One of the things we did this weekend was going for a long walk.  We were still contemplating if we should sign up for the local turkey trot, so this morning we did a partial practice run.  The boys did fine, but it was not a trot and just more like a fast walk.  Logan carried himself well and followed our lead the whole way.  Connor complained quite often; however he managed to make it through with some encouragement and some distraction.  We made it to the high school at the end, and we took a break there watching some soccer practices before we walked home.  We made 2.4 miles in total which would only be 2/3 of we have to do at the Turkey Trot.  We are hoping the kids will be more motivated with the crowd during the event, so we have signed up.

    Yesterday was my second lesson with Logan’s class, and I had recruited three moms to help out again.  I dropped off the kids in the morning and went on a Target shopping run.  I came home to do some last minute prep work for the lesson, then it was almost time.  I quickly ate a lunch, then headed to school.  I gathered my materials and chatted with the moms before the teacher and the children returned from lunch.  This time I decided to have the discussion with the children at the rug, and it worked much better as I was closer to all of them and I could try to call on many of them.  I started by reviewing what we discussed last month, and I was happy that they recalled the subjects well.  Then I began discussing the topic for the day, shapes.  We talked about different types of shapes, geometric vs free-form, natural vs man-made, and we also discussed about the concepts of positive vs negative space.  I used my homemade flashcards and did a quick drawing to explain, and they all worked well.  Then I showed three famous paintings for discussion, and the kids were engaged.  They were all eager to answer questions, and I tried my best to call on different kids.  I finally learned most of the kids’ names, however I did make one mistake and the boy corrected me. 

    Then I had all the kids return to their seats so I could use the projector to demonstrate the hands-on project.  I gave the class instructions while I finished making my demo; the kids were excited to guess what I was making.  The project was to use tear-out construction papers to build an animal or a plant on paper.  This art work was actually more challenging than I expected as the children had to give us their pencils to sketch but use their imagine to build the object with shapes instead.  The other parents and I went around the room to give guidance and I had to put down a few pencils from the kids.  Most kids got the hang of it quickly, but a few needed some suggestions to get them started.  The one who gave me the most trouble was Logan.  He became grumpy as he did not know what to make.  One of the moms talked with him patiently for a long time to give suggestions, but Logan did not give way.  I was busy answering questions, but later I tried to help him out too.  He did not try to listen for suggestions and just appeared to be giving up; he was really pushing my patience there.  After the kids were happy with what they built, they started gluing the pieces onto the paper.  At last the parents and I went around helping the children to make a rubbing with crayon for an additional piece of art work.  By then, Logan sort of put together something to finish up his project.  We gathered all the pieces from the kids and I thanked the class for a great lesson before the parents and I left.  I was happy with how the lesson went except the part with Logan’s grumpiness.

     Stuart had to work some hours both Saturday and Sunday plus he is recovering from the cold, so we did not plan to go anywhere other than to Connor’s classmate party.  Staying home is what the kids would love to do anyway if we give them a choice.  This morning I decided to take the boys for a walk to the Farmer’s market to buy lunches and few other things.  Sometimes getting the boys going is tough, but today I used Connor’s current interest, Christmas things, to get him engaged in a conversation while he walked which made it slightly easier.  When we arrived at the market, the kids were drawn to the artist singing and playing guitar, so they sat to watch while I shopped and kept my eyes on them.  They took a snack and spent a little bit of time there before we headed home.  I was trying to see if we should consider the Turkey Trot, so I encouraged them to jog so our return way was much faster.

