Halloween - Trick or Treat (Post 2 of 2)

Post two of two about Halloween - this time the big even Trick or treating!

Now Drew was counting down until he could go Trick or Treating from the moment he came home from school.  He was disappointed that I forced him to eat dinner first.  Dinner gave me time to spot treat his costume following his school party - there was a mishap with some frosting....

So we made arrangements with our neighbors to team up and trick or treat this year.  What you can't see are that the moms are equipped with a large glass of wine.  The boys were super excited to get started, but we made them pose for the obligatory photos.

 I introduce you to Gingka (from BeyBlades) and Iron Man.

And the boys were off... we started with our closest neighbors. 

Drew went to the first 5 or 6 houses singing:
Trick or treat,
kiss my feet, 
give me something good to eat.
If you don't,
I don't care.
I'll pull down your underwear.

Yes, we're aware he got the song wrong, replacing the word kiss for what should be "smell", but whatever.  After a few of these houses we told him to shorten it to just "Trick or Treat".  Oh the things they pick up at school!  I think some of the older kids told him he needed to say it at every house, so he did.
 
We noticed we were being followed by some crazy dude.

Oh that's just Dave before he started scaring the neighborhood kids.  He loved that he lived up to his title as the "Scary House" and even better that there wasn't any competition from another neighbor who is known to go all out.

Mommy, Daddy, and Drew are still enjoying the fruits of Drew's labor.  Nearly a month later, there's still some candy left.  That's what just under 2 hours of trick or treating will do - Drew's friend Christopher went home around the 1 hour mark.

Halloween: School Fun - Post 1 of 2

Since I'm on a crusade to get all Halloween blogs posted before Halloween I'm going to give you a double dose of postings today.

First up - Drew's Halloween party at school.

Since Halloween fell on a Wednesday, also known as Wacky Wednesday for his TK class, there was some extra fun for his class and teachers.  On Wednesdays Drew who is an afternoon TKer goes in the morning so the teachers can participate in meetings etc.  Because of this the afternoon class was able to participate in the school parade and have a dual party in their class.

I wasn't able to help out for the party, but Dave and I did come for the all-school parade.  I dropped Drew off at his before/after care facility and then waited around for the 30 minutes or so before the fun started.  I did get to see him dropped off at school.

I introduce you to Gingka from BeyBlades - one of the "in" toys for Drew.  They also have a cartoon on the Cartoon Network that Drew loves to watch.  I have to admit that this was a back-up plan for a costume, he wanted to be an Angry Bird and I personally thought those costumes were horrible and I'm wasn't creative enough to put something together, and Gingka was on sale and a happy replacement.

So Drew waited with his best bud in front of class waiting for the teachers to let them in.

That's the pose Gingka makes when he's ready to battle.

They then dismissed the parents to the blacktop area so we could line up for the parade.

You can see Gingka aka Drew showing off his BeyBlade among his classmates.  And then the parade began!

As Drew passed by us, Dave's yelling in the background and this is Drew's embarrassed reaction.  I have to say it was so cute to see all the kids.  I thought it was really clever too that the 5th graders (the school goes up to 5th grade) were all dressed in historical costumes. 

After the parade the kids went back to their classrooms for the party.  Thanks to Shutterfly I managed to see pictures from the event. 

Here's his class photo:

Adults Only Halloween

Since this week is Thanksgiving I probably should finally get around to blogging about Halloween...

The Saturday before our friends Brian and Stephanie held their annual Halloween party - but this year it was adults only.  Oh boy did that definitely kick things up a notch! 

The only appropriate photo I've seen of Dave and I was taken by our neighbor who was watching Drew for us that night.

Dave was a cartoon-like mobster and I was Sporty Tinker Bell.  My costume is serving a dual purpose - Halloween and I was testing things out for the Tinker Bell half marathon in January.

After dropping Drew off we made our appearance to the party - it was an absolute blast!  It started out with a guest appearance by the Village People performing YMCA.

And we had some politicians stop by...

Costume contests....

It was great hanging out with friends...

But of course Dave knows how to find trouble.  He was busted by the police.

Thankfully Sporty Tink was a good girl and the other officer on the scene (Stephanie) had no reason to make any arrests.

Around 10pm the party really got started as a group of us started dancing to some old school music.  I think this was the most fun part of the night.

Of course it wasn't long after we started dancing that some friends came in to tell me I needed to take Dave home.  He'd had enough and was outside getting sick.  That'll happen when you don't eat anything since lunch and you start drinking like a fish.

I took Dave home, got Drew into bed then went back to the party, but when I arrived around midnight everyone had cleared out.  I guess they were afraid of turning into pumpkins.

The consensus is that this party is a hit without the kiddos.

Our Little Carnie

Being the good parent I am I volunteered our family to work a shift at the Carnival PTA fundraiser for Drew's school.  We worked his classroom's booth - the Lollipop Tree.

If you're not familiar with this game, kids paid with tickets to pick one lollipop.  If their lollipop had a colored dot on the bottom, they got to pick a stuffed animal prize.  If they didn't they just got to keep the sucker.

We worked our one hour shift and then let Drew run wild playing all the various games put on by each grade.  Guess which game was Drew's favorite.

Angry Birds of course.  While Drew had fun with that booth, it was nothing compared to the fun at his birthday party.

I have to say we all had a great time at the carnival.  I don't know why we haven't been to one before.

First Report Card

I have a backlog of blogs to post, but I wanted to get this one out ASAP since it's fresh on the brain.  This morning Dave and I had our Parent Teacher conference with Drew's TK teacher, and we also got his first Report Card.

The short version, Drew's an intelligent but emotional kid.  While scholastically he's ahead of the game, but socially/emotionally he's a little behind and there are areas of concern - which ultimately were the reasons behind our holding him back into TK.  The teacher said we made the right call - you could hear the sighs of relief from Dave and I.

