Preschool Year End

Maya and her classmates admiring the books their teachers made for them.

I can't say enough how happy I have been with Maya's preschool. The director and the teachers are amazing and Maya beams every time she walks into the school.

Last week was the school's end of year family celebration. The school shows a slide show of pictures from the year and the teachers present scrapbooks they've made for each student. The books are adorable. Each page represents a month the kids were in school. The pages include art the child made that particular month and a photograph of the student. Maya is smiling so big in each picture and one teacher wrote that she won the "smiliest student of the year award ... by a mile."

Soccer

I'm a bit late, but Guillermo finished up his soccer season a few weeks ago. He really enjoyed the season. It was a low-key league with just one team, only practices and scrimmages at the end of the practices. His coach, our neighbor, was wonderful with them. I think he'll play next year, but now he's getting ready for t-ball. He loves to play baseball these days.

Western Day

This was Maya on Western Day. She was a little sad we didn't have cowboy boots and she wasn't wild about the brown skirt I had her wear (she doesn't have jeans that really fit) but she loved the hat and the braids, especially the braids.

She is starting to realize that her school year is coming to an end. Today, on the way to school, she started sobbing when I told her today was her last day to bring snack for the year. I couldn't get her to stop, though she miraculously felt much better when she hopped out of the car at school. In fact, you couldn't even tell she had been crying. Oh, I love that girl!

Principal's Challenge

Guillermo, at the Principal's Challenge fair with his poster and some origami

With his trophy.

On stage, with his certificate. I was so happy he wore his Aikido uniform.

Several months ago, we signed Guillermo up to participate in the Principal's Challenge and for several weeks, we worked and worked and worked on that project, and last night when we saw Guillermo's beaming face, we knew it was all worth it.

The Principal's Challenge was a new project at Guillermo's school. It was voluntary. If the students wanted to participate, they picked a topic and then had to complete 25 activities of their choice about that topic. Guillermo first picked ninjas, but I axed that idea quickly. I was too embarrassed to ask the principal if hired assassins was an acceptable topic for a kindergartner. We instead convinced G to make his project about Japan. The project was a lot of work, but it turned out to be pretty fun.

For the project, Guillermo read books about Japan, make a Kabuki mask and a stuffed paper Japanese fish kite, hosted a Japanese tea ceremony, wrote Japanese characters and took an origami lesson from a graduate student in Will's department. He also took Aikido lessons, learned about Mt. Fuji and the geography of Japan, drew various flags from Japan and took care of a Bonsai tree. Oh, and he learned about some products that come from Japan, including the DS, and studied manga, and made his own manga drawings.

Last night, the principal set up a sort of Principal's Challenge fair, where the students could show off their projects in a science-fair type program. It turned out to be pretty neat. The fair ended with an awards ceremony in which the principal called each student up to the stage, talked briefly about their project and handed them a certificate and a trophy. Guillermo was one of three kindergartners who complete the project!

We've already started talking about next year's topic. I suggested his next topic be Africa, but he said no. After a few other suggestions, I think next year our topic will be FOOD. I'm already thinking about the projects: Growing food, interviewing farmers at the farmer's market, visiting a farm, picking strawberries, drawing the food chart, cooking dinner. Oh, I can't wait.

Wacky Day

Showing off a wacky face

This is a fun week for Maya. Today was Wacky Day at her school and Wednesday is Western Day. She was so pleased with herself! When she came home and I asked her who was the wackiest, she said: "I was!"

Mother's Day

I woke up groggy on Mother's Day 2010 to two restless kids who had slept peacefully on either side of me, crowded so close to me that I could barely move. One had even refused to sleep under the covers, which made any attempt to turn over nearly impossible.

I put on my best face: "Good morning!"

I took them to the living room for one of our usual Sunday routines of getting them set up with the video players and then going back to bed. As I helped Maya, I told her that since it was Mother's Day, I was going to go take a quick nap.

Her face lit up as she remembered. "Hold on." And she took off, zooming around the room, and came right back with a card she had made herself and hidden behind a bookshelf. On the front of the card, she had drawn a person carrying an umbrella in a rainstorm. Cute. On the inside, she wrote "Natalie to, Maya From" and had drawn three people.

"Oh, that's you, papa and me," I said. "No, that's Guillermo, me and papa," she answered.

When I asked where I was, she said: "I forgot to draw you. Why don't you get a marker and draw yourself in the card."

