Daegan’s class, for 6-8 year olds, was considerably more advanced, with a fairly long script that had the kids memorizing lines. (Gareth’s class had very short lines to learn; the bulk of the story was narrated by the teacher and the kids simply acted out the story). Here, the story was “The Principal’s New Clothes”, a take-off on “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, but set in a school. Daegan played the role of “Roger, the smartest boy in school.” I LOVED what the instructor did to work with the kids’ strengths; for example, in Daegan’s script at one point his line...

We did a family trip to Drumheller this year, instead of a party, for Daegan’s 7th birthday. It was a wonderful time—and much needed as things have been crazy busy here this spring. Such is the life of the self-employed family: feast or famine. And the boys did a LOT of activities this spring. We headed out Saturday afternoon, as Daegan had his final drama performance that morning. By the time we got there (about 1 1/2 hour drive) we were able to check into the hotel, which was lovely (and free! we did it on points!) Jim took...

The boys built a large structure out of blocks over the weekend—an armadillo house. It was almost as tall as Gareth: Had a hiding space for armadillo and his food (the corks): And what I thought were chimneys on top, were in fact additional food caches: It was just so nice to see them playing cooperatively together, about something other than dinosaurs! :-)

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. He clearly understands the concept though! :-)

Not sure when Daegan created his latest round of science-art. Here’s what I found on the couch and asked him about: “An 82 million year old food chain,” he told me. “See? Phytoplankton gets eaten by zooplankton [slurping sound effect],  the enchodus, an ancient fish, eats the zooplankton [slurp!], cretoxyrhina, a shark, eats the fish [slurp!] and a mosasaur eats the shark!” (Yes, I have to ask my 6-year-old how to spell these creatures!)   I also found these drawing. He must have liked the archaeopteryx quite a lot, as he taped it to his bedroom door:...

The boys headed out to play in the snow right after breakfast. I guess both were still hungry as the first thing they did was eat it:   They ran all over the yard, making tracks and listening to the snow squish underfoot (very different than the dry powdery snow we get in winter): And then, no surprise, out came the dinosaurs. The boys fashioned asteroids and kept wiping the dinos out. :-) While they were playing, I called around to let everyone know soccer is...

Both boys had their first community soccer tonight—the kids do drills and running for 20 minutes or so, have a snack and water break, and then play a half-hour game. It’s all low-key and fun. Daegan has played previously, but this is Gareth’s first go at the sport—and he kept his asthma in check without the inhaler! Yippee!  Our neighbour’s little girl is on the same team as Gareth, and Daegan is thrilled his team is his favourite colour: blue. It looks like it will be a fun next 8 weeks. Here’s way too many pics <g>. Was an...

We took the boys to the bird sanctuary Sunday afternoon for some free displays and activities in honour of Earth Day later this week. We attended a presentation on composting (in which Daegan was the only child and the most vocal and engaged participant!), met a Great Horned Owl, listened to a storytime about animals and the earth, chatted with folks from the Calgary Gardening club, etc. This last was quite amusing, as while we were talking Daegan asked if he could have a nibble on some of the fresh herbs in the display pot. “Can’t get him to eat...

Yesterday Daegan had his first drama class ever—an activity I thought he might enjoy given (a) you get to move around a lot, (b) you get to play games and be silly, and (c) it’s not competitive. However, Daegan very clearly stated that he did NOT want to be signed up for it, insisting that he did not like drama class because it is something he has never tried before. Sigh. I find this  to be a rather challenging aspect of parenting this child. One the one hand, Jim and I believe in listening to your kids, respecting them and...

Took the boys down to Edworthy Park in the river valley this afternoon. There’s a great playground (one of 4 in the park, actually), and a paved path between parking lot and bathrooms that is perfect for bike riding. (The boys did not want to take off their bike helmets, going back and forth between playground and bikes.) The boys ran around doing all kinds of things, playing with other kids…was so good to be back outside in the sunshine. Here’s some pics: ...