Red light, green light

Our Torii is the best at giving Fred and I fits. We give Torii timeouts, take toys and privileges away and he still throws monstrous tantrums. We are both sick of Torii's attitude and really needed to do something about it, but really had no idea what to do next. Then over the weekend Torii, of all people, suggested we make a chart like they have in school. It looks like a stop light and on the side are clothes pins with each person's name on it. If your clothes pin is on green, you've been good. If it's on yellow you must have did something wrong. On red, you might as well go sit in your room and think about what you did. I made the chart mostly to humor Torii not thinking it would actually work, but it has. Torii and I have been playing checkers, but he is a rule breaker and a cheat. Now all I have to say is "you'll go to yellow if you don't play right," and the game continues without any more major disagreements. I think I should sit in with his class more often so I can learn more of the techniques they use to keep 15 kindergartners in check. I know "criss cross applesauce" and "marshmallows!" which is my personal favorite. I'm not sure how long this stop light chart will last, but everyday that is tantrum free is a good day.

The good old days

The other day I happened to pass the kids' school during lunch recess. It looked like it was the older kids that were outside at the time. As I passed I noticed all the boys were near the playground and having a lot of fun in the snow. Meanwhile, the girls were all huddled together in little groups near the school. Some things never change. But then I began to think about how much they really have changed. When I thought about recess in the sixth grade, I thought about huddling up with a group of girls and listening to music during recess. I must have gotten a Walkman for my birthday or Christmas because I remember bringing it to show off. And we had to bring the newest cassette single to listen to also. Or we would bring a mix tape of all the songs we got recorded from the radio over the weekend. Y93 used to be the best radio station in town. They played all the newest and hottest songs and on Saturdays they gave out a cassette every hour. I remember winning at least twice. I got the Billy Joel tape with "We didn't start the fire" and the Crash Test Dummies. So while I spent my Saturdays trying to win a new cassette I was also close to my tape player waiting to hit the record button when a good song came on. I suppose this is one of the things my kids will someday laugh at, as any music they could ever want can be instantly had at the click of the mouse. And the radio? Who listens to the radio anymore, mom? Rion still can't understand a childhood without a computer. When did my childhood get so nostalgic?

Another kindergartner

On Friday Cordelia and I were waiting as we usually are outside of Torii's classroom waiting for the final bell to ring. We got there a little early and the kids were still coming out in the hall to get their things. One of the girls wanted to show Cordelia the Valentines garland that was hanging down in the doorway. She showed Cordelia how to walk through it. When Cordelia walked through, she thought she was pretty hot stuff being in the classroom and then the girl continued to show her to the rug where they have their end of the day songs. The kids were singing Valentines song and when I peeked in the room, Cordelia was sitting right in the middle of the group and trying to sing along. She was singing pretty loud too. She sat there so nice with the kids. I think she really liked it. Torii used to sit in with the class almost every day last year when Rion was a kindergartner. Since I knew Torii's teacher, I knew she wouldn't care if Cordelia sat in with them either. I think she was impressed how well Cordelia sat there too.