Crossing to Kindergarten

Friday was Joe's last day of preschool. Wednesday he'll go to his first day of kindergarten. Tuesday he will meet his teacher, Mrs. Dvorak. Since finding out his teacher's name, Joe has asked two questions: one, what color is her hair; and two, will there be themes [as there were at KinderCare] in kindergarten? At least one of these questions will be answered Tuesday. We shall keep you posted, Dearest Fans.

You know, when we signed Joe up at the KinderCare, when he was about four months along on the inside, we got the last October-start slot, and weren't we just so pleased with ourselves? Well that's done then and yes, it seems just a darling place, all enriching, and merry, and just so grand!  There were footprints in paint on the walls! Oh just so charming! And yet when Julie took Joe in for a dry run two days--was it?-- before The Big Day, she distinctly remembers that she thought, "I might as well be leaving him at a crack house! We're such idiots!" Because see it wasn't going to be her holding him, feeding him, and changing him, when that was all he really needed and who could do it better? Or even just as good? It wasn't grand at all.  It was awful, which was why she skipped the second dry run.  Like the dry run would make the actual run any less decidedly tear-soaked and wet.

So wasn't it a new wheel on the wagon when Friday found her crying at drop-off, and at pick-up, and twice in between? Because of course--of course--it wasn't a crack house. It really was enriching and merry and grand. And Our Joe had a whole little Walter Mitty life there which we will never fully realize, which is of course delightful but also seems just the tiniest bit unfair, right? Like, Julie asked Joe if there was anything he wasn't going to miss about pre-K, and he said, "Well I'm not going to miss charting!" They always incorporate a little graphing in the themes or units and, turns out, Our Hero's not down with charting.  All this time and who knew? It's not so important but it's those details that are the good stuff! (What he'll miss: "playing with [his] friends.")

Joe's teachers all hugged him, and Mr. Mark, who is awesome, but who also rocks a too cool for school vibe, choked up when he told Julie that "for two years, it had been an absolute pleasure." And because for a moment, he wasn't too cool for school, he got even cooler.

And then Julie and the bambini were in the lobby meeting Ted who'd arrived, too, and walking out with Darby (do you remember, Fans, when she was sort of obsessed with Joe?) and her parents and then it was done.

And it's not like we won't be back on Tuesday, dropping off Clara! But it won't be the same at all and, we'll be leaving her at the crack house without her big brother!

But really, it's sure to be grand. This we have learned. Raise your hands if you agree and we'll make a bar on a graph to represent all those people. Or we could go play with friends. That will surely make us forget that it was time to go, and perhaps remember--with due acknowledgement to Robert Frost--that though Time has flown, that with which we could not part, we have kept.

I could give all to Time--except
What I myself have held.  But why declare
The things forbidden that while the Customs slept
I have crossed to Safety with?  For I am There,
And what I would not part with I have kept.

Robert Frost, from I Could Give All To Time

Mystery Solved

Fans! Remember the band? The one that came to the KinderCare at nine-thirtyin the morning one day last week? The one that Joe said included an instrument that wasn't a banjo or a violin?

It was a mandolin! The band might have been called The Madrigals.  New mystery.)

Clang! Clang!

The bambini also took their first ride on a streetcar on one of two remaining trolley cars that used to be operated in the Twin Cities.  (The other is in a museum in Kennebunkport, Maine of all places.)  The streetcar--meticulously restored and tended to by a delightful gamg in period garb--runs along a one-mile stretch of track between Lake Harriet and Lake Calhoun and is the perfect way to while away a half an hour or so on a summer evening as the sun begins the set. There isn't any glass in the windows and once the trolley gets going, there's a pretty good breeze that comes through.  Naturally the always carefree Birdie perched right by the window--if she'd have been allowed to stick her head out like a dog in a car, she probably would have. Joe was pretty quiet, observing everything, but he got a big kick out of waving to our car as the trolley passed by it--the trolley briefly triumphant over the reason for its demise!

