Payton's First Day of 1st Grade!

Payton's first day of school 2010

Another school year has begun and Payton has been anxiously awaiting this moment! I can't remember how many times during the summer when we would put him in bed he would wine about not being in school. His kindergarten teacher did her job because Payton sure loves school.
His 1st grade teacher this year is Mrs. Williams. I was so sad because I had to work the day school started but I have a great boss that let me come an hour late so I could see him off for his first day. He's a little more independent that I was at his age. He kept telling me he'd just ride his bike down and he'd be fine. I really wanted to make sure he found his classroom so I insisted on taking him to school. He was so excited to eat lunch at school this year. I gave him the choice of taking a lunch or eating at school and it was not even a contest which one he wanted. He was going for the chocolate milk!! He was supposed to meet at the flag pole after school and walk home with a group of kids from our neighborhood. {I love that there are so many kids to walk home with!!}
I was still at work when Payton got home from school but I had left him a snack in the fridge to eat until his dad got there. When I called to check on him and see how his day went he said, "I didn't even get in trouble!" Well, if that doesn't say what kind of a school year we're going to have, I don't know what does!
We had a good back to school night and I'm really excited for this school year! I love his teacher and can't wait to see what big steps Payt will be taking this year!
....Now I just need to figure out how to make staying home and learning something fun for Porter. He tells everyone he's doing homeschool and cried the night before school because he was supposed to be starting school too but was being taken to Grandma's and she wouldn't know about home school. I let him know his school didn't start until next week. Any good lesson plans out there I should be using or sharing with my four year old? Let the fun begin!

A Lesson In Follow-Through

This morning I needed to get to the store and get a few things and Payton wanted to ride his bike to school. I was in my bathroom doing Julia's hair when Payton left so I wasn't really sure when he had gone. He negelcted to tell me goodbye. I've let Payton ride his bike to school alone before when I'm going to store because I usually leave a little after him and see him waiting at the cross walk on my way. Today I left quite a bit later than he did so when I didn't see him at the cross walk I assumed he was already there.

Porter, Julia, Khloee and I all went to WalMart, got our shopping done and headed home (an hour later). When I rounded the corner I saw the garage door open and thought what an idiot I was because I thought I had closed it. When I pulled in, I saw Payton's bike and thought he must have had an accident at school or something so he had to come home. I walk in the door and the kid is sitting in the chair watching ICE AGE 3!! When I ask why he's not at school he said, "I forgot my back pack and I'm not sure what time I have to leave." {WHAT?} We grabbed his backpack, jumped back in the car and headed to school...an hour and fifteen minutes late. Come to find out he never even made it to school because he had turned around to get his backpack and when he came back no one was here to tell him to get his little rump back to school instead of sit in front of the TV. I was tempted to just let him stay home but what would he learn from that? I hope he enjoys the last hour and half of school today. Chalk one up to me for learning that my kindergarten kid is not as big as I thought. What did I expect?? Just 'cause he's turning six tomorrow doesn't mean he has sprouted a sense of what's really right and wrong.

Potty Talk

So this is one for the archives that Payton can pull out and smile about down the road. The last two weeks while I'm at work (I'm only working one day a week mind you) I get a phone call from the elementary school letting me know Payton has had an accident during PE and needs to be picked up to have his clothes changed.

{THE FIRST TIME IT HAPPENED} I called Tiff to see if she could take care of the problem. I told her not to worry about getting him back to school because he didn't have that much of school left anyway. Well, Tiff relay's this story on to me later. She said she had bought some new scent stuff to spray in her car that smelled like fall. She also said that Tanner thought it stunk and didn't like it. Well, apparently Payton has his dad's sniffer and anything that might have a cinnamon spice smell to it he doesn't like either. So Tiff's putting Khloee in her seat when she hears Payton say, "What the hell happened here" or something similar (definitely had the "h" word in there somewhere). He was talking about the smell in the car but Tiff thought maybe he had heard him wrong or something so she didn't say anything. She gets in and they start down the road and Payton says (again), "What the hell is that smell." Had it been his mother in the car there wouldn't be so much laughing but because it was Tiff she just joked around with him about the smell he was smelling. Later Todd talked to him about saying the word and let him know it was a swear word.

{WEEK NUMBER TWO} --this was yesterday-- I get another phone call from the school letting me know Payton has had an accident during PE and needs to be picked up. Of all days!! THE ONE DAY I WORK! So, I call Tiff again. She's in St. George so I call a neighbor--no answer. I go to my last and final life line which is the dad across the street that's going to school and his wife works so he's at home with all us mom's being the Mr. Mom. He's a good sport and goes down to get the pee body and then take him back to school for the last hour. (totally cost me a dozen cookies, but well worth it). I get done with work and Tiff relays a new swearing session about Payt. There's a song on the radio by All-American Rejects called "Gives you Hell" {yes, I just looked that up for you all} It was on while Tiff was driving and Payton was singing along. Tiff didn't even know those were the lyrics of the song until she heard Payton singing them. So, she has a little chat with him about the word hell and how it's a swear word. Payton said, "Well, we can't say 'what the hell' but it's ok if we say 'I feel like hell' cause that's not swearing." Oh my, my my. We've got some teaching to do. I'm still trying to figure out where he learned the blasted word! So, the potty talk saga may not be over. Funny thing is that he hasn't said it around me yet...yet! Oh! and I asked about why he's peeing during PE {ironic eh? P.E. like pee?} He said he didn't want to mess up the game and go into the bathroom. I guess either way, he messed up the game now didn't he!