Here's how he's "Graded"
P= Proficient (highest achievement possible)
OT = On Track (age appropriate)
E = Emerging (needs a little work)
AC = Areas of Concern (serious problems)
X - Not Yet Taught/Assessed

There were four categories in which he's graded:
1. Social/Emotional
2. Language Arts
3. Math
4: Physical Development
5: just teacher comments

1. Social/Emotional:

• Seeks adult help when appropriate - E
  Notes: Working on this. Sometimes waits too long. (this was the biggest area of concern and I'll touch on this at the end)
• Engages in cooperative activities with peers - E
• Exhibits impulse control and self-regulation - E
  Notes: working on this (this goes along with the first bullet point, again to be discussed later)
• Works Independently - OT
• Participates in group activities - OT
• Demonstrates caring for others - E
• Follows Playground Rules - OT
• Follows classroom rules and procedures - OT
• Separates from parents/caregivers without stress - P
• Follows Directions - OT

2. Language Arts

• Writes own first name in Titlecase - P
• Uppercase letters 5 10 15 - P
• Lower case letters 5 10 15 - P
• Exhibits beginning sound awareness - P
• Exhibits rhyme awareness - X
• Listens while others are speaking - OT
• Shares ideas with others - OT
• Actively engages in writing activities - OT
• Actively engages in reading activities - P

3. Math

• Understands that numbers represent quantity - P
• Recognizes numbers in random order (0-12) - P
• Uses one-to-one correspondence to count objects (12) - X
• Recognizes common shapes - X
• Counts orally 1-20 - P
• Sorts by one attribute - X
• Extends simple patterns - X

4. Physical Development

• Demonstrates gross motor skills (balance, jump, run, climb) - OT
• Demonstrates sense of body in relation to others - OT
• Demonstrates fine motor skills (cut, color, draw) - OT
• Performs basic self-help/self-care tasks - E
  Goes back to the behavior issues mentioned earlier 
• Uses Small Manipulatives effectively - OT

5. Trimester Comments

• Drew is a serious, eager student who loves the learning process.  He was very sensitive at first but now is doing better most of the time.  He is a strong reader and enjoys sharing his great ideas in both a large and small group setting.  He also loves a leadership role.  His math skills are strong.  We are focusing on following directions, working with others and problem solving.  He makes great connections from our stories to real life experience.  Good work Drew!

 So the discussion was 70% about Drew's inability to be assertive and explain what his "problem" is before losing his cool - usually resulting in a floodgate of tears.  His teacher mentioned a few incidents - one in which he freaked out about his shoe coming untied during a classroom activity and she just had to have him sit to the side until he calmed down and the activity was finished (he was being really disruptive).  Another incident was about his backpack and not finding his library book inside - it was under the popcorn we were supposed to bring for his Halloween party.  Rather than take out the popcorn and look for the book he just lost it saying he couldn't find his book.  Another example yet, when he was paired up with a partner and they had to find a pencil (or other tool) in a box and there weren't two... Drew started crying and the other kid gave him the "tool" and raised their hand to get a new one - rather than Drew doing that to begin with.

We told Mrs. Ferren we see the same reaction at home for times where he can't find a particular toy - even if it's right in front of him or even buried in his toy bins/box.  We both think this is coming from laziness (my word) and his ability to cry and make whatever he wants happen, happen.  For example kids and parents jump to his rescue at school when he cries making his "problem" go away.

She said this was a major area of concern that she (and we) need to continue focusing on as it could be a major issue that may need intervention if this continues in the coming two or so years.  She says it's over the top - and I sort of agree - that if he doesn't get over it, other intervention may be needed - whatever that may be.

While I'm ending on a "negative" note, it really was a positive discussion. She said he is definitely one of the smartest in the class and she knows he has it in him to excel, he just needs the extra boost emotionally.

Cousin Chloe

Last month Drew finally met his newest cousin - my sister's daughter Chloe.  While she was about 5 months old at this visit, this was the first opportunity everyone's schedules worked out to get together.  This also happened to be big sister Kady's 4th Birthday.

Drew was intrigued by her (ignore the mid-blink shot)

He "held" her for a few moments until Chloe began to fuss.  And then he was over it.

Drew and Kady had a great time together playing puzzles and running around the house.

We thought this was the sweetest thing, GG decided to nap with Chloe.

Can't believe how fast a few months flies when they're so little.  Hopefully it won't be another 5 months before we see Chloe again.

Back to the Beach

Every year for Drew's birthday present we do an event - rather than give him a gift.  This year we played it cool (and inexpensive) and took him back to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk - where we also celebrated Daddy's Birthday.  Since I'm a little late in getting blogs posted, this trip was almost a month ago.

This time the big hit of the day was Drew chasing waves.  I think he did this for about three hours!

We did take a break from the waves to eat a picnic lunch.

And at least we don't bury our heads in the sand... although sometimes I wish I could.

And then it was back to wave chasing...

Needless to say the chilly waves won and after pulling/rolling up his pants for 2 hours we finally decided would could be those "klassy" people and let our 5 year old run around a public beach in his underwear.

Clearly Drew wasn't phased.

Our attempt at a family picture.

We did make it for a few rides - we had some leftover tickets from the Boardwalk the month before.  Drew was adamant he only wanted the kiddie rides, not the Log Ride this time.

Back by popular demand, after the Boardwalk we hit up the same pizza joint in Santa Cruz for dinner.  We of course had the same result - food coma.

I think our 5 year old had a BLAST.  He still talks about his days at the beach.  Perhaps we'll need to make more trips next year  - and hopefully getting warmer weather.