PJ Day

Matthew was very excited about pajama day at preschool!  (It was only for his class, not Jamesie's.  But James didn't mind.)

They're doing some fun crafts in the 4s --  Mattie came home with a shoe planter, and explained that it was white pansies.  (He further explained that if you wanted more plants, you had to use a bigger shoe.)

Daddy's Little Helper

 From this weekend.  :)

Pumpkinless Patch

   It's the very start of pumpkin patch season, and we were at the opening day for Green Acres farm.  Indeed, it's so early in the season that they didn't even have any pumpkins there yet!  But they had bouncy houses, and that was mostly what Mattie and James cared about.  :)  It was great because it wasn't too crowded, so the boys had the bouncy farm and bouncy obstacle course largely to themselves.

They also enjoyed the "spider web" to crawl around on (James), and the hay bales to jump on (Mattie). 

And the concession truck had funnel cake, which made Mike happy. 

The boys have definitely grown since last time we were there!

Cooler Weather

 Hey, fall might actually arrive this year!  Shorts and sweatshirts this morning.  :)

POD

 We had our first parent of the day session with Mattie's class this week.  We didn't want James to feel left out, so we both went in.  (The scheduling folks coordinated so that we bring the snacks on the same day for both classes -- fewer times to have to remember it that way!) 

Of course, both of the boys were pretty happy doing their own thing in the classroom, so it didn't seem like such a big deal to them that we were there (unlike last year).  But it was nice to get to see what was going on and start to get to know some of the other kids.

But we were so focused on the snack that we walked out the door without the boys' lunches!  Doh!  Mike had to pop across the street to a restaurant to get them a sandwich.  (And then, he left to go home without telling me, and took my school bag with him!  One of those days...)

Mattie had a fever last night, so we stayed home from school today.  Hopefully he'll be on the mend for tomorrow!

Now It Can Be Told

 A couple weeks ago, we went to Duke gardens with some friends.  There was a pond there that was completely covered with algae, so that it was hard to tell that there was water underneath.  (See the fourth and fifth pictures here.)  There was a gazebo-type structure on the bank of the pond with steps leading down to it.  Well, of course that was the point on the path where James and his friend were running up ahead around a curve, just beyond where Mike and the other adults could see them.  I was across the pond with Matthew, and I saw James heading down the steps -- and he just stepped right into the water. 

Fortunately it was not super deep (although it was slippery and maybe up to his shoulders), so James was kind of pushing off the bottom and mostly keeping his head above water, but he wasn't able to get himself out. I yelled and Mike came running and waded in to get James.  By this point, Mattie and I had run over, too.  James cried a little bit when he was first out -- I'm sure it was a shock! -- but he recovered quickly.  ("I went this way, and I went that way, and then I saw Daddy!)


(Then, of course, minutes after that, our friends' son wiped out on the path and scraped up his knee -- who knew the gardens were so dangerous??)

So, it was all well and good, except that Mike had seen news reports about a brain-eating amoeba that lives in warm bodies of water -- infections are extremely rare but almost always fatal.  We were pretty sure we didn't have to worry, but we kept a closer eye on him the next few days just in case!  He's now past the danger zone, so it can just be an amusing story.  :)  (The only casualty appears to be the SIM card in Mike's cell phone.)

Mall Rides

 Our errands yesterday took us to Northgate Mall, where the main attraction was the kiddie rides, including a carosel!  Matthew picked a reindeer, and Jamesie picked a dragon.  (The boys were also quite pleased with riding the escalator in Sears.)

Soccer!

The boys had their first day of soccer today!  We had the earlier time slot (8:45 AM), which made for a slightly painful morning.  (Of course, this whole year is "sleeping in" compared to kindergarten, which starts at 7:30 AM.)

It was funny -- you could tell the first-time parents (not sure how to get to the soccer fields) versus the veteran parents (equipped with their folding chairs).

The coach is a dad of one of the other boys on the team.  He seems very nice (he started out with the kids by saying, "I just have one rule -- have fun!").  The boys had a good time, although James ran out of steam in the middle and walked off the field.  After some milk, he was ready to go back in.

They did a couple of drills and played some games of "fox and chickens" where the foxes had to chase and pull the pinnie (like a flag) off of the chicken.  The coach was the chicken at first, and then some of the kids got to be the chicken.  Mattie was a chicken and quite enjoyed it.

Then they did a game where the coach threw out the ball and the kids were supposed to chase after it and kick it back into the goal.  The first time, one of the kids just picked it up and ran into the goal (and half the kids ran into the goal with it).  The next time, it went out of bounds on one side; the time after that, they made it into the goal...on the field next door to theirs.  It was hilarious. But by and large, they all seem to be doing pretty well for their age, at least in my very inexperienced judgment.

They're in the 3-4 age group, but I think there must be some division by age -- the kids on the other half of the field looked smaller and had a lot more parents out there.  :)

Change of Clothes

The preschool has everyone send in a change of clothes for their kids, in case of accidents.  I optimistically packed long pants for the boys' spare clothes, thinking that it would be cooling down soon.  But James's extra clothes didn't even make it through the first week of school -- he came home in them today!  (I won't ask if that's some kind of record.)  It wasn't a potty accident, but a big splash (by him) at the water table that got him all wet (and apparently one of the grown-ups as well). 

Mattie enjoyed being in Jamesie's class today, though we didn't get much detail beyond that. :)

This and That

 I was printing out a document this evening, and Mattie asked me to print something for him.  I asked him what he wanted me to print, and he wanted "I love my James.  -- Matthew"  Aww, brotherly love!  (So I printed it out for him and he put it in his "library" in the bedroom, and "read" it to us at bedtime.)

For Mattie's class, the kids are supposed to write their name on a piece of paper before they come in.  Yesterday, Mattie just drew sort of a scribble, but today he did quite a respectable M -- progress!  :)

Jamesie went to the audiologist yesterday.  They cleaned out his ears again -- I think the new earmolds (which have a longer piece that goes into his ear) are contributing to the earwax problem, so the audiologist humored us and is ordering new ones.  We'll see!  He did a great job with his hearing test, and was his usual charming self.  They were impressed with his arithmetic!  :)