they find a fossil. They decide to open a museum, charge their friends cookies to come see the fossil. Their friends get upset when Franklin and Bear know nothing about the fossil and demand their cookies back, but, of course, Bear has already eaten the cookies. Franklin and Bear decide to give the fossil to Mr. Mole who knows a lot about fossils and has his own fossil collection.

Because of Franklin's Fossil, Joshua now thinks we can go out into the yard, dig a hole, find a fossil. We go for walks and he picks up every other rock he finds and asks me if it is a fossil. When digging post holes, he had to go through the dirt to look for fossils. He gets my little garden spade (aka his shovel), digs his own holes and looks for fossils. I'm sure fossil hunting is a lot of fun but he just doesn't understand that we are not going to dig a hole in our back yard and find a dinosaur bone or trilobite.

When we went to Mimi's house for Spring Break back in April, we did go to the Fossil Museum in Gray. Yes, Gray Tennessee has a fossil museum. If you are a blog reader and live in East Tennessee and have never been to the fossil museum, I suggest you take a trip there. Who woulda thought that saber-toothed cat, short-faced bear, ground sloth, rhino, alligator, camel, shovel-tusked elephant, Eurasian badger, the world’s largest collection of fossil tapirs, and the world’s only near-complete fossil red panda would be found Gray Tennessee! We toured the fossil dig site and even sifted for our own fossils but it was cold and rainy that day so we didn't sift long. Joshua has plans to attend a summer camp there when he is 7 years old and talks about it often.

We are also members of the Museum of Life and Science in Durham. They have recently reopened their Dinosaur Trail Exhibit - some of you NC readers may remember from school field trips They have a fossil dig site there but sand was brought in from the coast and you are supposed to be able to find shark teeth. Joshua has numerous shark teeth we collected from beach trips but to him, shark teeth are not the same as fossils.

Joshua does have a couple of fossils from Dinosaurs Rock school assemblies at his former preschools. I guess it just isn't the same as if you found them yourself.

So, after watching Franklin and Indiana Jones, Joshua thinks he now wants to be a fossil digger/dinosaur bone digger/treasure hunter when he grows up. I guess it is a little more exciting than my wanting to be an architect after watching Brady Bunch and an advertising exec after watching Bewitched.

Legos

Jigsaw puzzles are a thing of the past at our house. Joshua's newest passion is Legos. When Joshua was putting puzzles together, I often wished there was a puzzle library or a puzzle rental store, now, I wish for a Lego rental store...

Anway, Joshua received his first Lego sets for Christmas and then birthday. I say 'sets' because I'm not sure if they even make just boxes of mixed up Legos any more, everything is a 'set'. We have Star Wars, we have Indiana Jones, we have Power Miners and we now have Pirates. Note to the Lego company, Harry Potter Lego sets would be really cool.

Joshua is so good at putting these things together. His largest set, a Power Miner set, has 474 pieces, rated for 8-14 years old and has 84 pages of instructions. He has been working on it for about 6 straight hours now and has only 3 more pages to go.

I'm liking the Legos. The only complaint I have is I haven't quiet figured out how to store the sets so they do not get mixed together and pieces do not get lost.

It may not sound as exciting as a shark filmer (marine biologist), may not be as romantic as a fossil, dinosaur bone, treasure digger (paleontologist/archeologist), but architect is a mighty fine profession.

Playground Friends

Since preschool is over and summer vacation has arrived, Joshua and I have been spending a lot of time at the park. I work all day and he has been very patient with me so as soon as work is over, we pack up our dinner, drinks and I grab a book and we go to Kelly Road Park.

I love that Joshua is now old enough to play without me and I can sit and read a little, with the most important thing being he can now (or will now) play without me. When we first started going, we would sit and look around for someone he could play with, we would both walk up and I would say "This is Joshua. What is your name? Would you like to play with Joshua?" and then they would run along together and play. Now, Joshua does it all by himself! For those of you that didn't know Joshua in his early days, this is a HUGE deal. And, since we have been going 2 or 3 times a week to the same park, we are now starting to see some of the same kids so it is even easier for Joshua to find a playmate.

