"First Day of Kindergarten" or "You Can't Trust a Hungry Dog"

The alarm went off at 6:40, school starts at 8:10. But he needs enough time to piddle around, eat first breakfast, get dressed, watch a video about smilodons, impersonate a smilodon, brush his fangs and get his helmet on.

He was so excited he even agreed to pose for photos. Wow. He didn't want to ride in the bike trailer, he rode his scoot bike (no pedals) up the hill. And when I came up the same hill this afternoon on my trike I was impressed at the effort he exerted to get to his new school.

When I arrived, he was happily coloring a connect the dots work and was in no particular hurry to leave, but he was eager to show me the leftover snack he had stashed in his bag. Pretzels in their own little package! (he loves anything in a wrapper so he was also psyched by the cereal in a packet he was served as part of the school breakfast) After I chatted with his teacher and heard that he had a good first day and "Mostly did his own thing" (no surprise), he put away his crayons, pushed in his little chair and said good bye as we carried out a snail that one little girl had brought in from the playground ("I didn't know something was still in there!" she said while sitting surrounded by other little flowers and bits she had found) A few curious boys wanted to hold it and one wanted to smash it, Silas protected it fiercely but eventually let the others touch it gently.

We biked home (down hill, ahhhhhh) and talked all about the special donuts I brought from San Francisco as a treat for his first day. And so we arrived home with smiles and happy talk of more kindergarten tomorrow, and then ...(ominous music)... we walk inside... "Where are the donuts mommy?" "Well they were right here on the kitchen table... Uh oh"...

In the living room we found the carnage (there was even some strawberry filling smeared in the dog's bed). Oh the horror.
You can imagine the scene, the tears and anger over the lost donuts and the pent up emotions from the intensity of the day... He made a sweet recovery though: Joey had to be in a jail made of pillows on the couch for one hour, but while he was there "He might like a whale magazine read to him". And Kevin came home with some replacement donuts which Silas thoroughly enjoyed for dessert (and Joey had none)

And even though during his breakdown he shouted that he wished he had never gone to kindergarten because then Joey would not have eaten his donuts, and he would never go back, ever....

before bed he set up his newest invention: the getting dressed chair.

So he can be on time again tomorrow.

Everything I need to know...

First Day, September, 2008

Last Day, August, 2011

Last week was Silas's goodbye circle at Little Elephant Montessori, which he shared with four friends who have been there since the beginning with him. Yes, there were tears, but none from the kids.

Three years ago I didn't really have any expectations for what this day would be like. I didn't expect to have a son who was reading, doing addition and subtraction, and working on multiplication. It didn't occur to me that he would co

mmunicate in sign language or count to five in Arabic. And I really couldn't imagine that he would be able to go to the bathroom to wash his hands when he really wanted to join the circle at storytime.

Perhaps by coincidence, I've been hearing a lot about the science of early childhood education lately. A few months ago, Planet Money produced a podcast called The Case for Preschool, and last week Science magazine had a special issue called Investing in Early Education (sorry nerds, it's subscription only, but you can read the summaries). The rundown on what I've read and heard is that, more important than reading and math, preschool develops executive function, like self control and creative thinking that is critical for for success in school and in life.

The results of some of these studies are astonishing. Low income kids who got two hours of high-quality preschool per day were half as likely, 25 years later, to have been arrested than the control group. Two hours! These kids came from similar families and went to the same public schools. This agrees with other long-term studies that show that high-quality (and high quality is key) preschool produces long term benefits, and these benefits are most pronounced among the most disadvantaged kids. Although our bank account will appreciate not having to pay tuition any more, it turns out that investment in preschool is one of the most cost-effective interventions that we can make in the kids who need it most. It's something to remember when our school districts are cutting pre-K funding while building new baseball fields.

Christine and I are both profoundly grateful for Natanya, Emily, Cassandra, Caitlin, Kristin, Maxine, Jasmine, Monica, and Catherine, who have all nurtured Silas's growth with love and respect. He may not remember them all twenty years from now, but they have had a foundational impact on his life.

Sorry so wordy - here's another picture for your patience:

Try Me Island

(Christine started this post almost a year ago but didn't finish. I'm posting it now since the pictures illustrate her last post about the many uses of string - kj)



This morning Silas brought over the globe ($1 yard sale find) and told me that somewhere on it was "Try Me Island" where they make scrap books to sell, that would be books about scrap according to Silas. hmmm... Is this some bit of trivia he learned at school?

Here are some photos of the very strong grader moving a blue whale around the living room.

Silas's Super Powers

Silas is very interested in things he finds tricky or powerful or capable of causing mischief and/or mystery. Some of these things include: knots, math, acrobatics...

He thinks tying knots is an awesome way to display your power. I think he learned this from watching magicians and my dad, because Papa spends a lot of time looping extension cords into creative braids while he's here. Of course magicians' and Papa's knots are especially designed to release easily when you want them too and Silas's goal is to tie the most powerfully un-tiable knot the world has ever seen.

We get a lot of mileage out of a few balls of twine. Seriously, if you are ever at a loss about what to give a 3-5 year old as a gift may I suggest a ball of twine, a box of bandaids and some tape. Hours and hours and hours of fun... all your old toys are new again when they get tied and taped in new pairings. And the bandaids are a treat because they are just yours (no parent to tell you that that red spot is not a boo-boo but a pen mark) so you can cover yourself in them in one glorious afternoon if you wish. (thanks for the recent shipments Mimi)

Silas is also into things that other people would consider powerful: predators, weapons, invisibility. We used to be a no weapons household, but they creep in, as I expected they would. He spends hours of his time jumping on our bed talking through elaborate storylines that involve weapons made of pillows and blankets and pieces of dental floss... so with his recent interest in knights I made him 2 swords out of foam chunks from some giant packing materials Kevin brought home from work. There's another gift idea: up-cycle some boxes or foamy bits into play spaces and props. Silas was even recently spotted playing mermaids in the foam frames with our friend Jasper. So it's isn't all blood and gore, yet.

sorry for the hiatus, and the lack of photos. This post has been floating around for awhile waiting for photos but it just seems like it's time to get it out there.