Then she ran over to Guillermo and told him to get his surprise for me. "It's under the bed. Can you get it mom?" he asked, barely looking up for his video.

I obliged and Maya was hot on my trail. I pulled out a Lego creation (I sort of had a hint about what to expect). He had made me a rose out of Legos. It was lovely. I told him thanks, opened a few more cards with Maya breathless behind me and then snuggled in for a nap. It lasted 15 minutes before I was summed again.

Later, we had a picnic that Maya had made for me at her preschool. She even designed the picnic bag. We sat on a blanket and had juice boxes and popcorn, and that was really special.

Music and Skates

Dancing at Family Music Night at her preschool.

Determined and working hard at Family Skate Night. (I could not get a good picture of Guillermo at either event!)

Guillermo has about one month left of his first year of elementary school and Maya finishes up her first year in preschool at the end of May. The calendar is already filling up with lots of school-related activities as the school year wraps.

On Thursday, Maya's school held Family Music night with the music teacher, Ms. Chris, and many of the schools' teachers. Maya was beaming, just like she is every time she goes to school. She loves her preschool so much. The director at Maya's school is called Ms. Mary and Maya loves to say it in a loud, high-pitched voice and then giggle like mad each time she sees Ms. Mary. Ms. Mary seems to like it, too.

Anyway, music night was really fun. They sang songs and did dances and skated on paper plates around the concrete floor. Even Guillermo had fun.

Tonight was Skate night at Guillermo's school and that was awesome, though I do question the DJ's decision to play O.P.P. by Naughty by Nature at an elementary school event.

Guillermo was a little nervous when we arrived because he thought he would be too slow, but he found some friends and took off without me. Maya found a friend, borrowed a three-wheeled scooter and took off, too, though she was easier to catch. She was so nervous and proceeded with great caution. She made it almost 3/4ths of the way around the track before she decided to run to catch up with a friend. But, she loved the scooter. I now know what to get her for her birthday.

Dumb Dumb Jokes

When Guillermo makes Maya cry, which is frequent because they argue a lot and she cries over everything, it's usually his job to make her feel better. He is supposed to apologize (if it is his fault), ask her if she is OK and if she is still crying, he isn't supposed to run away or find something else to do. He's supposed to cheer her up, and for that task, he has created "dumb dumb jokes."

Before I describe "dumb dumb jokes," I need to say that it wasn't until recently that he and Maya started calling his silly behavior "dumb dumb jokes." I'm not sure if he even came up with the name or if Maya did, but here is what he does: He starts acting goofy, pretending to punch himself in the face and then falling over or pretending to trip over his own feet, all the while making really silly faces. It's a little funny, but Maya cracks up. She loves it and soon enough, she starts imitating him.

The other morning, after he had left for school, she was sitting in a chair in her room when she started giggling. "Look at me, I'm making dumb dumb jokes," and she made a silly face. "Sometimes when I am sad, Guillermo makes dumb dumb jokes and I laugh. My brother is so funny, mommy!"

Indeed, he is.

10 minus 10

The conversations between my kids crack me up these days. I have to laugh or I'll shout at them for acting so ridiculous and fighting all the time. Today's conversation was typical of what I hear often. I tuned in only around the time Maya started yelling at Guillermo.

"Guillermo, quit singing that song," Maya shouted.

"I like it. Fish, fish, fish with your fish, fish fish," he sang. "Maya doesn't like this song. Maya Maya Maya."

"GUILLERMO!"

I interject. "Maya, please don't yell in the car. If you don't like the song, please ask Guillermo not to sing it and tell him it hurts your feelings."

"Guillermo, please don't sing that song. I don't like it," Maya says.

Guillermo ignores her.

"He won't listen to me!" she shouts.

"Then ignore him," I say.

"Guillermo, if you don't stop, I'm not going to listen to you the rest of the day," Maya told him.

That got his attention.

"Oh yeah, well, if you don't listen, I won't tell you what 10 - 10 equals," he answers.

Maya has a quick change of heart.

"Ok Guillermo, I'll listen. What is 10 - 10?" she asks in her nicest voice.

"I'm not telling you until the end of the day," he answers, and I cringe. He goes on: "You can guess. Minus means take away. Ten take away 10."

"OK, I'll guess. Is it 9?" she asks.

And back and forth they go, as nice as can be until she gets the answer right.

And now, they are sitting nicely together on the couch playing a game. We'll be back in the car in a few minutes and the fighting will start up right away.