So far, we have had really good luck at finding kids Joshua's age to play with. One day, there was nothing but older boys, the youngest of them being 9. They let Joshua play tag with them. The boys, and Joshua, would run around, they would let Joshua go a long time without being it, then one would tag him. He would then chase the boys around a while before one would slow down enought to let Joshua tag him. They were really good playing with him. And sometimes, Joshua gets stuck with some younger kids but he is very patient with them and plays on their level.

Yesterday Joshua was playing with two boys, not sure if they were twins or not but they were definitely brothers. They were a bit older than Joshua but didn't mind that he played with them. I noticed that each time one of the boys wanted a drink from the fountain, they would jump over the fence, get a drink and then jump back over the fence into the playground. So, it was no surprise to me when I saw the two boys AND Joshua go over the fence, get a drink, and then jump back over the fence...well, except for Joshua...It was easy for him to climb on a bench and then jump the fence, getting back over the fence was the hard part. I sat and watched, and smiled, and giggled as the two boys were grabbing Joshua's arms trying to pull him over. Then, one boy went back over the fence and tried pushing Joshua up while the other one pulled. When that didn't work, they decided to switch places and try the push and pull technique. When that didn't work, they moved down close to a tree, pulled a branch down so Joshua could hang on to it while one boy pushed and the other pulled. They finally got Joshua back over the fence. When they ran past me, I called Joshua over, told him not to climb over the fence any more without telling me first...I think he was surprised that I knew.

I love watching the kids play and the interactions among them. I love seeing Joshua play with the older kids and the older kids being nice to him. I love seeing Joshua play with the younger kids and playing on their level. I love seeing Joshua play with kids his own age. I love that we now see many of the same kids over and over.

Who knew these feelings of pride and joy could come from a playground...

Sports and Things

Well, Spring Soccer was kind of a bust. There was more rain and games and practices cancelled than there was sunshine and games and practices. Joshua never really got used to the fact that Coach Cindy was no longer there. I think Coach Alex and Coach Mark did an excellent job but Joshua never really warned up to them. He really didn't get into the games or the practices and I've seen him run faster through the living room than he would run on the soccer field. But, one good thing that came out of soccer this year was Joshua now knows 3 additional kids starting Kindergarten with him and 4 kids that will be in 1st grade at his school.


Joshua says he wants to play soccer again in the fall. I haven't decided if he should stay in Chatham County soccer with his teammates, 2 practices and a game each week OR move him over to YMCA soccer with new teammates, practice and game all on Saturday morning. He will be starting Kindergarten at the same time soccer starts and I don't want to overwhelm him with things. When the time comes, I'll probably ask him what he wants to do.


We have now started Tball through the YMCA. We have had 2 practices so far. One good thing about playing through the Y is that you have practice and game all on Saturday morning, there are not multiple practices or multiple games throughout the week. Joshua's best buddy Ben and one of his soccer teammates, Matthew, are both on his Tball team, the Pirates. Practice is funny to watch, 1 kid hits the ball, 9 other kids try to catch it. Next week will be his first game.


I am very excited about Tball. I love watching live ball games. I hope Joshua enjoys it as much as I do. Oh, and Scott and I both have gloves now so that we can all practice out in the yard.


I never did find a swim class for Joshua this summer. I did find one that I was going to sign him up for but by the time I got back online to do it, it was full. Then, I wasn't sure if Tball had multiple practices throughout the week or not so I didn't sign him up again. Now, he has a week with Mimi coming up plus a week at the beach so I still can't sign him up. He would be taking the same level of class he had last summer so he would just be expanding this skills and getting better. But, with the Triangle Aquatic Center's indoor pools, he can have lessons any time of year so it's not like I have to get them in this summer.

As a kid, I never enjoyed sports or lessons or participating in any organized activity. My mom tried, it just didn't take. Now I understand why she tried with me and why I want to try everything with Joshua...makes it easier on me that Joshua is excited and wants to try new things too. Sorry it didn't work out for me Mom...we still have Joshua though :)

The Missing Months

OK, a lot has probably happened since my last post. I'll do my best to fill in some of the "missing months" along the way. But, for now, another attempt at beginning anew.