Keeping Cool While It's Hot

Fans, it was hot here this weekend, so we did the things people do when it's hot: we went to the pool and the movies. This trip to the St. Louis Park pool found the whole family going, which meant that Joe had someone (that would be Ted) to take him down the big twirly slide--about 87 times. Birdie was heartbroken that she was too little to go on the big twirly slide, but didn't Julie's heart just melt when the teary-eyed Birdie wedged herself against Julie on the chaise and used her towel as a blanket. Who needs big twirly slides when you've got love and beach towels?  The bambini had dinner at the pool, too. Joe asked the name of the restaurant and we told him the truth: The Concession Stand. Turns out, The Concession Stand has the cheapest prices in town! It's a $1.25 for a peanut butter sandwich, the same for a jelly newish, and $1.50 for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  Who needs McDonald's when you've got The Concession Stand?

When we saw it was going to be 85 by 9am Sunday morning, we ditched our plan to go paddleboating in Lake Clahoun in favor of sitting in an air conditioned movie theater. We saw Planes, most of which flew right of Clara Jane's head, but she had plenty of fun with the movie theater seat and dancing to the music when the credits were rolling. Joe kept up but a movie in a theater is a little more of a full throttle assault on the senses, so he was sort of stupefied in the car on the way to lunch. No doubt his enthusiasm will be evident, however, the next time we pass the Planes  endcap the next time we roll by the toy aisles at Target.

Pool goers

Movie goers

Birdie Takes A Bus

Birdie is a huge fan of an accessory--sunglasses, shoes (especially those that aren't her own), necklaces and other assorted bangles and bling, bags. . .Yesterday she got herself all decked out in Julie's flip flops and bag; red, plastic heart beads; and a pair of Juile's old sunglasses that were long ago appropriated for the dressing-up cause (there's nothing like scratching up the lens to hasten that effort). Birdie clomped into the kitchen and said she was off to California, by bus. The sofa was the bus. Joe remarked that it would take, "like a hundred years to go by bus." That must be why when Birdie disembarked from the bus, she said she was headed straight "to the hotel to take a nap."

Swimming Biride

Our Birdie had a pretty big week at her weekly swim lesson on Saturday, as you can see in two short video clips. In the first, you can watch her scoop and kick her way to Princess Island, which is what Teacher Courtney calls the plastic sheet and PVC pipe contraption segmenting the lane.  (This week, Clara and her fellow--female--swimmer were scooping Tinkerbell ice cream.  Presumably it has fairy dust sprinkles on top.) The reason Birdie's scooping and kicking here is kind of a big deal is that she is doing it all without a noodle. Also, she puffs up her cheeks (monkey cheeks in swim school speak), and pushes her head way down when she takes off. At Biride's level, everything is about increasing the time the swimmers put their heads under water, so Birdie has swum her way right into Teacher Courtney's heart.

The second clip is from the end of class, when the girls plunge into the water on their own and then try to turn around, get back to the wall, and hoist themselves out. Biride's gotten pretty good at the first and the last bits, which is why Julie was filming it, but it just so happened that she caught a real triumph: Birdie turned to the wall on her own for the first time. (Teacher Courtney was rather excited.)

Let's Hear It For the Band

The bambini were very excited last night to announce that a band--a band!--would be coming to their school at nine-thirty the next day, so they couldn't be late.  Nine-thirty, o-kay?  Nine-thirty.

This morning, Julie woke up sometime in the bottom half of the six o'clock hour because Joe was lightly drumming his fingers on her cheek.  When she opened her eyes, he whispered, "Mommy.  Don't forget.  The band is coming at nine-thirty today."

Got it.