    This afternoon Stuart and I wanted to take a walk, but the boys asked us to play soccer first in our backyard.  We took turns being the goalie, then later Connor decided to take out the other goal too.  So we ended up having a mini soccer game.  Logan was aggressive trying to make goals against me and Connor tried to guard his goal from Stuart.  Later we switched; Connor and I teamed up, and Logan and I were the goalies.  The game got more exciting as Stuart could finally try shooting harder toward me, and Connor and I did our best to score against Logan.  Connor seems to have some good potential and have some nice kicks.  We had a great time and we were up to 5:5 when Connor suddenly got grumpy.  We ended the game to go for the walk then.  Connor chose to ride his tricycle and we were surprised that he still fits in it.  Logan ended up walking and running with a flashlight with Connor riding right behind him.  For once, Stuart and I had to keep up our walking to catch up with them.  With these little exercises today, I am exhausted but surprised that the kids did not seem to be affected at all.

    I accompanied Connor to attend one of his classmates’ birthday party on Saturday morning.  Connor was excited about it and he was looking forward to playing with two of his best buddies from class (2 girls).  But when he found out Logan was not going, he initially was slightly disappointed but quickly got over it.  The party was held at the new Pump It Up and it was nice and cleaner there.  We were the first guests to arrive, so Connor played briefly with the birthday girl and I captured a picture of the two of them.  Shortly after the introduction, the kids were led into the first room to play.  Connor jumped right in to play, so I just hung out to chat with other parents.  Later we were moved to the second room.  Connor and one of his buddies Haritha started to play with each other in a tall bouncy house.  Connor had difficulty climbing up until Haritha’s dad went in to give him some guidance, then Connor went up and down without any issue afterward.  However once he came down the slide, Haritha quickly followed him and bumped into Connor.  So Connor had a big cry for awhile.  He calmed down just in time for the group photo, then they were moved yet again to the third playroom.  Connor enjoyed playing at a ball toss bouncy apparatus, but so were many other kids, including Haritha.  The kids were quite rough reaching for the balls.  Therefore, Connor tried to go to the opposite and quieter end to toss balls, but Haritha kept trying to follow him, and Connor ended up saying some mean words to her.  I took him away to take a quick break until he promised to be nice again.  They returned to play together nicely afterward.  Finally the play time was over and we were moved to the party room.  The kids sang to the birthday girl and sat down to have pizza.  Haritha rushed over to sit next to Connor, and they were quite chatty with each other while they ate.  The kids then had cakes and received a party favor, and everyone was happy to say goodbye to each other.

    Logan’s league team had a celebration pizza dinner tonight.  I rushed home after work to pick up the cake and met up with Stuart and the boys at home to head out to the restaurant.  We were the second family to arrive, and all the kids were drawn to the few game machines next to our reserved tables.  The restaurant was busy and slow.  It took every family quite some time to get their orders placed and food to arrive.  Once the food was on the table, all the kids came back to start eating.  Everyone enjoyed the pizza.  Then the coach got our attention to give his speech.  He made a statement and awarded a trophy to each kid individually.  He was pleased with Logan trying his best at his first time in soccer league and thought that Logan had improved over the weeks.  He also shared that Logan was always willing to do the drills but often would come up and ask the coach quietly to do the drills with him.  After the presenting, we cut up the cake and everyone enjoyed a slice.  Logan was very happy and proud to have the trophy.  Connor was quite envious of that trophy; he kept asking when he could get one of his own too.  With the sugar high, Connor also kept bugging us for coins for the game machines, so we felt that it was time for us to say goodbye to everyone and head home.

     Connor was under the weather last week for a couple of days; he was congested with a runny nose.  I then had a sore throat over last weekend and felt quite tired too.  I recovered by the start of the week, but my voice was a bit scratchy.  Logan and I had a great day off together on Tuesday, but suddenly he complained of being cold and not well at dinner time.  He did not eat as much of the dinner but it could be that he ate lots of popcorns at the movie theater.  Logan then took a shower early and stayed in bed while I read to them.  He woke up feeling better but complaining of sore throat.  However at the end of school, Logan was the usual self when Stuart picked him up.  He told Stuart that he felt fine, and since then he never complained of anything and did not show any symptoms.  The next day it was Stuart’s turn to have the sore throat.  Now he is coughing a bit and feeling congested.  Hopefully Stuart will get over this quickly like the rest of us did and wrap up this round of colds.