This is Mimi (Kim’s mom, Joshua’s grandmother). After spending the weekend with Papa Bob on the river, Scott returned to work in Apex while Kim and Joshua (who was on spring break) spent the week with Mimi and Papa John in Piney Flats. Kim works from home so she worked on her computer at our house. Weather was chilly so playground trips were cancelled.
Bays Mountain was a favorite place for Kim when growing up in Kingsport. Joshua and Papa John visited Bays Mountain to see the deer, otters, wolves, snakes, various birds. The planetarium has recently been updated. Joshua said the planetarium show was “awesome.” Papa John was impressed that Joshua knew the planets and constellations. See info at www.baysmountain.com
Mimi, Papa John and Joshua went to Dollywood on Thursday (the warmest day of the week). Since it is early in the season and many schools were on spring break, Dollywood was really crowded with long lines to get into the park. Once we got inside, it was not too crowded until you got hungry and had to stand in a food line. We rode the small roller coaster, bumper cars, sports cars, carousel, airplanes, swings, river rampage where we got wet. We rented a Q-bot so we could program in times for some of the crowded shows and rides. At 2:45, we get in a special Q-bot line for Le Grand Cirque; the first seven rows are reserved for Q-bot. We also saw the show “Heartland,” a film of Dolly Parton growing up in the Smokies. Joshua was surprised when we got slightly sprayed when the boy jumped in the pond and when it showed rain on the screen. The only game we played was a horse race. Papa John won a large dog; Joshua was very pleased to carry the dog around the park.
On Friday morning, Papa John and Joshua caught a huge carp in the lake. We cooked the carp for our cat, Jake. Last year when Joshua had caught a fish, he said that we were bone scientists when we were removing the bones from the cooked fish.

Ladybugs and Helgramites

Scott, Joshua and I spent the weekend at my dad's farmhouse on the Clinch River. The house is up in the mountains with no phone, no tv, can't get a radio station or a cell. All you have to do is walk through the front yard and down the hill and you are right on the river. Across the river is a railroad and the coal trains run all day and all night. The house even comes with an old dog, Wilma, that actually belongs to the neighbor but is often found sleeping on the back porch or under the front porch. It ain't nuttin' fancy but it's perfect for what it is...a place to eat, sleep and go to the bathroom when you are taking a break from fishing. It remains closed up when no one is visiting for the weekend.

This particular weekend at this particular time of year, the farmhouse was a haven for ladybugs. I don't know much about ladybugs except that you are supposed to have good luck if one lands on you...and that on a cool April weekend if you turn on the heat and lights in an old farmhouse they seem to appear out of nowhere by the hundreds. It wasn't too bad though...ladybugs don't bite or sting, they aren't nasty buggers like roaches, they aren't as scary as snakes, mice or spiders. So, when you think of the alternative creatures that could have been inhabiting the house, I'd say we were lucky. So yea, I think ladybugs are lucky.

Saturday was the most perfect day. We woke up early, ate breakfast, and headed straight for the river. Fishing was a little slow that morning because it was rather cold. We took a break and went for a drive to see my dad's old stomping grounds and went for a nice little walk. By the time we got back, it had warmed up a bit and the fishing was terrific. We...umm, I mean, I was catching them as quick as I put my line in the water. Now, I can bait a hook with a worm but I can not take a fish off a hook. I have to say I kept both my dad and Scott busy taking the fish off the hook. So much so that my dad gave up trying to fish and just kept close to me. We mostly caught redeyes, one large mouth and several small mouth bass and something my dad called a horny head that had horns on it's head. We all let Joshua reel in fish and he had a terrific time fighting with them. We fished until it was dark enough to have a fire and roast hotdogs and marshmallows. Scott stayed down on the river trying to do a little catfishing but didn't catch any. Sunday morning, we got up, had breakfast, and hit the river again. And, once again, pulled them out as quick as we could put the line in.

Now, the bait of choice for these Clinch River fish is what I've always known as grampus. I just learned this weekend that their official name is helgramite. They are ugly and have big pinchers and I also found out that they eventually grow wings and fly. Joshua loved the helgermites. He and papa went hunting for them and Joshua turned over rocks and picked them up all by himself. He came back and instructed me on how to pick them up...yea, I wasn't touching one of those things...Anyway, they are a tough bait and you can fish on one about all day long.

So, at 5 years old, Joshua can catch bait and can reel in fish. He just needs to be a little older so he can bait his own hook and cast. Oh yea, and take all the fish that I catch off my hook for me...