Learning all kinds of things

Two days into the school year and Rion has learned his first swear word. Yesterday Torii wanted to play on the playground after school and we did for a little while. There were two older boys there and I heard a couple of swear words, but thankfully Rion didn't hear them. Today we drove so instead of sitting in a long line of cars, we played until the traffic was gone. The two older boys arrived at the playground shortly after we did. Thirty seconds later, Rion ran up to tell me the boy had said, "there's a f***in baby." I told Rion that is not a nice word to use and thankfully the boy's mother showed up shortly after. I knew Rion would learn swear words at school, but I just didn't think it would happen so soon. Now I am thinking about all the things I learned on the playground and I'm wincing. It was on the playground I learned the truth about Santa and what grown-ups did in bed at night. Hopefully it's a long long time before I have to deal with those subjects.

So many choices

I was looking at Rion's school lunch menu and was quite impressed. It certainly is different from when I was in school. One day they get Shrimp Poppers. I'm not sure what that is or if they're any good, but that was something we never had in school. Students also get to choose between three main dishes: a hot meal, a sandwich or a chef salad. We had that choice in high school, but never before that. At least now I don't have to pack a lunch for him ever because I would pack a sandwich and that is offered everyday. The school system also participates in "offer versus serve" in their school lunches. Students are offered at least five different items and although they are encouraged to take all five, they can refuse two things. I don't think we were ever allowed to refuse something at lunch. And if we did, I'm pretty sure we got a double serving of that food. And if there was one thing you didn't want, it was a double serving of a school lunch.

First day of school

Today was Rion's first day of school. When we arrived at his classroom he said hi to the teacher and immediately got settled in. He didn't even say goodbye to me. When I picked him up I asked him how his first day was and he said it was long. He also said he missed me. What a sweetie. It was a nice day so we walked. I thought that would give us time to talk about his day. He said he had recess two times, had pizza for lunch and learned how to open his milk carton. He also said he got to hand out papers and hold the door open for everyone. Rion also picked on Torii the entire way home. He must of felt like he missed out on picking on Torii all day so he had to catch up.

Fun with a box

I think I have found the perfect birthday present for Torii. I am going to buy myself a new washer and dryer and let him have the boxes. He'll love it!

He's not easy...

Yesterday Rion and I ran some errands together. I just wanted to get his hair cut before school started and let him pick out a birthday present for Torii, but it ended up as an afternoon for just the two of us to hang out. I rarely get to do anything with just Rion and with school starting it will probably happen even less often. So I took the opportunity today to just go out with him. As I was getting him in the car I asked him what he thought Torii would like for his birthday and he said, "I don't know. He's not easy." We wandered around Target for awhile and found a few small things. Rion thought he would like the Word World play dough set, which he is probably right, but I vetoed that idea. With Cordelia exploring like she is, it is not the time for play dough. After the haircut, we wandered again around Walmart. Not only did we have to find gifts from us, but my grandma also gave me money to get him something from her. It took some time but we finally made some decisions. Maybe I should have just gotten him some gift cards and he could pick out his own gift. I did forget the one gift he said he wanted, which was the Cocoa Puffs. I mean how do you shop for a boy who wants cereal, but no toys?

Play with me

I was reading an article by a mom who asked her kids what they remember playing from childhood and how that influenced their future. All of them remember playing something that influenced what they chose as careers. The one that liked pretending and dressing up became an actor. The one who liked bikes choose a career in the bicycle industry. And when I think about the things I played in my childhood one thing I remember very clearly is creating a newspaper. We wrote articles and drew comic strips for the paper. My friend got mad at me for criticizing an article she wrote. (She interviewed me, but put things about herself in the article. Even then I knew that wasn't allowed in a newspaper article). I find it funny that in my first two years of college I had no idea what I wanted to do for a career. Then one day it dawned on me that even as a child I knew what I wanted to do and I enrolled in the mass communications program, emphasis in journalism.

I like to watch the boys and see what they really enjoy doing. I could see Rion as a mechanic or an engineer. He loves to put things together and figure out how things work. Torii might be a gymnast. He loves to do summersaults. I showed him some of the gymnasitics they were doing in the Olympics and his eyes got wide and he said, "Record this!" Part of that article was about finding the things our kids like and encouraging it. Rion has Legos that he creates new things with. Torii should probably be signed up for gymnanstics. I think everyone has a special talent and who knows, that could be Torii's.

My name is..

When Rion was a baby we started calling him Fred Rion to avoid confusion with daddy Fred. And I use Rion on the blog just so I don't have to type out Fred Rion all the time. Normally I do call him Fred Rion, but sometimes I just call him Rion. So when it was time to sign him up for school I asked him what he wanted to go by. Fred Rion? Fred? Rion? He said he wanted to be called Fred. I still call him Fred Rion all the time, but Daddy Fred has been good about calling him Fred. We are trying to be consistent so he doesn't get confused at school. During his summer school program the teacher said he wasn't responding to Fred all the time. Since he wants to go by Fred I want to make sure that's what he is used to. I don't want the teachers to call him Fred Rion because I'm sure as he gets older that will embarrass him. I'm really bad about getting into new routines so I really have to work at calling him just Fred. I'm sure he would be embarrassed if his friends heard his mom call him Fred Rion too.

Where's the baby?

After throwing some clothes in the dryer tonight I noticed Cordelia was gone. I looked in the boys' room, the dining room, the living room, my room and still no Cordelia. Then I heard the toilet flush. I ran to the bathroom hoping the lid was down. I got to the bathroom and there was Cordelia, crying and crawling as fast as she could away from the toilet.