Digraphs?

Luke was working on homework the other night and said, "th . . . th. . . Is t-h a digraph?  I think it's a digraph."  I said, "A what?" and he repeated, "a digraph."  I look at Lamar and he said, "I have no idea.  Is that a diphthong?  I've heard of that."  So I googled it.  And I think he's right.  1st grade and I can't answer the questions.  I will soon be obsolete.

Luke's definitely planning for his educational future.  Last year I walked him into school every day.  I loved watching him starting his day and helped for a just a few minutes in his class every morning.  This year I've just dropped him at the door to his classroom each morning, trying to give him a little more independence.  A couple of weeks ago he told me he wanted to try walking in by himself.  An aid is his class every morning.  She waits for another student at the entrance each day.  Luke wanted to try going in with Mrs. K.  I alerted her and she was ready.  So one Monday morning I dropped him off in the car rider line.  He walked down to Mrs. K.  I pulled into the parking lot and observed.  He waited with her a few minutes and they walked in together.

The next day, Luke asked if I'd walk him in.  As we walked, he said, "In kindergarten you walked me in every day.  In 1st grade, I will walk in by myself on Mondays and you will walk me in on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.  In 2nd grade, I will walk in by myself on Mondays and Tuesdays and you will walk me in on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.  In 3rd grade, I will walk in by myself on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays . . . . "  He continued the pattern until the completion of elementary school.  Then he said, "And then in middle school I will walk in by myself every day.  And in high school I will walk in by myself.  Oh, and in college."

He's learned a little more about college a few days later.  Our dear friend Neely has just started college.  Luke knew this, but didn't grasp the entirety of that concept.  We were at church one Sunday night and going to Katie's, another favorite friend of Luke's, baby shower after church.  Sitting in worship Luke spotted Neely's family coming in and whispered, "Does Ms. Jennie know Katie?"  I nodded.  "Will she be at her party?"  I nodded again.  He said, "Where is Neely?"  I reminded him she went to college.  He asked, "But why is she at college at night?"

We Got Spirit. Yes we do.

Oh little blog.  I'm sorry for the neglect.  But what a couple of weeks it's been.  I know some things happened the past few weeks that I want to record, but after a few crazy busy weeks, I doubt I can remember.

This week was Spirit week at school, leading up to our big Hoe Down (pretty much a fall festival kind of thing) on Friday.  Monday was class color day and 1st grade wore yellow.  I neglected to take a picture, which Luke reminded me of all week.  Tuesday was Wacky Day and I most definitely got a picture of that.



Luke really wanted some colored hairspray for wacky day, I think because in Mrs. H's weekly newsletter she listed the days' themes and for Wacky Day had a photo from last year of a boy with blue hair.  Luke couldn't commit to one color though, thus the purple and yellow.  It was my first experience with colored hair spray and it's pretty much a mess.  But he loved it.  He also insisted on wearing his clothes backward, even though his shirt and shorts looked exactly the same in the front and the back.  And note two different socks.  SO wacky.


Wednesday was Change Your Heart day.  We wore red, walked to school, and brought spare change to donate to the American Heart Association (who, Luke explained, "if you get sick, they give you money"). 

Luke slept with his bag of change on his bedside table.  He woke up and came into our bedroom at 6 a.m., carrying his bag of change, saying "I'm so excited!  It's Change Your Heart day!"  I reminded him that all he was doing was wearing a red shirt, walking to school, and giving his change away.  He said, "I already know that Mom and it's so exciting!"  He did love walking to school, despite the dogs we passed on the way.

Thursday was Sports Team day.  Not so shockingly, we own no sports apparel!  But a sweet lady I work with had a Titans jersey her son once wore that she let Luke borrow.



I thought he looked pretty cute in a jersey.  Maybe I should sign him up for a sport just for the photo op of him in a jersey.  Probably not worth the agony.  And Luke loved the walk so much on Wednesday that we walked on Thursday too.  And waved to all our friends as they drove by.

