art and other junk

below is the photo i was looking for after i broke my phone and spilled water all over my desk.

i've shared that anth loves to craft.

each day at latchkey, one of his teachers offers a different project.

and each day, anth completes said project before wandering off to other adventures.

recently, i picked him up and he had a little brown lunch bag with his name on it.

this usually means he is bringing home either a fragile or particularly glittery project.

i asked him what was inside the bag.

"oh! mom! it's a christmas ornament! it's really pretty."

(pause.)

"in a junky sort of way."



i'm a sucker for handwritten notes

seriously. 
i am. 
kind words are wonderful. 
a nice email is amazing. 
but i miss the art of the handwritten note. 


i received one in the mail recently from my favorite buttface in Wisconsin. 
it was a handmade card with the simple little message inside. 
to the effect of remember when we used to make bean dip and do crafts. (because how can one really achieve their full creative potential sans bean dip?)
and it made my day. 


this came home in anthony's backpack this week. 
from a friend at school. 
asking for a play date. 

it kind of made my week. 

really, author? really?

one of the requirements in anth's classroom is that the students read for 15 minutes at home each night.
anth loves it.
we love it.
it's a highly lovable thing.

in order to keep the process fresh/exciting, the students are given time to wander around the room and pick a new book to bring home each day.
bern and i appreciate the new reading materials on a daily basis.
as a result, we often ask what book anth picked out that day.
why we do this, i have no idea, as anth categorically forgets what book it was until we get it out of his bag.
sometimes he has a vague notion, like "it's about a giraffe."

a few weeks ago, anth had a vague notion.
about the title of a particular book.
as in, he said, "i don't know mom, it's something like The Manly Fairy."
or, at least that was what i heard.
and immediately, my mind went in a thousand directions.

• perhaps this is educational
• perhaps this is about gender stereotypes
• what on earth are the illustrations in this?
• i was picturing a story about the plight of the male pixie
• i was curious how they would handle this sensitive topic at a 1st grade reading level

NOPE.
turns out that, maybe, i should have just pulled the darn book out of the bag first.
because the book was, in fact, called The Manly Ferry Pigeon.
for real.
it was about a bird.
who rides around on a ferry.
that operates out of the city of Manly.
which is in New South Wales.
according to Wikipedia.

intrigued?
you, too, can have this book for exactly $1.00.

so, clearly, you can understand my confusion.
right?
it's not just me?

little blue folder - love notes

there is a little blue folder that resides in anthony's backpack. 

it is the one that brought home this recent classroom assignment. 

typically, it only brings home his classwork and messages from his teacher. 

but, last week, it also brought home a fun  new surprise.

anth and his classroom are currently into what is called "driting."

you start with a written statement, such as "i like," and then draw the rest of the sentence. 

drawing + writing = driting

for anthony, these usually include "i like," and then a picture of a Star Wars character. 

we get a couple of them a day in his little blue folder.

 last week, we found something new in his folder.

there was a piece of regular paper that had been folded into something resembling an envelope.

on the outside, it had what looks like a failed attempt at writing the word "september."

this is crossed out.

then is says "anth."

on the inside was the following little "love note."

i have classified it as such, as it was packaged and given to him by a girl at his table during "driting" time.

 

a girl, who, is apparently very direct about her ambitions in pursuing this relationship.



self-regulation update: Stairy Night

each day, anth has a blue folder that goes to and from school in his backpack.

notes to the teacher from bern and i, as well as completed homework, go to school via this folder. 

his day's classwork, as well as newsletters and homework come home with him. 

(and, most recently, a few hilarious "love notes" from his classmates.)

i have been saying that i need to share some of anth's classwork for a while now. 

but this one quickly rose to the top, due to it's relevancy to this recent post. 

"I said please when i wanted to get off the stairs."

now, we have always used the stairs as our time-out space. 

and, yes, he does often politely request to come off of the stairs before his time is complete. 

however, i don't know if this picture captures the spirit of all of that to a teacher new to our family. 

super.

how to make my kid cry

two gross things happened yesterday.

1. i got the same stomach bug that my little benjamin had last friday.

as a result of this, i was trying to edit last night's post in bed.
and, if you have ever tried to use Blogger on an iPhone, you would know that you can't actually edit the full post.
so i cut and pasted the post into the Notes section of my iPhone where i save quotes and quips and other fun whatnots for the blog.
this lead to the other gross thing.

2. i deleted my ENTIRE list of blog notes.

actually, i pasted the post i was editing over them, and closed out of it before i realized exactly what i had done.
fun fact from me to you: the Notes app on the iPhone does not include "edit undo."
i assume this is because most of the general population does not make such bold attempts at failing at life.

so, friends, i lost about 30 ideas for posts.
fortunately, i have a decent visual memory, and i was able to quickly write down about 19 of them.
but, still.
boo.

anyway.
that's right.
you wanted to know how to make anth weep.
because you're just that kind of person.

so, i am sick.
i stayed home from work on monday, and most of the day today.
tonight is "Curriculum Night" at anth's school.
tonight is also a big event for Bern that requires his presence.
anth put all of this together in the car today on the way to school.
and it was a near traumatic moment as he asked Bern, "but daddy, who will go to my curriculum night?"
this was seriously stressing out our first grader. 
no worries.
we had a sitter.
actually, two.
kelsey of former mysavvyboys ascot fun, and her sister, came over to play with the little men tonight.
and all was well in the world.


during bathtime, anth informed me that he had told his teacher, "my parents might not be here tonight. my dad has some work to do with the presidents and my mom is just sick."
(bern is working an event where the presidents of both OSU and Columbus State will be present.)
as i gave him the world's fastest bath in the 15 minutes i had between getting the boys home and the sitters arriving, i told him that i would definitely be going, and i asked anth what part of curriculum night was most important to him. 
he politely looked at me and said, "because the teacher will tell you what our schedule is, and then you can stop asking what i did every day."
ah. 
yes. 


sorry, kiddo. 
you aren't getting out of that one.  

there's a 1st for everything

thought i feel no older, or wiser, than the day he was born, it's official. 

we have a first-grader in the savarese home. 

of course, anth already knew what this meant. 

he got dressed. 

combed his hair. 

and got ready for mom to take his picture. 

anth was all confidence and excitement. 

this leads to the giggles. 

which leads to full blown laughter. 

ben was largely excited for his big brother to go to "big boy school."

his only issue with the whole thing? 

he wants new shoes like anthony's. 

in this case, the apple does not fall too far from the paternal tree. 

seeing as the shoes are my personal favorite colors, i will be happy to oblige when he transitions into preschool in early september. 

this is anth patiently waiting for the bell to ring so he could go to his classroom. 

(and that is benny not-so-patiently "waiting" behind him.)

the bell finally rang and anth beelined to his classroom, put his backpack in his cubby, and took his seat. 

he was ready. 

it seemed that daddy, however, was not. 

here is bern taking a step back to steal one last look into the classroom. 

wholesome. :) 

anth dutifully came home and showed us his take-home folder. 

he told us some of what they did in class. 

he gave us a rather physical demonstration of what the playground equipment included. 

he shared concern over the fact that his teacher gave out candy and that he thought, perhaps, this was not the best idea to give out sugar during school. 

finally, he gave an overall two thumbs up to his day and to going back tomorrow. 

one of my colleagues asked me today if i cried while dropping him off. 

this is normally something i would do. 

to be honest, it was a bit of a whirlwind, and he was just so darn excited that it didn't seem to warrant tears. 

but,  just to be sure this person knows that i'm still utterly me, i just teared up loading these photos. 

he's growing up so fast. 

and he's doing a beautiful job of it.