Deja Vu

It was like a step back in time, "Funky Town" on the PA system, carpeted seating areas and a young girl in white skates with POM POMs tied to the laces! Yesterday I took Kyle roller skating and it was awesome! It really hasn't changed much since I was a kid, except now there are speed skates and roller blades mixed in with the quads. They still do the hokey pokey, the limbo, the chicken dance and speed races. The concession stand is filled with all the usuals - including the giant pickles I just love!

Kyle had been skating once over the summer on a camp field trip, but I had never taken him before so I was a bit doubtful about his promises of being a speed skater...well, as it turns out he is a speed skater - on the carpeted areas! I noticed right away that he was really skating, not just clomping around like a lot of the other kids so I was anxious to get him into the rink. I learned to walk, then I learned to skate. My dad was a competitive roller skater in his youth (though you wouldn't know it to see him now!) so my brother and I were on skates as toddlers - it was one of the few things that came easy to me. I took Kyle around the rink a few times and although he lost his footing a lot I could see it wasn't going to take much for him to "get it" - all it really took was a friend showing up who was a tiny bit better than Kyle and loved being on the rink - that was it...Mr. Competitive was on his way! I was thrilled!

Of course today we're both sore and Kyle took quite a tumble toward the end - even hitting his head, but he's ready to go again and for $6 for the two of us (including skates!) it's bargain exercise on a rainy post-Christmas weekend!

On another note - today Kyle made the long walk down the aisle at church to profess his faith and accept Jesus as his savior! During the service he had drawn a picture that said, "Thank you Jesus...for all you've done for us" Amen to that little man, Amen to that!

eBay

Man - you can't help but love eBay!  I got this great Land's End wool suit with Talbot Kids shirt and silk tie for...get this...$25!  That's right, wool suit, shirt and silk tie for $25!  Hurray!  Oh, and doesn't he look just awesome?  I'm so glad he still likes to dress up!

Word!

Oh help us!  I guess the most we can hope for is a talent scout...

Birthday Boy

He looks 7 doesn't he?  

A new chapter

"Chapter 8, the adventure continues..." this is what Kyle said a little bit ago on our way home from his day camp.  We had just celebrated his 7th birthday (which is tomorrow) with his summer friends, a bunch of cupcakes, oodles of chips, and some drink pouches.  I mentioned on the way home that it was the last time he would go to Sunshine House as a six-year-old and of course Kyle who always thinks of things in terms of books and adventure realized he was starting a new chapter in his own life.  So far I think his book is a best seller!  Not a day goes by when that kid doesn't say or do something that either makes me laugh like a loon or stare at him in amazement.  

Seven seems like a magic age, a time when he's on the cusp of turning into a bit of a gangly, big-toothed kid but for the moment he's all glowing skin, lovely eyes and never-ending imagination.  Our friend Reid had is golden birthday at age seven.  In case you're unfamiliar with the golden birthday it's the year your age matches the day of your birth.  So I had my golden birthday at age eight since I was born on April 8.  Of course Kyle will have to wait for his golden birthday until he's 28!  

We're celebrating his birthday with Kyle's grandparents and a fun-filled day tomorrow.  A coffee house breakfast followed by the present opening at our house.  Lunch at home followed by Wall-E the new Pixar movie.  For dinner Kyle wants Pizza Joint pizza, root beer floats for dessert and sparklers after dark.  I think we'll all be exhausted!!!

Tooth Man

Kyle has now lost his top front teeth - a sight that still makes me giggle.  He just cracks me up with this little toothless grin.  At dinner tonight I was telling him about the song "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth" and he immediately took to the song giving it his typical Kyle twist.  It ended up sounding more like a rock song.  During his shower he continued to sing about teeth, the lyrics went something like this (sung loosely to the tune of "Bad to the Bone"...whatever): "I went to the store to buy some teeth.  I went to Dollar Tree and went to the tooth aisle, but all they had was molars.  I went to Dollar General but they had incisors, I said no, I need front teeth.  Give me some teeth...give me some teeth."  Man I wish I had my video camera going at that moment.  However tomorrow I'll see if he'll let me video him doing the Christmas song!

Water Play

His time

I recently finished reading Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and one thing Lily talks about is the different stages in a woman's life.  "Daughter Days," "Hair-Pinning Days," and "Rice-and-Salt Days" are some examples.  I have firmly decided that for Kyle, these are the "Sand Days" - we could start a desert with the sand that comes home with that boy each day when the weather turns warm.  Sand in his hair, sand in his shoes and sand in his pockets.  Our nightly ritual upon returning home involves dumping out shoes, shaking out hair and washing hands.  It was only tonight that I realized I needed to add "remove pants and empty all pockets" to that list - and that was only after a pound of sand was left on my sofa.  

Of course I will admit that while emptying the assorted pockets on his carpenter jeans (why so many pockets?) I realized I needed to treasure these "Sand Days" as soon they would give way to the "You are not the boss of me" days.

Sorry -

I can't help bragging a bit on my kid.  Kyle's alien picture has been entered into the art contest at school - with 4th and 5th graders!  We'll see what happens.

Imagination

Grandma Mussman sent Kyle a big envelope full of great art supplies for Valentine's Day: stickers, craft sticks, glue, a stapler, glitter construction paper, etc. and Kyle immediately constructed a robot with some of the items and an empty Kleenex box!  Let the battle begin...

Wednesday

I'm not sure who "mega man" is, but Kyle devoted almost a whole afternoon recently to the creation of his Mega Man outfit He carefully taped together paper, colored and cut the paper "just right" to make this ensemble. I would occasionally be asked to "hold this" but for the most part it made for a relaxing time for me - I just sat in the chair flipping through a magazine and watching him work out of the corner of my eye. Such concentration! I talk to myself (a lot!) when I'm working hard on a project - my office neighbor has actually learned to tune me out and I've learned to preface my conversations with her by using her name so she KNOWS I'm talking to her and not just myself. Kyle concentrates by standing up - he works better when the chairs are pulled away from the table and he can move back and forth easily to see his project at all angles. Of course in the left-brained compartmentalized world of school, this does not work so well. But that's a whole other post!