Blue Belt Bliss

Crrrack!
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

Here is Zack cracking the board at his last taekwondo belt test. Nice picture, dad! Nice form, Zack! The new blue stripe on his belt becomes him.

We spend a lot of time together in the car. The other day I was singing along with the radio when Zack said, "Mom, it embarrasses me when you sing along with the radio." Then he said, "What does 'embarrass' mean?"

Our car rides are filled conversations like this one. (Zack actually started this conversation exactly as it appears here, from dead silence. I assume it had been going on in his head for some time before he opened his mouth.)

Zack: (out of left field) Mom, actually the most exciting city is Las Vegas.
Me: Oh? Where did you hear about Las Vegas?
Zack: On TV. It looks very exciting.
Me: Well, Las Vegas is very exciting for grownups, but it might be boring for kids. I think Disneyland is more exciting for kids
Zack: Well, I think Las Vegas could be exciting. They have a pool there.
Me: That's true. But most of the other stuff they do in Las Vegas is not fun for kids.
Zack: Have you ever been to Las Vegas?
Me: No
Zack: Well, how do you know so much about it, then?

The Next Ice Age?

Snow Day!
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

I'm a little behind, so watch for new posts daily as I catch up!

This is a shot from last week's "blizzard." (Yep, you can still see the grass.) This is how much snow it takes for pandimonium to erupt in our fair city. School was closed for two and a half days.

There were many bona fide snow creations adorning front yards. Some people even used recycling bins and scraped up every last snowflake in thier yards to make igloos. Imagine how crafty Portlanders could be if they saw some REAL accumulation!

Now it's in the 50s again, and life is back to normal. Gotta run! We're riding Zack's bike to school today!

The question is NOT

Pre-Flight Photo
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

whether there is life on Mars. The question is: Do they wear shoes there?

In our house, January is sponsored by PLASTIC. In particular, we'd like to thank the people who make Legos, K'nex, Sterilite containers and Ziploc bags. Our budding architect lives for the first two. I can't live without the last two.

We're due for a big purge-and-organize party. Parenting continues to be the ultimate gear sport.

And it continues to be a magical journey. As I write this, I can hear Zack in his bed, "reading" to himself. He's really getting interested in letters and sounds and how they combine to form words. I can't wait until the world of books opens up to him.

In the meantime, we've had a renewed interest in dinosaurs at our house, sparked by time spent studying them with his PreK class. Here's a recent conversation:

Zack: I'm an omnivore, Mom. That means I eat plants and meat.
Me: You're right. And actually, "omni" means "all." So you really eat everything.
Zack: Yeah! (Thinks a bit.) Except salad. And Lima Beans.

All Dressed Up and Noplace to Go

Hey There, Cowboy....
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

This is a picture from one of Zack's first days at PreK. The man with him is Mir, who is the director of the PreK. It has been the most wonderful year for Zack. He has grown and thrived in his school.

The PreK is housed in an elementary school which, until this year, taught K - 5th graders. Recently the school decided to expand to K - 8th grade. The transition is happening over a few years. They're not adding older kids, they're just keeping the ones that would have gone on to middle school before. So, this year they have two sixth grade classrooms. Next year they'll have sixth and seventh grade classrooms... and so on.

The PreK is a private, tuition-based program that happens to pay rent to the Portland Public School District so it can live in the neighborhood elementary school. The PreK kids get to work with the gym and music teachers, have their own lockers, use the cafeteria, etc. etc. It's a thrill for them to have such a real "big school" experience before they even get to kindergarten.

But with changes at the school, the PreK's space is in peril. We had to fight to keep it this year, when the principal nearly pulled the plug last spring after kids were already enrolled. I'm helping with the grass roots effort to blitz the school district with calls and letters of support for the PreK. Our school board members are elected officials. They better listen.

Portland Public Schools are in a world of hurt financially, thanks to Oregon's screwed up tax structure, and even more screwed up legislative priorities. The odyssey is beginning for us as parents fighting tooth and nail to get the best education for our boy.

The way the district and the elementary school are handling the PreK's space issues (with a song and dance) is not particularly inspiring. Next year Zack will probably have 30 kids in his kindergarten. I want to keep him in the public school system. I sure hope it measures up. So far the glass is half empty on the administrative side, but overflowing in the classroom.

Tiny pieces, huge imagination

LegoManiac
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

Portland and San Diego have a lot of things in common. Good food, nice people, fun things to do with kids. (Note: Weather in January is not one of the things Portland and San Deigo have in common.) But then there are legos. San Diego has Legoland. Portland has Zack's basement.

If you haven't played with Legos in awhile, you'd be amazed. When I was a kid a "clear" brick to use as a windsheild was a treasured find. Now there seems to be no limit to the number of different pieces and sizes and colors in Lego's bag of tricks.

Now, in addition to selling boxes of regular rectangular bricks, Lego makes special model kits for movies, books, whatever. They obviously are doing their research into what little boys love best.

Zack already had a plentiful supply when his Christmas he received Legos to make a Star Wars ship, a motorized car, an aqua jet, and and a rogue scary fish. We made each model once, then as they broke we absorbed them into the larger lego cache.

Being completely obsessed with Star Wars, Zack now uses all of the great shapes and pieces to build his own battleships. Here are two examples. He plays with Legos for hours. Mom loves them too!