We taught Connor his ABC's a long time ago. Even taught him how to write them. Then we forgot about it. Oops. Seems in between that time and kindergarten he kinda fell behind with his writing skills. Computers? Kid can write code in his sleep. PC or Mac. Unfortunately his teacher is not so impressed by this. Philistine.
Ok, not so cool. His teacher was actually kind of concerned about it since it was putting him well behind his classmates. We spent the weekend buying new books and coming up with a new 'quiet time' schedule so we can work on this. It must have helped since his teacher noticed a marked improvement over last week. I think part of this is probably just him overcoming his shyness and relaxing a bit. This was the second day in a row I dropped him off and didn't have to convince him I was indeed coming back.
*And now we flash forward in time to a whole new day where hopefully I can squeeze this post out. How is it that I have so little time now that I'm unemployed? I have 40+ extra hours a week and I feel busier than I was when I was working. I don't get it. I've started getting up early again so I can get some quiet time to myself. This has only worked for the last two days since it's so easy to just ignore that alarm and keep sleeping. Mmmm, warm bed. Probably be damn near impossible to get up once the rains start and it gets cold.
Oh ya, Connor. So school is getting better. He's not dragging his feet all the way now and he's actually starting to enjoy himself. Yesterday the teacher had set up an aquarium so once we got to class I was no longer needed. His first response to mommy when she asks him what kind of day he had is usually, "I had a bad day," though I think that's just routine now. After he did it yesterday he proceeded to talk for 10 minutes straight about the gingerbread man they worked on in class.
His writing is still weak, though mostly because he has the attention span of a fruit fly when we're working on it. I feel like lobotomizing myself with a pencil every time we sit down at the table. What makes it worse is that I can totally see a younger version of me in him and I'd love to go back in time and kick that younger me in the ass. With Connor, if it doesn't involve WWII era planes he just doesn't care about it. Throw into the mix that his fingers are weak from not being used for writing (strong aptitude with a Wii controller though) and that he's a lefty (parents are not)...sigh.
On the bright side, Liam is benefiting from all of our failures with his brother. Liam is also blessed with patience and will sit down all by himself and play contently for a long time so we're not too worried about him. Also, the kid is like Rain Man when it comes to puzzles. Bernadette wanted to get him a 100 piece Iron Man puzzle on the weekend but I thought that would be a little much, he's only three. So we got him the 24 piece one and he finished in under two minutes.
Well, today is a brand new day. Full of fresh and exciting new ways to screw up my children.
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We just found the gingerbread man yesterday!! His letters etc., will take OFF now that school has started. NO WORRIES! And, yeah, isn't crazy how each kid is so different!!!!
ReplyDeleteIt's funny, but you are busier at home than at work. When I was working I felt like I had tons of free time to do stuff, but at home it's just go go go.
ReplyDeleteLove the Spidey costume. We used to have a neighbor kid who wore a Spiderman costume for a year straight. I am not embellishing this. Every time I saw the kid for about a year, he had his costume on. It seems boys love to play superhero.
I live in the land of princesses, barbies, rainbows and unicorns. We don't have Spidey costumes in these parts.
Good luck with the schoolwork. You are motivating me to get to work on Caroline's letters. She's not in pre-school this year and I worry that she's missing some crucial kindergarten prep.
I am sure Conner will catch right up. Last year I was worried about LaLa not being able to write her (real) name like all the other kids and over the summer she just did it on her own. Freaky shit man.
ReplyDeleteIt is indeed a fact that Superheros have, damn near, illegible handwriting.
ReplyDeleteNo worries. I get the Goat to help me with the Grocery list every week. It helps.
Still, if you can shoot webbing out of your wrist, writing pales by comparison.
It's always the same with the first born and second born doesn't
ReplyDeletehave the pressure of 1st. They can just be little kids.
bye the way, your kids are lucky
to have such great parents,
ain't none of us is perfect.
M.
I mean this in the best way, but you are a really good Dad. That's probably the highest compliment you could ever receive with respect to your kids. Really, that you'll sit down and take time to work with your children speaks volumes about you and your wife.
ReplyDeleteI think the kindergarten teachers need.to.lighten.up. They are 5!
ReplyDeleteLast year, my youngest's kindy teacher was constantly "concerned" with Logan's recall and reading skills. I was all...SHE IS BARELY 5 lady!
I had bad parents that didn't even send me to kindergarten (or read to me etc) and I began 1st grade not even knowing the alphabet, but by the 3rd grade, I was reading at a 5th grade level- so I say- don't sweat it too much- besides BOOKS will probably become obsolete in a few years and every classroom will have a big screen TV with 25 Wii remotes instead of a teacher- THEN you're kid will be all, "how you like me now?"