1. Elliott & Tommy (and Scott) have been cast in The Village Player's production of A Christmas Story. Scott will be Ralph (the grown up version of the "You'll shoot your eye out" kid), Elliott will be Randy (Ralphie's little brother), and Tommy will be one of Ralphie's classmates. This will be the first show that we ALLLL will be a part of. (Oh yeah. I didn't audition but the director asked me to play an extra Mom to help out on stage. I figure if they're all going to be there, I may as well have something to do, too!) The show goes up in the middle of December. Should be a hoot and a half.
2. Kindergarten is going exceptionally well for Elliott. I figured he'd dig it but I wasn't sure if he'd be able to do a good job following the rules. Well, there was only one rule I was afraid he couldn't follow: be quiet! Elliott has a gift for providing a constant, detailed, running commentary of what's going on in his mind. It's always enlightening and frequently hilarious but I wasn't sure he would be able to find his own mute button when the time came. I saw his teacher this evening at the welcome back ice cream social and she assured me he is doing great. Always totally engaged in what's going on and offering his ideas. I'm sure he doesn't always raise his hand, but listening to his teacher rave about what a pleasure he is was a big relief. She said, "He's with me, he's thinking, and when he opens his mouth, it's like a tiny 45 year old man is talking!" Yup. That's my kid! Another thing E offers up at home is a blow-by-blow of what happened that day. That's a big contrast from his brother who would barely tell me if an albino hippo rampaged the classroom!
3. Meanwhile (fingers crossed) Tommy is doing great in second grade, too! His teacher has adopted the same behavior plan that he had in first grade which has been great. It took him over a month in first grade to get a handle on appropriate behavior and so far he's come home every day with "green". I realize this teacher may be more tolerant of his sporadic attention span and bouts of silliness, but I also think he's really, truly doing a genuinely good job of being a genuinely good kid in school. (Is it awful that I was relieved to overhear another 2nd grade Mom say that her kid came home with a "blue"? Meaning the teacher is not just giving out "free" greens!) I've also noticed that his reading actually improved pretty dramatically over the summer. We read together through the summer, but I'll be honest: it was not as much as a good teacher or a good mom would have prescribed. So I am delighted (and relieved) to find that his little brain was chugging along without my supervision. We aren't talking War & Peace here, just run of the mill early second grade books about funny little boys doing funny little things... but I'll take it. He's also shown a HUGE improvement in his handwriting, which I don't really care about in the long run, but let's face it, if a kid struggles to write each letter, he's never going to be able to get his thoughts down on paper. That would be a crime for this very imaginative, creative little guy. Go Tommy!
4. Scott has continued on his quest to clean up and clean out our house, yard, garage and shed. I cannot believe how much work he's gotten done in the last few weeks. It is a crime against humanity that I failed to take any of photos of all his hard work. (Well, I worked hard, too, but once school started I was kind of busy watching kids so it seems like I've been out of that loop for awhile.)
5. My dear friend, Kathleen, who has been battling cancer since April, has made it through chemo, feels fantastic and will be meeting with a surgeon tomorrow. This is the last step, knock wood, in ridding herself of this particular chapter of her life. Fingers crossed for a 'boring' session tomorrow and a relatively short wait for a surgery date. She is ready to get back to her life... I just know she has this thing in the bag.
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