Kindergarten Suprise

Call me a heartless mom, but I didn’t think I’d cry over Calvin starting kindergarten. Not really because he’s our middle child, but because I see him and Reed as a unit. It just seems like Calvin should be at school with his buddy. Also, with his independent personality, he probably could’ve hacked it in the schoolyard at age two. So I was totally unprepared for the flood of emotions that hit me at his kindergarten screening this week. Calvin’s appointment was for 8:30, so I just took him to school with me and he hitched a ride back to daycare with a fellow Mrs. Pam’s graduate. He thought he was hot stuff, playing on the computer with his big bro, then getting bonus computer time before we had to head up to the gym. We walked down the stairs from my classroom side by side. Then I stopped at the door to talk to a coworker (who was insisting that she would take my 29 crazy ruffians along with her 18 all morning so I could stay with Calvin in the gym for the whole screening - I love my teacher friends!). While I was stopped, Calvin grabbed my hand with his right, pulled it into his left and grabbed ahold. Instant tear rush!  My brave little turdkin was nervous! We walked hand in hand all the way to the gym, him walking slower than normal, me fighting the ugly cry the whole way. When we entered the gym, I saw it through his tiny eyes--it was huge. My shoes clickety-clacked across the court as we walked to his future teacher. He let go of my hand, stood all formal-like with his hands by his sides and said, “Hi, Missssssss Payne.” Be still, my heart! We’ve been working on that sthstinking “s” sound for a long time. He nailed it. He looked like the Cheshire cat doing it, but a cuter cat I’ve never seen. Now I’ve got to mentally and emotionally prepare for his real first day in five months. When he’ll be wearing some kind of so-ugly-it's-cute backpack. And have his arm around his buddy. Kill me now!

Kinecting with the Fam

We bought a used Kinect from a friend this weekend.  Best invention ever!  Sunday was good and rainy, so we pretty much let the boys play all day. And there was no couch potato-ing whatsoever. The bigguns figured out the system right away. No controller cords for Max to trip over. He just bobbled around copying his brothers, thinking he was playing and never the wiser. They broke for nap time with no griping at all (Our, “If you whine, we’ll sell it to another family” warning might have had a little to do with it). During nap time, Reed, Calvin, and I ran a few errands, only to return to find Daddy dodging boulders and getting pretty serious about collecting gold coins. He finally let the boys have a turn. 

In between turns, Reed skipped into the kitchen to get a drink and asked who gave us the Kinect (Exhibit A, proving that we NEVER buy stuff - especially toys). I revealed the shocking news, that we bought it for them just because. “Thanks, Mom! This is awesome!” he said, skipping back for his turn.  While stacking plastic cups (I made the bigguns unload the dishwasher in between their turns), Calvin said, “This game is so cool! It’s so great...I can’t even say!”  The grateful little stinkers are gonna make me want to start buying stuff for them. 

They even got along better than normal! With the exception of one Max-pinning moment, they tolerated his little jumps on and off the screen. (Actually, Daddy had the least patience for little intruder. Be warned: don’t mess with the man’s aquarium hole-plugging record!) I took Max into the bathroom to distract him with a fun nail-clipping and Calvin kept us up-to-date with a play by play. He’d bob up and down the hall, shouting, “Guess how many hammerheadsths Reed has? Eight!”... “Nine!” ... “Ten hammerheadhsths!” Even on their last turn of the night, when an excited big brother jumped in front of his passionate medium-sized brother to try to “help” him, all he got was a shove and a laugh. 

It was such a celebration, I even busted out the blender and produced made-to-order milkshakes. Cinnamon. Peanut-butter. Strawberry. The day was so great...I can’t even say!