So one would think band review would be job one at pick-up or, certainly, once the bambini arrived home.  No.  Now, to be fair, it might be because Joe exited on Clara's side of the car and wanted "to use teamwork to close the door!!!!!" while Clara is quite taken with the fact that she can now close the car door herself "with oomph!!!!!" and thus, refused to consider the team approach.  So Joe bawled on the driveway ("It's not fair!!!!!"; "It isn't unfair; just sad for you."; "IT'S NOT FAIR!!!!!") while Julie sat on the stoop.  Once Joe decided he was done ("Mommy, I done."), Julie said, "Hey!  How was the band?!  Did you cheer?  Were you all 'Let's hear it for the band?!?!'"  As you might imagine, Joe wasn't in the mood.  He allowed that there were drums, and a guitar, and "one of those things that's not a banjo or a violin."  A bass?  No.  An electric guitar?  No.  A cello?  No.  A viola???  No.  This not-a-banjo-or-a-violin stringed (we think?) instrument remains a mystery, as do the details of the performance.

But we'd like to send some beautiful love out to all our Fans.  We have the best Fans ever.

A Small, Sweet Thing

Julie sometimes murmurs, "Sweet baby girl," to Birdie after she's picked Birdie up and is holding her.  One night a week or two ago, Julie was carrying Clara up the stairs, saying, "Sweet baby girl," and Clara said, "Sweet Mommy.  Sweet Mommy."

Pool Play Date

This morning, Julie took the bambini over to Graham and Connor's.  When she got home, she was amazed to see that Ted had painted half of the kitchen and back room!  He finished up the other half in the afternoon while Birdie napped and Julie and Joe were off to the pool with Joe's friend Eric and his mom.  Neither Julie nor Joe had been to the St. Louis Park pool before like Eric and his mom, and they were glad to have experienced guides.  They were suitably impressed.  There is a extensive shallow end with a very, very gradual drop-off, perfect for new and eager swimmers.  Joe actually swims now, Fans, so he was busy for nearly three hours plunging under and bobbing up, floating and splashing.  He needed rescuing only once when he reached a place where he could just barely touch and wasn't sure in what direction to go to get back to more shallow waters.  After a quick break hanging around Julie's neck, he was right back at it.  Joe and Julie learned that there is a five-minute break in which everyone has to be out of the water every hour, and that there is a nap time lull right around 1pm when they arrived, before things pick-up again at 3pm.  Today was just barely warm enough for a trip to the pool, but next weekend is predicted to be truly hot and if it is, Julie and Joe are hoping to go back with Ted and Clara.

During a break.

Princess Play Date

One of the "painting play dates" was also a "princess play date": Birdie had two of the girls with whom she pretends to be princesses at school over to go to the park, Daphne and Silvia.  After Daphne and Silvia saw Clara's purple room (and squealed over it), the princesses and their entourage headed over to the park.  That was fun, but the highlight of the play date probably happened on the way home when the girls happened upon the fairy garden that one of our neighbors has put very near to the sidewalk, probably just for little ones who might happen by.  Hers is primarily in a bird bath, but encompasses the base of a nearby tree as well.  The princess were enchanted--and enchanting, it probably goes without saying.

Princess Silvia, Princess Daphne, Princess Birdie 

At the fairy garden. 

Snacking on the stoop.  (Birdie is dusting her ear with the ends of a lock of hair, which is one of her favorite things to do lately.)

Painting

Timely reporting has fallen off here of late at White House because we've have been busy painting the whole of its first floor and the upstairs hallway.  Before we moved in, we painted all three bedrooms and the upstairs bathroom.  The downstairs bathroom was snap because it's small, but the front room and kitchen-living room in the back were yawning caverns broken up by a small dining room with plenty of molding to cut in around.  We are hoping to have it all done by Labor Day weekend which immediately precedes the start of kindergarten.  Julie would also report that she found the colors of the front room (straw, but with a green undertone making one think of desiccated jungle landscapes) and dining room (a dark, muddy sage, even on the molding) drove her sort of bonkers so she felt the sooner they went, the better.

