Will's Family Tree

Swimming

Jenna has gotten pretty awesome at the backstroke. She even uses the correct hand position, which a lot of adults can't do. Just a little finesse work on her freestyle rotary breathing and she'll be able to move up to the Minnow class.

Will's special day

On the day Will was the special helper in his preschool class, the fire fighters came and brought the fire truck for the kids to see. They turned on the fire hose and let the kids take turns holding it.

Pumpkin patch

We tried a new pumpkin patch this year. Thies Farm's Pumpkinland out by Creve Coeur Park. Jenna and Will had a great time. The highlight was the zip line swings. Both kids rode them over and over. There was also a hayride, mazes, animals, a pirate ship and a huge slide. I won't get into the part about the lady who yelled at Jenna and made her cry because it puts a damper on the story of the rest of the day, but she's lucky I didn't find her.

Pinewood Derby

Jenna finished 5th out of 30 in this weekend's Girl Scout Pinewood Derby. She was also chosen to carry in the American flag during the opening ceremony. She was very proud of her car. She chose a pickup truck design, which she decorated in a Zoo motif. She and Gene built the car together. Gene did all of the sawing and she helped with the sanding and other tool work. She painted it all by herself, including painting her Green Hippo driving the truck. I'm very proud of her that she didn't just sit back and let her dad do all the work. She may not have won first place, but it was obvious her car was one of the only ones where the kid did some of the work herself.

Fearless

Will was the only kid in his swimming class willing to jump in the deep end. He didn't even wait for the teacher to count to 3. Not bad for a kid who was terrified of the water last year.

Meet Jenna's new friend

This is Jenna's new friend, Gordon. Get it? He's a gourd! She picked out the name herself. I am not in the habit of naming gourds myself, but she felt a special connection with this one and decided to name him. As you can see, he is very happy to be part of the family.

Her other new friends this fall include her new soccer socks, which she has named Mr. Sock and Jonathan.

No, I'm not making this up. It's all true.

Questions

The Magic House has a sign that reads "The average 4 year old asks 437 questions a day."

My first thoughts were:
1. That's a lie
2. Will is well above average
3. Will must be at least 3 standard deviations above the mean
4. Will is actually skewing the results and whoever published the study ought to be brought up for a review of their statistical methods

But after thinking about it, I've realized he probably only does ask 437 questions a day. 437 separate and distinct questions. He just asks them over and over and over and over and over. The actual total number of questions per day approaches infinity.

If you try the "If I ignore him he'll stop theory", he assumes you didn't hear it and each subsequent repetition becomes exponenially louder. He will not be ignored.

His persistence is going to make him an incredible adult. Hopefully I will have enough sanity left that I will be to enjoy it.

Actual conversation of this morning

Will: Mommy, will you please punch me in the face?

Mommy: No, I am not going to punch you in the face!

Will: (shrieking) WHY???


He actually demanded to know why I wasn't going to punch him in the face. And that, America, is why I'm the way I am today.

Back to School

Jenna is going back to school today. I love having her home. We had some great Mommy-Daughter time.

The problem is when they are both home. They fight. They bicker. They touch each other. They drive me nuts.

So while it was great having her home, I'm glad we're starting back into our regular routine. I'm looking forward to having some Mommy-Alone time.

Proud of Will

Will has started being good at school!!!

An example -- Will told me that while he was washing his hands at the classroom sink last week, Boy A called him "Mr Butt" and Will DIDN'T HIT HIM!!! Last year, there were several pummeling incidents in which Will displayed his displeasure with Boy A's choices.

I'm so proud of him.

How many seeds?

Will's class had to predict how many seeds were in the apple. The guesses were varied. Will guessed 1 seed. Melissa was the winner at 10 seeds.