Backyard dojo

You know, Callum had a really good week last week. The first grade had two performances of "Stone Soup," and his granddad came up for the shows. This kid can project his voice, let me tell you. He spoke at each of his great-grandparents funerals when he was only five, so public speaking seems to come easily to him. And he is not shy of being heard. My favorite part of the play was watching him mouth EVERY line along with his classmates. Apparently he was quick to correct you if you got it wrong. Kinda like at home.

He's up to 2,520 on his "scroll." Man, that is some teacher who can make you want to write your numbers as high as you can go. They are going to hang them from the ceiling in the Early School hallway next week.

11 days until Pirates!

It's first grade, so really it's our first go at school. Real academic school. Each year (okay, this year and last year) has had it's obstacles. Last year was hard. Fine motor skills were a problem . Oy, the handwriting, the buttoning, the tying of shoes (still haven't got that one). And I was really worried that he wasn't reading. We red-shirted Callum. He has an early fall birthday, so he was turing six at the start of kindergarten. But still, despite his age advantage, the reading was hard. He memorized his way through some Dick and Jane books, but that was it.

Checking out the snake in our backyard this weekend.

We go to a great school that really does have in inherent faith and trust in a kid's own particular pace, but still, I had to remind myself to be patient. Have my own faith in him. Trust that it's about the process of learning as much as it is the reading itself. The reading will come. And it did. Bit by bit, word by word, it did. When he reads a book to me now, my heart sings a silent song of joy. He sounds out billboards, and I know, I remember the heady excitement of realizing that you're finally getting it. He's been reading all year now. Words here and there, sounding out the grocery list or an address on an envelope.

It wasn't until last week that I finally got it: he can read. I'd picked up a pack of jelly beans for a snack, and we shared it on the ride home from school. Callum would hand me a bean at a time and would read the flavor for me from the back of the box. After several beans, it dawned on me. I'm not having to tell him the flavors. I don't have to have to say, "Hold on a sec. Hand me the box and I'll see. No, I think that kind of pink is bubble gum. No, this is blueberry" He's reading them. He can read. He's reading the flavors to me.

Cool.

Okay, math, you're next.