We began a week ago Friday evening and painted most evenings after the bambini went to bed.  Ted also painted during the day on weekends while Julie took one or both bambini on various play dates, which is how we are one coat away (in the kitchen-living room) from being done!  Now, the first floor hopefully makes one think of a beach and the sky over it after a summer storm has cleared--all blue-y-grays and gray-y-blues and sparkling rich creams.  Now, it is also true that Joe helped for a bit last Saturday.  Now, it is also true, isn't it, Fans, that you are all thinking, "Well that has disaster written all over it."  No doubt you are thinking all that's here was but a prelude to the main event of a paint can kicked over and paint slopping down the stairs.  That's what Julie was thinking would probably happen when Ted was giving Joe a tutorial, but all was well, all was well.  He lost interest in no time, as clever Ted suspected he would.  But he did a great job in the few minutes the roller held him spellbound.

Considering the job.

Getting instructions. 

Helping.

Of Letters and Sounds, and Birdie

In other Birdie news, as Joe moves off to kindergarten he, among other things, moves out of the stream of phonics classes he's been taking at KinderCare since about the age Clara now is, and Birdie is plunging in.  She recognizes about 14 of the letters of the alphabet in their uppercase form.  The letters that are most solid are probably B (for Brody!), C (for Clara!), D (for Daphne!), J (for Joe!), M (for Mommy), and S (for Silvia!).  I and T are trickiest because an uppercase I is often written as a lowercase L would be, and T, because, in this same vein, look like maybe an uppercase I that someone didn't finish?  Birdie's go-to guess when she is unsure is R.  She's like a pirate: "Rrrr.  Rrrr."What sounds the letters make is much trickier at this juncture.  (Lots of the letters sound like R.  Go figure.)  But Birdie is totally game: when she doesn't know or is uncertain, she's not shy about guessing.  Last week, in her new "Letters and Sounds" class, they worked on the letter M.  This weekend, when we played the Think of Words That Start With A Specified Letter Game* with the letter M, Clara contributed "monkey."  When we were headed into Target Saturday morning and doing S words, she nailed another one (it might have been sunglasses; she loves her a pair of sunglasses).  These are sort of big moments because previously, Clara would always get right in the game, but to her, the game was Let's Name Nouns With No Seeming Relation To Each Other!  So you'd get "Car!" for her in the midst of a bunch of words that begin with the letter W.  This is happening as Joe moves from naming nouns to verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, and also more sophisticated nouns.  For example, if we were playing with C, if someone says "car," Joe might say "Cadillac."  So it's all pretty fun (if you're a nerd).

*It's true: you need to be a dork to roll with the Minnesota Ekkers.

Birdie, at swimming class Saturday before the Target trip.  She also loves her a pair of goggles. 

Story Time With Birdie

Birdie has always liked to select her own books to read at nap time and bed time, and will almost always select a new mix of books each time.  After they have been read to her, she is quick to take them back and tuck them next to her in bed so that she "can read them to her friends," which she then does.  When Julie reads to Birdie, Julie will point to each letter in the title of the book and ask Clara what it is.  Birdie does the same.  Then she moves on to "reading" the book, a fair amount of which she has memorized.  It's a terribly sweet scene to watch from the hallway through the crack in the door.

(For the curious, the scrap of blue painter's tape on Birdie's arm here says "Ekkers" and was lifted off the cover of a book that had been carted into school for one reason or another.)

Pre-K Graduation Addendum

The pre-K graduation wrapped up long past the bambini's bedtime, which is how they came to be out and about in the car at dusk.  We were bemused and charmed by the extent to which they were fascinated by the lit-up store front and signs which they otherwise never see.  They spent the whole ride excitedly and breathlessly calling out "Look!  Look!" to each other, and to us.  The world sparkles when you are three or five, and you are up long past your bedtime.

Pomp and Circumstance

Graduate

Fans. We have SO MUCH to report, and we shall, in the fullness of time (which has been in short supply of late). For now, we bring you a report of Our Hero's pre-K graduation ceremony, which was tonight at the St. Louis Park Middle School Gym.

