A Tough Decision

When we were applying to schools for Max, we applied to quite a few of them. While we are happy with Max's teacher, the school was not our first choice. On Friday morning our first choice school called to let us know there was a spot for Max. We would need to let them know by Monday, today, if we wanted it.

It seems like an easy decision when comparing the two schools. And on paper it was a no-brainer. Max's feelings, however, were going to be a whole different thing. Max LOVES school, and he perceives that love as love for his current school; he can't imagine anywhere else. All of us love his teacher and think she's been outstanding.

We don't know what the next few years will bring, but this move will help us guarantee a good education for Max, one that challenges him, and prepares him for his future. Bobbie Jo and I are not looking forward to telling him about it. Today when I get home from work we will tell him that tomorrow he starts at a new school. In a few weeks we're sure he'll be fine, but tonight is going to be tough.

Max-when you read this someday you probably won't even remember the old school. We hope you know that we are always doing what (we hope) is in your best interest whether you understand it or not.

Updated 5:30 pm
Looks like our fears were unwarranted. He's excited for the 3 recesses. Looks like we agonized for 3 days over nothing.

Tomorrow is his (second) first day of school!

The Kids

If I had known they would stand still for a picture I would have dressed them better.

Parent Teacher Conferences

Last night Bobbie Jo and I met with Max's teacher for our first Parent Teacher Conference. We know that Max is an easily excitable kid, and that he frequently comes home on "yellow" (the class has a Green/Yellow/Red behavior chart). We know he's smart, but didn't really have any idea how he was doing at school. We pretty much just drop him off and pick him up every day.
We got to spend almost 30 minutes with his teacher as our 15 minute slot was the last of the day. She showed us Max's work, some of his informal tests, and told us all about him.

• Max is a 'brilliant kid', and his desire for learning is contagious. The other kids want to finish their work first to "be like Max"
• Max's bad behavior is never mean-spirited or malicious. He likes to help other kids and gets a bit too excited at times. Sometimes he will get so excited the teacher will have him sit in his seat for a few minutes to settle down (sound familiar?).
• Max is in a small group with other kids like him and the group gets along real well. It sounds like Max gets along with all of his classmates, his teacher, and the aides.

Both Bobbie Jo and I are overjoyed. We both felt close to tears hearing such great things about our kid. I couldn't wait to get home and tell him how proud we were of him.

It's so awesome to have someone else objectively tell you how special your kid is. It's great to hear, even though we already knew it.

An Interview with Max

Goofy Boys

Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum

The morning we had planned on going to the Detroit Zoo, the rain was coming down and the radar didn't look good. Bobbie Jo convinced me to take an additional day off, which would let us hit the zoo the next day.
I stumbled onto a place called "Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum" which looked to have a bunch of pinball and arcade games as well as one of the best collections of old fortune telling machines and other games of skill. After bribing Max and buying him earplugs, he and I hopped in the car to make the 30 minute drive to Farmington Hills. Bobbie Jo, Lily, and Gagi headed to Ikea and Trader Joes.

Max (and I) had a blast at Marvins. Even though I didn't get to play many games myself I did toss a few quarters into a brand new Wizard of Oz machine that I had only heard about.

Playing Pac-Man

Max's first pinball machine

The contents of my pockets

Lily's Animal Sounds

I've been amazed at how much I just love watching Lily do stuff. She's so determined, and it's obvious she always has a plan. I've been trying to record as much as I can so we can look back on it.

Last night I was recording her reading a book and thought I'd ask her some animal sounds (knowing she doesn't really know any of them). The below video is worth watching just to see her responses. If you don't laugh out loud, I'll mail you a dollar*.


After I recorded this I wanted to check back and see Max's video of his animal sounds. Amazingly enough his was recorded on August 21, 2009, which is basically the exact same age (minus two days) that Lily is in this video. What a huge difference between the two.

*Offer only applies to people that I actually know in the real world. Facebook friends and random blog readers do not qualify.

Lily

Lily hasn't had that many blog posts about her. I guess it's probably because most of the stuff we are experiencing with her, we are experiencing for the second time. It doesn't mean we are less excited, it just falls between the cracks when it comes to blogging it.
Also, having two of them running around makes it hard to find time to sit down and blog.

Lily is a few days short of 18 months, and she's an absolute hoot! Did I just use that expression?

Here's a list of some of the more notable things that I want to get written down:

• She has me wrapped around her finger. When I get angry at her she will bat her eyes at me. Where did she learn that? Is it natural?
• She is not a cuddler. She will give us hugs when we ask for them (or when she knows something she doesn't like is about to happen). She gives us kisses the same way.
• She's a nightmare to put to bed. We didn't do a very good job with this one. Her bedroom is downstairs next to the tv room. So, when she cries we can't watch tv. We generally go through the same routine every night; put her to bed at 9:30, get her out of bed at 9:45 to watch tv with us, put her back to bed between 10 and 11. She sleeps until 10 am though.
• She eats ANYTHING! A few months ago Bobbie Jo was cutting up an onion and Lily was pointing at it like she wanted it. She was being very persistent, so Bobbie Jo thought she would teach Lily a lesson. Lily ate the entire slice of white onion, and wanted more. She's currently eating most of what we eat, or whatever else is in the house. Max, however, is still only eating Mac & Cheese, nuggets, and PB&J.
• She loves going outside. When she wants to go outside she will bring us her shoes. When we bring her in, she screams.
• She's calmer than Max ever was. She will sit on the floor and 'read' a book for 20 minutes. Max is just starting to be able to concentrate on something that long.
• She's always running. Everywhere. Ever since she started walking, she's never walked. One of our friends referred to it as her 'hustle'.
• She LOVES her big brother. I've never seen anything like the two of them together. They have their fights, but generally the two of them are as close as I could imagine. She worships him. She thinks he's funny. She tries to wrestle him. Max has generally been very good when Lily tries to play with the toys he had just spent 20 minutes arranging.
• She still doesn't talk. She has gone through her phases, saying "dada", "mama', 'kitty'; but all that has stopped. It's weird having this little thing running around, understanding everything we say to her, yet all she does is point at things and say "tssth". We're confident that when she talks it won't be words, but sentences. And at that point she will never stop.
• She likes to help. She helps us pick up things around the house. She will put the pieces of cat food back in the bowl, put some toys away, and help us arrange the couch pillows. She likes to clap when she's being helpful.
• She's a clown. She likes to steal her jammies so we can't put them on her for bed. She will then run around in circles, daring us to catch her.
• She loves having her books read to her. She will bring books over to anyone she can, and sit on any available lap for story time. When we read the books that we used to help her touch, she now takes our hand and helps us touch all of the same areas.

She's absolutely awesome! I can't imagine what our lives would be like without both her and Max in them. We are so lucky.

Max Helps

To keep her from crying, he gave her some of her friends.

So long Rizzo

Today Bobbie Jo's cat Rizzo (aka 'Fuzzy') left this world. She was a part of Bobbie Jo's life even before I was.
So long fuzzy. You were really dumb, but very loved. We'll miss you.