Happy Halloween

The pumpkin on the left is the one Cole and I did for work. I won 1st place. The picture in the middle is Cole and his pumpkin. Cole in full transformer mode.

Here are a few pics from tonight. Cole had a good time dressed as a transformer. We had a long walk between houses for trick-or-treating (my mom's neighborhood isn't much fun). A quick bath and a book, he was asleep in less than five minutes. We love Halloween.

Fall has fallen

It's fall and I couldn't be happier (other than the head congestion, sore throat, and runny nose it brought with it). I love the brisk breeze and the crunch of the leaves. I actually played tag with my Kindergarten class today on the playground, we all had a great time. I was also happy because moments before I had registered for my last semester of course work classes (18 hours! YIPES!). That will leave me only 1 class to take this summer and then it's student teaching in the fall. I can't believe it is so close. It seems so real now.

After school I took Cole to karate classes at our new gym. T-ball is over in a few weeks. He loves the karate and I try hard not to tear up when I watch him, I'm such a sap.

Last night since I was at school, my mom read Cole his nightly story. When they were finished, Cole said "Duh end. Do you know what that starts with Granny?" When she replied, "T" she was corrected. "No, Granny it's D. D says 'duh' ...Duh end" She tried to tell him it's 'The End' but as usual he couldn't be swayed.

DUH END

Here we go again

Email titled "BAD NEWS" from Cole's Dad. In a nutshell? He got fired. So once again no child support and no health insurance. It was a constant worry and struggle to get things taken care of the first time around. I can't believe I'm going to have to do all of this all over again. When does this end? How much fight do I have left?

They are going to take away my Texas card

Last night we took Cole to a high school football game. When we were children and lived in New Mexico my parents took us to the local high school football games which we loved. Then when I was in high school there was nothing I loved more than Friday night football games. The day would start off with morning pep-rallies, spirit competitions between the grade levels and then a fun night yelling and cheering at the football stadium. My brother played football in high school and many nights were spent at his games, as well. Texas and football just go together.

Cole loves going to the games. The band, the cheerleaders, the dancers and the action what could be more fun to a five-year-old? Football has changed for me now. I now see the game through mother's eyes. All I could think about as the big hits drew cheers and yells of excitement from the fans, was that was a mother's son out there getting the snot clobbered out of them. Here is my secret...I don't want my son to play football. See there is probably an angry mob starting to gather at my front door right now. They are going kick us right out of Texas. I think they still burn people at the stake for saying such blasphemous things down here.

Of course if he wants to play I will let him. Hopefully he will stick to baseball or karate (which he starts on Tuesday).

Teacher Conference

Today was Cole's first parent-teacher conference. I was both nervous and excited. I arrived at my scheduled time but the teacher was running about 20 minutes late. It seems the previous parent (who was over the top and pushy during back-to-school night) was very argumentative and didn't want to listen to much she had to say. She had been put through the ringer. Boy I don't look forward to being on the receiving end of those conversations in the near future. At least being a manager for the past 5 years has prepared me for those types of people. Anyway...

Cole's teacher said he is doing great. He is either right on target or surpassed where he needs to be at this point in the semester. She said he is great working either alone or in a group, makes friends very easily and is one of the most liked students in class, very helpful and friendly, and empathetic of others. The one thing they have been working on is staying on task. She said that he tends to talk to others instead of completing his assignments but understands what he is supposed to be doing. She has figured out what motivates him and now he is usually one of the first to be done with his work. She said over and over that he is just so sweet and cute and she feels very lucky to have him in her class (I tried not to tear up). She also said that several of the other teachers and special teachers (PE, music, art) have told her the same thing and have made comments to her about what a great kid he is! So yeah, Cole! I told her that I he loves her a lot and speaks about her often. He loves her homework assignments. I also let her know that I have already noticed a big improvement in his learning and understanding since the school year began. It was just a love-fest all around.

I hope rest of the year goes as smoothly.

Inappropriate behavior

Today Cole had a purple note in his folder from a cafeteria worker. It reads:

ATTENTION!

Cole's behavior was inappropriate and required adult intervention. He was using his empty lunch box for a hat in the cafeteria.

An empty lunch box as a hat??? I would have ripped that sucker off his head, tossed him on the floor in a headlock, and......tickled him like crazy for being funny. Come on people, if that is the worse thing he does this school year, I will personally wear a lunchbox for a hat for an entire day at work. Some say "inappropriate" others say "creative". Now before all you angry cafeteria supervisors comment on my blog, I know that you don't have a fun tasks supervising 5 year olds eating lunch, but good grief.

The funniest part was when I asked Cole about it he said, "Mom she yelled at me and then said in a mad voice that I was getting a 'red flag' for that. But all she gave me was a purple piece of paper." He was sad the "flag" was neither red nor a real flag! I have half a mind to send a note back that says:

ATTENTION!

The cafeteria volunteer's "red flag" was neither red nor a flag. It required adult intervention to explain that by "red flag" you actually meant a purple piece of cardboard stock paper. This was very confusing to my deviant five- year-old. In the future when my hooligan is misbehaving tell him "you are getting a purple piece of paper!" At least then he will understand that what he did was bad, very, very bad!