Friday was Cowboy Day.  And it was raining so no more walking to school and the photo shoot moved inside.

The hat came from another lady at work.  I thought it was pretty perfect.  Friday night was the Hoe Down, which was super fun for Luke and a super lot of work for lots of us adults.  But worth it.  The kids loved and we made lots of money for the PTO to spend on our school.  And you know how much we love our school.  And now that it's over, I'll hopefully have a little more free time.

Luke did really well, despite not having a friend to follow around.  He seems a little more confident this year, and a little less reliant on his favorite crutch, latching on to one friend.  He lasted til nearly the end.  Lamar took him home about 20 minutes before the Hoe Down ended.  But Luke missed Mom, so they came back to school, Luke in pajamas, and sat in the van watching Incredibles.  About 45 minute later when I was free to go, I found them in the parking lot, Luke snoozing in the backseat and Lamar playing on the ipad.  Love my quirky little family.

In other news, a couple of the new fish have died.  Luke is unaffected.  His only remark, "I wonder who will die next."  He thinks Emma.  He's probably right, based on her behavior.

And Luke is the very proud owner of an Xbox Kinect.  He's a lucky boy to have such generous grandparents.  And he also called them and said, "Mom and Dad don't have $300 (for an Xbox Kinect).  Do you have $300?"  We surprised Luke with the Xbox last Saturday.  He called to thank Mimi and Papa and Mimi said, "What did you think when you saw the Xbox?" He said, "I thought you had $300!"  The Xbox is some seriously good OT working on coordination and reaction time.  Such good therapy that our insurance probably should have covered it.

And I thought summer was busy . . .

So the new school year is off to a slam packed start. Luke has now completed 3 weeks of first grade. Kind of feels like 3 months, but things are going well.

His handwriting is getting a little better I think! Hallelujah! It's improved a lot since this photo a couple of weeks ago. A couple of his papers have been challenging to read, but for the most part a big improvement from last year's scribbled work in all capital letters.

And Luke's had some traditional back to school sickness. This photo is from one afternoon following too much spinning at OT resulting in a headache. He got my headache face mask from the freezer to relieve his pain, and requested Motrin. And pretended to be asleep when I got out the camera.

Luke cracked himself up at dinner on night and I took a picture without asking him to wipe the ketchup off his face. Crazy night.

We got new carpet!! We love it. We should have done this years ago! It's actually a little darker than it looks in this photo. But I think it might have been simpler to just move out. We're still getting things sorted out and put away and the carpet was installed a week ago. But worth every second of the hassle.

Luke's goldfish, Molly and Teddy, died. But our algae eater, Caroline, lives on. She even survived a couple of hot days and nights in a few inches on water in the garage during the carpet install. But keeping the aquarium for one algae eater who spends 99.9% of her time stuck to the Sponge Bob statue is pretty ridiculous. Yet we just couldn't bring ourselves to dispose of Caroline. So, Luke got a few new, very cheap fish. He named them Emma, David, Olivia and . . .

Luke! (pictured). Luke watches fish Luke and says, "Look! I'm eating! Now I'm swimming!" and so on.

Luke's loving first grade. We're pretty wild about his teacher, Mrs. H. She gives "hippocampus" work to do every night for "seven sleeps" just before bed.  She tells the class that practicing for seven nights puts the information in their long-term memory (I think), the hippocampus.  She gave each student a little hippo to tape by the bed and Luke faithfully does his work.  He thinks the information is literally traveling from his forehead to the back of his head and asks me each night, "Where is it now?" and I have to touch a spot where the info is now residing.

Luke had his first practice spelling test a few days ago.  His comment - "It was just like high school."

I've been busy with PTO.  I love being involved at school, but the beginning of the year is crazy busy!  Here's Luke and a buddy working on our class art project for the silent auction at our upcoming fundraiser.  This beauty will definitely bring in the big bucks!  Actually the finished product was pretty cute.

Luke announced a few weeks ago he will be going to college.  He wants to be a first grade teacher.  I much prefer this to his last career plan of becoming a professional dancer.