Ralph
is involved in many activities – may be too many but it’s hard to know
what he’ll like and, in the same token I don’t want him to be behind
peers in an activity if he decides to try it later . . . so
he is sampling many now.
He
is playing fall outdoor soccer with Capital Soccer Association. New
this season is that practice is separate from games rather than prior to the
game. He has games on Sunday afternoons and practice on Tuesdays.
This season is almost half done.
He is in his 2nd year of CCD which is on Wednesday evenings. It has ended up being a small world again this year. One of last year's teacher's was his teacher very briefly at Fingerprints; just after he moved up she left to begin her own daycare. One of this year's teachers is the mom to a girl in his before/after school program.
He just started tiger cub scouts. The first den meeting was a week
ago Thursday and the first pack meeting was last night. At the den meeting they boys tie dyed shirts; last night's activity was making water rockets. The parents were separate from the scouts for awhile but we did get to see the rockets blast. Ralph's had the right combination of water pressure and blasted far. They will each
meet once a month from what I have been told. Today we worked on learning the cub scout motto, cub scout sign, and cub scout salute. (Ralph is wearing his tie-dye shirt and showing the scout sign - hand not raised quite as high as described in the book but I wanted to get a closer photo)
He
is continuing basketball – until the clinic starts back up in October he and Mike
are doing their own thing; working on skills and fundamentals as the schedule permits.
Ralph is getting pretty good at dribbling a basketball in each hand simultaneously - the record is 52 times before one got away from him though the norm is closer to 20-25 dribbles. I have received a few comments about Ralph’s
basketball abilities so something is clicking in that area.
Ralph's eating habits are slowly evolving.
Cereal
is still the top choice for breakfast. He enjoys mixing his cereals.
Instead of enjoying just one at a time he will mix 2-3 different cereals in a bowl. Current favorites are Foot Loops with marshmallows,
Lucky Charms, Cookie Crisp, and Spongebob. He must have been going
through a growth spurt a few weeks ago – he had 3 bowls for breakfast one day and averaged 2 bowls for a while.
We
are trying to broaden his palate. Since Mondays are almost the only
weeknight we are all home and not rushing to get to the next "thing" I have termed it “make a meal” Monday which means
one meal is made and everyone will eat the same meal. This could
also be some of the reason Ralph eats multiple bowls of cereal for
breakfast.
He mostly eats hot lunch at school; on the occasion he brings cold lunch it usually consists of a ham slices on a hamburger bun (this is a recent change; had been a peanut butter & apple jelly sandwich), grapes, and fruit snacks.
He mostly eats hot lunch at school; on the occasion he brings cold lunch it usually consists of a ham slices on a hamburger bun (this is a recent change; had been a peanut butter & apple jelly sandwich), grapes, and fruit snacks.
He remains true to the clothing sizes: Size 6 pants (smaller sizes in shorts if they do not have an adjustable waist); Size 6 shirts (S or M depending on the brand); and size 12 shoes make up the majority of his wardrobe. The few times he has had to wear pants since school started he is not very happy with my decision and whines “everyone else is wearing shorts”.
Ralph was introduced to the idea of Pokemon cards this summer during "summer day camp" at Fingerprints. I stalled in his repeated requests for his own cards even though he gave me suggestions of where to buy them. He finally received one from a friend about a month ago during a trade for a water gun and has 'earned' a few through various bribes. He also brought home a girl's phone number last weekend because they were going to exchange Pokemon cards. He is being thoughtful in wanting to hand out cards to friends whether they have any to trade him or not.
His before/after school program play the various KidzBob CD's which Ralph enjoys listening too and likes to sing some parts of songs on his own.
He
is just over a month into first grade. Everything seems to be going
just fine. The teacher sends out a electronic newsletter about every 2 weeks; she has a website. There is no excuse to not know what is going on! There is a color chart the teacher uses to show the kids how
well they are doing. Ralph tells me everyone starts on green and
could go up or down. He has done both – luckily going up more than
down and going down has only happened once or twice. He could use better penmanship. He likes the various “specials” –
gym, library, computers, music, and art. The first three weeks of school he came home with math homework every night. He has gotten a bit of reprieve the last few weeks. Starting September first he has to read for 15 minutes a day and work on "words" (spelling words and high frequency words) 15 minutes a day at least 5 times a week. We try to stockpile those 15 minutes on the weekends as there really is not enough time in the day most weekdays. This morning we read some of the tiger cub handbook together but then I caught him reading on his own and noted the time . . .30 minutes later he moved on to other activity. So glad he is a reading fool and we do not have to force this "homework" on him; he does it because he likes to read and sometimes tells me he just wants to do it for fun.
His
schedule in the before/after school program is such that he is usually playing foosball or
the Wii when I pick him up. He is never very happy to see me and would
prefer to be picked up later. He has been warned to change
his attitude or he will not be playing anything and will have extra
time to read until I pick him up. He also hurries through his homework
so he can do the “fun” things.
