Tell me the Terry Fox story…

All good Canadians know who Terry Fox is.  This week has been Terry Fox week in the schools, and I hear a number of kids have had some interesting interpretations of his life story.  So when Benson brought home this work of art, I wondered what his story would be.  “Terry Fox is not a real guy.  He’s in a show.  I haven’t seen it yet.”  Hmmm.  What did your kids tell you about Terry Fox?

UPDATED: “Terry Fox broke his leg when he was running.  Then he died.  But where is his leg?”

Little Boy, Big World

The day has finally arrived: Kindergarten orientation.

Little Boy, Big World

We had a great day at orientation today.  Even though I thought I’d be an emotional mess, I was too busy playing with B and occasionally shushing him (he’s no longer “shy”).  We spent the afternoon playing at 4 different stations and learning about the school.

First up: Letters & Numbers.  The kids sorted and lined up letters, while the teacher gave us ideas of things to challenge the kids with.   Benson is more of a numbers kinda guy, so he improvised and just made numbers out of several letters … he made it to 11.

Next: playdough.  We all loved the playdough made with Kool-Aid.  It was sticky and squishy and smelled like Kool-Aid…the Mr. sure loved the smell.

He may have done a lot of squishing and destroying, but he also made a l'il heart.

Then we had Arts & Crafts.  I’m not sure how often B uses scissors at preschool, but I’m guessing not much.  However, he was very determined and eager to cut out shapes to put on his green crown with no help from ANYONE…

Next, off to the library.  B’s face lit up as soon as he walked in.  He’s a library nerd, just like me.  But….he’s not much of a listener (just like me.)  So storytime (The Paper Bag Princess) was a bit stilted as he felt the need to share.  “You know what?  I go to 4-year-old school right now, and sometimes I ride my bike. But mostly I don’t, because I keep falling down and getting owies and I even brokeded my leg!” He also helpfully pointed out that “that dragon looks like he’s naked.” Fantastic!

Storytime in the library

Then we went back into the gym, where there were some general announcements (get those immunization records in, yo!).  I couldn’t help but look at the Grade 7 helpers and think…in just a flash, B’s going to be that pseudo-confident, almost-grown up, non-silly kid – ready to hit the next level.  (uh, and I’ll be like … FORTY YEARS OLD. Possibly more.) Le sigh.  Then we all got a bag of swag ~yeah!  Books, glue sticks (yikes), scissors (double yikes), and crayons (I’m cool – I’ve got my Norwex micropad.)

We had a great feeling of community…I was really impressed by our principal’s warmth and by what she said: especially that their students are kind and respectful.  I chose Sullivan because it is a smaller school, and I thought B would really benefit from that sense of close-knit community.  He can sometimes give up on himself too easily and I want him to find his place in the world.  He felt so comfortable there and I know we made the right choice.  Go Steamers!

May 1 Bensonisms

“Houses don’t belong in outer space. Because people live in them. I wish I was a alien, so I could have a spaceship and explore earth. And how could the aliens go in earth? Because some do, but when you see something in the air like spaceships or helicopters, they are flying!”

This is the very first thing he said when he woke up at 630.

Is that all you’ve got?

Took Marshall to get his 18-month vaccinations today.  (Yes, he’s 3 days short of 2.  That’s another story.)  The kids go ape over the toys at the clinic.  I told B that he had to be calm and good because Marshall was getting a needle.

B: “I wish I could come back to play. Maybe Marshall can get another needle tomorrow!”

Me: “How about you get a needle?”

B: “Okay, sure.  I still get to play with the toys, right?”

Me: “Um, sure.”

So we get called into the room and Benson’s eyes are as round as saucers as he watches the doctor prep the shots.  Dr. Strovski is totally the bomb and kept Benson talking the whole time about how he’s 4, but soon he’ll be 5, and Marshall’s not 2 years old, and so on, and so on.

I had Marshall on my lap holding his arms down, and the doc gently said, “He looks like a strong one.  You’re going to have to hold him a little tighter than that.”  So I crossed his arms across his body like I was a Policewoman of Broward County on a meth-head (if you pretend you don’t get this reference, I understand) and hunkered down.

“The worst part is when I first stick it in,” Dr. S. said.  We both wished Marshall wasn’t staring down the needle, and I swore I could feel it as he jabbed it in, quick and hard. (That’s what she said.)  Marshall just looked at it.  He let out a little, angry cry near the end of the shot.

“Wow, that was pretty good.” Dr. S. was impressed and stuck a band-aid on the dot.

“Marshall, check out your sticker,” I tried to distract him as he was starting to figure it out.

“Mom, that’s NOT a sticker, it’s a band-aid.  And I don’t want a needle anymore,” the ever-helpful B.

One down, one to go.  This time Marshall was looking down the barrell of the gun, and didn’t even flinch as Dr. S. jabbed the other arm.  He just stared at it, then stared at the doc.  I could almost feel him thinking, “bring it.”

So only 2 out of 3 of us were traumatized by Marshall’s last vaccination, but 3 out of 3 of us enjoyed the promised ice cream afterwards.

Bugs … Bunny?

Benson’s new toothbrush has Bugs Bunny on it.

Kids today…not so familiar with the Looney Tunes. I was trying to entice him to use the new toothbrush…so I showed him Bugs!

“Hey! It’s Bugs Bunny! COOOOOL!” I said…

“Bugs? Bugs in a teeth? No bugs! No bugs!” was the panicked response, with his hands plastered over his mouth.

“Uh, no…it’s a bunny. But his name is Bugs.”

“Bugs! Bugs! No bugs!!”

(We have some spider issues in our basement, which has apparently resulted in some sort of insect-related trauma/phobia. I can’t say I blame him – the Robbins family spiders are beasts.)

Last night he woke up no less than three times screaming about bugs and spiders in his room. Damn that bunny….and my cheap self for not springing for the Thomas brush (ahem, twice the price!).

And seriously – they do not make children’s toothbrushes without any kind of character association. Because trust me – I’d rather skip the whole thing. I don’t think Dora, Diego, Sponge Bob, Barney, or any of those other conglomerates needs any more of my hard earned dollars to market directly to my child…

Off to try this again – hoping the toothbrush-Bugs association is forgotten tonight!

He moves

I’m still sniffling but the doc assures us that we are JUST FINE…and he’s the expert, right! Well Benson is now officially crawling. I left him in the front room and was cleaning up in the kitchen, and I turned around to find him in there.

He’s not doing the typical crawl, but then I hear that’s pretty rare for the beginning crawler. He does the shimmy, shimmy, shimmy. He no longer wants to sit still on momma’s lap (although momma still needs to be around 24/7/365) !

This was evidenced at Kim’s shower when I let him crawl around the dirty floor, since he needed to be ON THE MOVE.

Here’s a pic of him with Rayan, he’s just dying for him to get out of the chair and into the world of FSU!