Grandma Connie and Grandpa Charles were up for the occasion and fit right in, making like all the myriad local grandparents (native Minneaotans are tight with their motherland which means lots of local clans).  The was pomp, there was circumstance. There was singing, there was speech-making. Diplomas were given, mortar boards were tossed. A video was played, tears were shed. Our Hero was the picture of the kindergartner he will officially be three weeks from yesterday. Cue The Fiddler on the Roof: Is this the little boy we carried?

It is, because Fans, there is also this: Our Hero went commando under his suit.  When Julie took him to the bathroom at Yum! to change, she told him to take off his clothes, which he did. But when she said, "Oh you can leave your underwear on," Joe said, "I don't have any. I forgot it today." Well.  Of course he did!  Julie had assumed foundational garments were a given so she 'd not packed any. So it was Our Hero marked this milestone without underwear.

What a kid. What a kid! And he's ours.  Our cup runneth over.

Creampuff and Commando

Relentless sophistication.

Is now when I throw the hat?  Now?  How about now?

Will my diploma always be laminated?

Overheard

While Julie was driving to work this morning, she got a message from Ted that said before he'd left the house with the bambini, while Clara was antagonizing Joe in some real (or imagined) way, Joe had said to Clara, "Stop!  Or I'm going to sneak out at night to Target and get a blaster!"

Ted asked what Joe planned to do with the blaster.  Joe said, "Make her stop."

Better lock the doors and hide the keys tonight.

Catch

While the Knudermuths were here, and while Elsa couldn't roused from her nap, the rest of us were out in the driveway and front yard chalking it up, riding bikes, dragging out all the balls.  Julie asked Joe if he wanted to toss a football.  Grandpa Charles made sure his only child--albeit a girl--knew how to throw a descent spiral.  Incidentally, this skill may have impressed Ted years later shortly after they met when they spent an afternoon tossing a football back and forth in the lake at their friend Brian's cabin in the Ozarks.   It could be that Ted just suffered through some not terribly good throws in order to get Julie's number.  But really, Julie throws a football pretty well if she doesn't have to throw it too far, which makes her the perfect person to play catch with a five-year-old.

Fans, Our Hero pitched some decent tosses, and caught more than a few!  He was rather excited about it all and in his zeal, would sometimes get less than five feet away from his partner before firing one off, but he did usually remember to put his fingers on the (faux) laces.  It wasn't long before he was running as he tossed the ball.

We're not really hoping we've got a football legend on our hands.  Just a boy with enough skill to one day land a sweetheart by tossing a football during a weekend at the lake.

The Knudermuths Come to Town

On the spinny thing in the playground at Joe's school-to-be

We all stayed home from work and school on Monday after Cabin Weekend because Elsa and Anja were in town with their handlers, Sanne and Todd.  Super Longtime Fans will recall the Knudermuth Clan as our dear friends who traded nine months of cold and snow here in the Great White North for nine months of cool and rain in the Great Gray Pacific Northwest about three years ago.  Luckily, Todd's extended family vacations in Wisconsin and for the past two years, we've seen them on their way in or out of town.  This year, we saw them on their way out.  We hit up two parks--one in the morning, one in the afternoon.  This is an eight-some that never met a park or a walk to a park that they didn't like.  In between all the parks and walking to parks, we ate cinnamon rolls from Isle Bun and introduced the Knudermuths to our new pizza-by-the-slice place that's nearby.  We can report that many things remain unchanged: Elsa still looks like Todd, Anja still looks like Sanne, we still miss them so, and Julie cried when they left.  Well, what can you expect?  In spite of the distance, the Knudermuth Girls still refer to Joe as "Buddy Joe."

