Pick up

I don't always get to pick up Gillian from school, so I really look forward to my Tuesday pick up. Tonight, the kids were outside playing when I arrived. I watched Gillian run across the playground with Dorlisa and Nicholas. She didn't see me. They ran over to the climbing wall and Nicholas said "Gill, your mom's here!" She turned around, saw me, and then ran to the other side of the playground, staring at me the whole time. She noticed I was holding her pumpkin and she ran to me. "That's my pumpkin!" she told me. I said "Yes, you picked a nice one. And I see you made me a hat too." She laughed and said "No! It's mine!" Gillian and her class went on a field trip today to Huber Woods and they got to pick pumpkins, go on a hayride and make a fall crown. Gillian had a great day and I had an amazing pick up. 

Math problems

John is pretty good at math. They have just started adding two digit numbers together with regrouping (or carrying over, like how I learned to add). Anyway, he is always impressed with how I can do his math problems in my head. And sometimes he likes to quiz me. "What's 100 plus 100?" I'll answer and he will be amazed and will try to come up with a "harder" question. "What's 200 plus 200?" He cracks me up. This morning he says "What's 10 times 10?" I tell him 100. He grins and says "What's 100 times 100?" I tell him 1,000. He says "I asked a kid on the playground. He said 100. That's easy. But then I asked him what's 100 times 100 and he didn't know. And he was like a fourth grader!" I laughed and said "Your school only goes to third grade." John said "Oh. Well he was a third grader."

tickets - part two

Last Friday, I wrote Tickets.  It was all about John and how he earns tickets at Time + (his aftercare program at school) for being quiet and well behaved during attendance.  Last Friday, he had 9 tickets but on Monday, he earned his 10th ticket.  He was so excited.  When the kids have ten tickets, they get to pick something out of the big prize box.  He picked out some sidewalk chalk.

Yesterday, I picked John up from school.  As he was getting his backpack, one of the teachers was saying "John!  Wait John."  We stopped and she handed him a green ticket.  She said "He picked up garbage on the playground without anyone asking him.  As a thank you, he deserves another ticket."  I thanked her and praised John.  "I'm so proud of you John!  That is very responsible of you to clean up after your friends."  He said "I was just trying to help."  So modest and responsible.  But on our way into the car he said "I can't believe I got TWO tickets in one day!  At this rate, I could have ten tickets in no time!"

Pushing

I had the following conversation with Gillian today:

Me: How was your day?

Gillian: I push Julia. 

Me: Pushing is not nice. Why did you push your friend?

Gillian: She had a baby. I want it. 

Me: That's not nice. You need to share the toys. 

Gillian: I push Julia off the seesaw. 

Me: What?

Gillian: I push Julia off the seesaw. I go timeout. 

Me: Why did you push Julia?

Gillian: Cause I couldn't see Nicholas. 

Me: Gillian!?!? You pushed Julia twice?

Gillian: I go to timeout. I say sorry. 

I know. Kids push. But I am more upset with the fact that she is so nonchalant about it.  

The Nurse

I got to pick up the kids from school on Friday.  I picked up Gillian first and we went together to pick up John.  It was my first time picking him up from MFA, but Gillian has already picked him up three times.  One of the teachers saw Gillian and said "Go get John."  John came running to us, while I showed the teacher my drivers license.  As we were walking out of the school, Gillian said to John, "You got a band-did.  Why you got a band-did?"  She is so observant, he had a band-aid on his shin.  I asked John "What happened?"  He said "It's a long story.  Can I tell you in the car?"  We got into the car and he tells us the story.  "I was outside playing on the climber.  I fell on the step.  I climbed on the rocky bridge, but my leg hurt.  So I went to my teacher.  She had another teacher take me to the nurse's office.  The nurse cleaned my cut and gave me a Band-Aid.  Then I went back to my class."  Not sure how that is a long story, but it sounds like he had a good first experience in the nurse's office. 

The Band-Aid

I picked up the kids from school today and in the car on the way home they told me about their day. Gillian said "John got a ban-did." I said "I saw that. John what happened?" John said "I fell and got a cut. And it was bleeding. I can't run fast now." I asked John to tell me what happened. He said "I jumped and fell." Gillian elaborated "John was running around. Him jumped off the wood. Then him get a band-did. Him has a boo-boo. I don't have a boo-boo. Him does. Him has a band-did."  Thank you Gillian. That was very informative. 

Line Leader

Everyday when Daddy picks up the kids, one of them gets to be line leader. They get to lead the line of Daddy and their sibling to the car. Daddy is very diplomatic and alternates the line leader everyday. John and Gillian love to be line leader. It is their chance to be first. Gillian was line leader on Friday, so today was John's turn. Daddy picked the kids up from the playground today and told John that he was the line leader. John waited patiently at the sidewalk for everyone to join him. When Gillian lined up behind him, John moved next to her and put his arm on her shoulders and they walked side by side to the car. My sweet little boy shared being line leader with his little sister. 

The hoarder

Daddy picked up the kids from school yesterday. He found them outside playing on the playground. Gillian came running up to him and said "I have sticks in my pocket!" Then she proceeded to pull a few sticks out of her pocket. She said "I throw them away." And she put them in the garbage can. This morning I went to pack her book bag and was surprised to find a little stockpile of sticks and mulch. It looks like she has been taking pieces of mulch from the playground and hiding them in her book bag. John tried to take one of the sticks out her her bag and she yelled at him "My mulch!"

Playground

It was so nice outside today. Daddy picked up the kids and decided to go to a local playground. I met them there. John had already made a friend by the time I arrived. John was chasing the little boy all around the playground. Then John started yelling, "Hey! I got a sister! Her name is Gillian!" "Hey I'm over here!" Then John banged his head on a slide and he blamed it on the little boy. I made John apologize. It wasn't the boy's fault. He was no where near John.

Gillian was playing contently by herself. She would climb up a ladder and go down the slide. Or climb up the rock wall. One time she went down the slide and then lost her footing and fell down. She giggled and got back up again. She went down the slide again and "fell" at the bottom. Again she giggled. She thought it was so funny. "I fell down!"

John's new friend had to go home. So it was just John and Gillian on the playground for awhile. Gillian was trying to climb the rock wall. She had done it a few times during our trip but somehow she lost her confidence. John stood at the top of the jungle gym and said "Come on Gill! You can do it! Keep going!" That's all she needed, a little support from her big brother.

Outside

I picked the kids up from school today. Both of them had red cheeks. I asked John how many times he got to play outside today (normally the highlight of his day). He said "No nap today! You know what that means? We went outside three times today!" I asked Gillian the same question. She said "One, two, three...five, six!" I said, you went outside six times today! She nodded. John shook his head.

We got in the car and I asked the kid if they wanted the air conditioning on in the car or the windows open. They both opted for the windows down. Gillian looked out her window and told me "I see a tree! Mommy look a house! Mommy! I see cars!" The entire car ride home I got a play by play of everything we drove past. At one point John said "There are trees everywhere!"