Flash cards

A week or so ago Wendy told me that she had gotten out the flash cards I gave Gage at Christmas last year. If I remember correctly, they were printed on Post-It notes. She started pulling them off and Gage would tell her what the word was. After a while, instead of just saying the word, he would make up a sentence with the word in it. And he did it quickly. I told her that I remembered when I was in school and had to make sentences using vocabulary words. It took me forever to do it...not that I didn't know what the words meant, but because I wanted to make a really good sentence, not just a simple one. What a colossal waste of time!

Gage goes out into the world

The big day finally arrived. Gage started kindergarten today. It was once discussed that he might ride the bus. Even though his mother rode the bus when she was six, I was taken aback that they would consider that for Gage. Who would he know? Would he be scared? Would he get off at the right school? Would someone be mean to him? Fortunately, they decided not to go that route, at least for the time being.

Wendy drove him to school. She reports that there were cars and people everywhere. There were parents and sometimes whole families taking their little ones into the school. But first, you have to park the car and then sign in and get a name tag announcing that you are a visitor to Myatt Elementary. Wendy drove up, let him out and watched him walk into the school. She had expected that there might be someone at the door (as at the childcare facility that he just left on Friday) to collect the children and make sure they got to wherever they were supposed to go. No such luck. In he walked, all by himself. She drove off and almost immediately freaked out worrying about him not finding his way to his room. This was the third time he was at the school, but only the second time to go to his classroom. And the first time was with his parents last week. So, this was his first time on his own. Wendy turned around, drove back, found a parking space (not easy,) signed in and walked to his classroom. And there he was...watching television, having found his way all by himself. According to him, someone did ask him if he knew where he was going and he said "yes." I guess he did. He has a good sense of direction...didn't get that from his mom.

Wendy picked him up at 3 and was treated to his first reactions. By the time I saw him a few hours later, he was tired of answering questions. Instead, he told me that there was a bathtub in the bathroom at school and he took off all his clothes and bathed himself. I'm pretty sure he was making it up, but he never backed off the story. I'm sure he enjoyed the cafeteria and being able to choose his lunch rather than having a plate set in front of him. He got the cheeseburger, some broccoli, something else, a peach, and strawberry milk.

Kelly took Zane to the daycare in Wharton. As they entered town, Zane started saying that he didn't want to go to school, he didn't want to play with his friends. He wouldn't get out of the truck...Kelly had to carry him in. It just didn't feel right that his brother wasn't there. When I left their house, Gage and Zane were running all around, laughing. All's right with the world.

Gage, Zane & spider

The boys decided they needed to pose with the large spider with the large egg sac. Zane kept trying to look at the spider, so Gage helped him look at the camera.

Making money

Recently, Gage told me that he wanted to be able to get any wish he wanted. I asked him what he would wish for and he replied that he would wish for "all the money in the world." I asked why he needed so much money and he explained that he wanted to be able to buy any toy he wanted. Having walked through a few toy aisles with him recently, I knew that he surely was going to need a good amount of money. He picked up almost everything he could reach and carefully looked over the product, pronouncing just about all of them, "Awesome!" We were in the aisles with the cars, trucks, Star Wars figures, medieval figures, etc.

A week or two later, while I was at their house, Wendy took me to her computer to show me some photos she had taken of a project that Gage had been busy with. I guess he figured wishes were for suckers and he was going to take a more pro-active approach to his money needs.





He did a pretty good job, I think. His mom and dad must have let him look at one of their $5000 bills so he could get it right!