By the animals on the outside of Joe's school-to-be

Climbers

Almost-A-Kindergartner

Birdie looking sweet

Gratuitous picture of your writers, editors, photographers, and biggest Joe and Clara Fans

Cabin Fever

Fans, you know that feeling of putting on dry clothes after spending the day swimming? That happy comfort? That's what it felt like to go to this cabin where our only real responsibilities were to behave well enough to possibly be asked back again. And, we are pleased to report that Joe and Clara aced that (the rest of us Ekkers, too). Ms. Molly's mom and dad were on hand so there were plenty of eyes to watch the four bambini who swam and played Legos and princesses until they could swim, build, and issue decrees no more. You can understand why so many Minnesotans get cabin fever for their cabins. Now, we are driving back to reality, which is not too bad, despite the absence of a walkout basement on a lake.

Cabin Weekend

We have packed up the clown car with beach towels, floats, inner tubes, and Berenice and are off, today, to Joe and Clara's friends Eli and Emma's family's cabin. It's in Wisconsin, through Stillwater on the Minnesota side, where we will cross the famous-around-here Stillwater lift bridge!  (Berenice will be going to sleep away camp, not the cabin.) We have just begun our journey and about to exit onto interstate 394, which has just prompted Clara to exclaim, "Yea! I three!" So far no one has asked if we are on the highway, but there's about an hour and a half to go. See you on the flip, Fans!

GOAL!!!!!

Joe's soccer team, the Longhorns, played its last game of the season Thursday night, against the Tigers. It was a beautiful summer evening, though not for the Longhorns whose single goal was kicked by Our Hero--into the Tigers' goal. (The whole stop-the-ball-and-turn-it-around-to-go-up-the-field is a skill the St. Louis Park Parks and Rec league's youngest members were just starting to understand as the six-week session drew to a close.) The Tigers won handily, but it's tough to say if the Longhorns felt too bad about it, which is the beauty of "organized" sports at five years old when one might be as interested in the ball and play as one is in, say, a dandelion near center field, or chatting up the big sister of a teammate, or toss the cones used in practice like frisbees. The key to watching this scene with 37- or 38-year-old eyes is to pretend you aren't watching an organized sport. That way, you won't wonder why your child is picking dandelions while a black and white checkered ball rolls around.

Joe was cheered on two of his current teachers, Mr. Mark and Ms. Susie and his former teacher, Ms. Manisha, all of whom were also there to also see two other kids who go to the KinderCare and were playing in the game. Super Fan Birdie did her usual slow melt toward bedtime from the sidelines.

And thus, we closed the books on Our Hero's first foray into organized sports.

Twins Game

Today was a picture perfect summer day. Sunny, 80, dry.  What better than to take the afternoon off and go to the stadium?  So it was for Ted and Joe while the women of the house worked and studied hard all day. The bonus feature was riding our bike to the game.  We have a "tag along" now for Joe which is remarkably easier to pull than a trailer, so we made it to the stadium (trail the entire way!) in about 25 minutes, locked up at one of the many (full) bike racks outside and headed in. On the way in we discussed the opposing team, the Kansas City Royals, and how Julie lived there as a kid and watched George Brett play. 

First stop was hot dogs for lunch, technically a "Dinger Dog" which was as big as Joe's arm and he ate every last bite!  By the end of the 3rd inning Joe wanted his ice cream which sounded like a good idea to Ted too. We got little helmut cups instead of cones, but Joe still managed to spill all over his clothes. We got back in time to see a Twins home run which meant fireworks. In the 4th inning we saw Babe win the mascot race (rare for him). And of course the 7th gave us Take Me Out... Ted offered to leave but Joe wanted to stay till the end. So by the start of the 9th they headed to visit Sue the organist. She chatted us up (she has to sit through a lot of long losing games), and Joe got to watch her pound out some song snippets. When Sue played her end of game chords it was time to head home.  We had another quick ride home, stopping to see the class tree, Marshmallow, upon which the kids had hung a poem today. The only bad part of the day was the score, 7-2 Royals.