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Okay, so I have not posted anything lately.  Blame it on Google+, which ate up Picasa and made it just a little too convenient to post my pictures that way.  It's a lame excuse, but it's all I've got.  So an update is in order.  Theo started Kindergarten at Meridian Hills Co-op.  I am in the classroom as the teacher's assistant once a month, and there is always one parent on hand to set-up and break down the daily activities.  Since it is parent-run, my side job is to write the newsletter.  Theodore's first school experience has revealed how much of a social animal he is, and how cloistered we have been in the past.  His teacher pulled me aside and asked if he is involved in any peer activities outside of school.  He never went to preschool, unlike all of his classmates.  We do disorganized sports, playground tourism, and are members of the art museum.  None of these involved a regular group of peers. Derek and I like to keep our home life simple and low-stress.  That may be one excuse. He has also played very well on his own for years.  This allowed me time to do chores, shower, and keep an organized house, so I embraced it.  He is an only child.  He's used having his complex creations be just the way they were left day after day.  I gave him a lot of one-on-one attention with academic games, activities, and reading lessons.  Therefore, he has good reading, math, and critical thinking skills.  Yet, he has a lot to learn about group dynamics!  Kindergarten is a whole new world for him.  There was an adjustment to make.  Once he inserted himself into the social group of his classmates, he rejoiced in making them laugh.  In short, he is the class clown.  The academic side is easy, so he talks and jokes and distracts even.  Let me just add that he is loquacious at home, and he got it from me.  Still, his school has different expectations.  For example, quiet time at home means he must stay and play in his room (with no technology).  Quiet time at school means no sound comes from your body as you lay perfectly still on your carpet square.  At no time in his home life have I ever asked him to do this, except for maybe an hour after he was suppose to be asleep.  Hence the finger tapping and apparent cacophony of extremely quiet noises that emanate from my kid while school quiet time is happening.  He makes enough noise to barely break the silence, and he thinks this is sneaky fun.  Sigh.

So, we are making adjustments.  One adjustment is having 'play dates' with other kids.  Derek and I still laugh at the idea behind the phrase since we grew up in neighborhoods where kids roamed, showed up when ready to play, and did not make appointments.  That is not how this thing called play works anymore.  All of his school friends live miles away.  This takes making appointments.  I have to admit, dropping Theo off for an afternoon with a friend is nice.  I can get some grocery shopping done in peace and maybe take a book/coffee break at Lulu's.  When I pick him up I know he has gotten some energy out with peer-related fun.  Having a school friend over here gives me uninterrupted time to do chores, except to feed and troubleshoot.  So, it's a good trade.

I do think this is the appropriate time for him to learn to deal with conflict, rejection, jealousy, and the pure joy of camaraderie.  He is working on how to compromise in larger groups.  He is figuring out when to push and when to step aside.  This is the stuff of coping with dynamic situations that I cannot give him at home.  The school environment is the perfect place for it.  His teacher does not micromanage so they are able to figure things out as a group or individuals.  He is slowly getting over the fact that life is not fair, but it can be amazing nonetheless.   This is what he needs.  I am comforted by the many months of cushion he has to absorb these valuable, real-life lessons before he has to deal with the regular school system (with its additional strict, zero tolerance policies and environment.)  It definitely helps that there are only 10 students in his class, with a veteran teacher.

As for Derek and I, we are doing fine.  Of course under that thin veneer of peace there is an itch for traveling.  We mostly like food/beer/hiking tourism.  It has been hard to plan much for this year, due to outside circumstances.  Still, last summer I became a vagabond with Theo in hand.  I drove in a triangle from here to Santa Fe, Fort Collins, and back.  It was a great adventure.  (Poor Derek was laying tile, but he got to live like a bachelor and have some peace in the evenings.)  Going west made me want to live near mountains, but probably not in the desert. Any opportunity to show Theo more of the world- how other people live, eat, and deal- so much the better.  Whether it involves moving or visiting, we hope to mix things up in the future.  As in the Future kind of future.  Once we get our passport paperwork through, our horizons for travel will open up to greater opportunities.  Speaking of which, it's on my list of things to do while Theo's at school.  Yes, I am a list maker.  Thanks, mom!

Currently, we are just dealing with snow and cold.  I estimate we have gotten two feet total from the last two weeks of snow and wind, which has not seen a thaw as of yet.  This has induced a lot of nesting and organizing from Derek.  He has been cleaning out the back bedroom to make an office so he can work at home more.  He also created a bread starter which we named Gru.  He is quite the baker.  His pizzas go through a 2 day rise, then we end up talking about the proportion of flours, the texture, flavor, and look once baked.  Derek is a man in need of an outdoor wood fired oven.  His second calling in life may be baking...while running a gaming store and brewing beer.  Anyway, I've spent the recent days keeping Theo from getting cabin fever.  If you were not aware, Theo is an active boy.  Before temperatures dropped to -35, we spent a lot of time playing in the snow.  I mostly shoveled.  Once it became forbiddingly cold, I turned to tabletop games, legos, science projects, and puzzles.  Thank goodness for the small trampoline I bought years ago during a forbidding heat wave!   We've also been reading a lot.  I just finished Neil Gaiman's new novel The Ocean at the End of the Lane.  Theo finally read One Fish, Two Fish to me without help.  When I read to him, he selects mostly science books having to do with electricity, weather, magnets, and rocks.  He has a substantial gem and rock collection that he adores.  He mostly sorts, looks up the names, and speculates on how they were formed, etc.  Thankfully the internet is a great resource to answer most of his questions.  It is also great for pictures to cross reference and identify.  Sarah came over to give him a Solstice present of labeled and sorted rough gemstones.  I don't know any other kid who would have jumped and spouted such excitement over a box of rocks.  Part of his Christmas money was spent on rocks at Von's in West Lafayette.  He is still hoping one day he will find a diamond or gold.  Come Spring, he may be splitting geodes on the patio.  Here are some pictures that have been sitting in Picasa for a long time.  I hope you enjoy them!   last one!