Birthday Wish List

The whole family went to the theater last night to watch "How To Train Your Dragon", as part of an early birthday celebration for Todd. What a wonderful, charming movie! Todd enjoyed himself immensely, as did Mommy and Daddy :-)

Here's a few ideas for gifts for Todd this year (I also try to keep the box in the sidebar to the right updated, but it seems nobody really reads it anyway):

• Game of "Clue": He played this with his caretaker at after-school care, and enjoyed it, asking for it for his birthday. I suppose there is the more age-appropriate "Clue Jr", but he played the actual adult version, and seemed to do okay with it, so that might be the better deal. Less likely he'll outgrow it too quickly, as he does with most toys that are supposed to be within his age range.

• Books! Chapter books! The boy is a readin' fool ;-) He's been reading several books out of the Beverly Cleary series (he's read all the Ralph S. Mouse and all the Henry Huggins books), and I thought it was a good time to get him started on the Ramona Quimby series, which I loved as a child. They come in boxed sets: http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Ramona-Collection-Beverly-Cleary/dp/006196090X/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1274282591&sr=1-1-fkmr1

• A new boomerang to replace the one he lost a few weeks ago :-)

Saving turtles

As you may have read in one of my previous posts on my blog, I donated to the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Florida as they became deluged with turtles rescued from the waters of the southeastern United States, stunned from the sudden cold snap. I told Todd about this, and he wanted to help, too: he promised to donate money to such causes every year... once he grew up. When we pointed out that he already had plenty of money from which to donate from, he became a little less enthusiastic about the prospect ;-)

This weekend we got some more library books, and one of them was a book on animals which included a section on endangered and extinct animals. Featured amongst the endangered animals? The Kemp's Ridley sea turtle, of which there are only 900 in the world. When I explained to Todd what endangered and extinct meant, he grew very concerned. As he clapped his book shut, he declared:

"When I grow up, I want to work in a turtle hospital!"

:-D

Double Master Reader

Awards ceremony at school today for the Fall into Reading program. Daddy and I missed it, unfortunately. First graders had to read a minimum of 480 minutes by the end of the six-week program. Those who read twice that were deemed "Master Readers".

Todd, with his voracious reading, read 1968 minutes. He was a Double Master Reader!

Prizes consisted of books, pencils, candy, a certificate and ice cream.

Let the reading continue! :-)

More on reading

Todd is continuing to read while in LA. Oma's also working on his handwriting, as it's pretty messy, still.

He's gotten into the habit now of reading quietly to himself in bed while Oma showered. The book? A children's Bible. But not the preschool Bible that he used to read. This one is a book with much smaller print encompassing larger pages, and with fewer pictures between each chapter. It's a book meant for kids around 8 years old or so.

And when Oma told me this, pointing out it wasn't something you normally give 5-year-olds, Todd piped up with a reason why it was okay to give it to him:

"I'm five and a half!"

In this photo, Todd reads to a bevy of stuffed animals in bed:

Leaving notes

Now that Todd can read, we've found that it's convenient to leave notes for him to read in the morning, when he gets up and we might still be asleep. One time, I left a note on Daddy's door instructing Todd not to wake him (Daddy had gone to bed late the night before). He read it, and waited patiently for Daddy to get up :-)

The next night, Todd wanted to sleep in that room, and wrote a note for Daddy saying, "please don't wake me up. But you can come in quietly"

Another time, I set out cereal and water on the table for him to help himself when he got up. To make sure he saw it, I left a note on our door reminding him of what was on the table, the one he would have to go through to go into the living room. I also added bright colors on it to attract attention. Sure enough, when I got up, he had eaten his breakfast, taken his vitamins, and drunk his water.

Yet another time, I packed a corn dog into his lunch bag. Knowing he'd eat it more easily with ketchup, I included a small tupperware dish of ketchup. However, I was afraid that he wouldn't close the lid tight enough after lunch, thereby making the leftover ketchup spill into his bag, so I left a note on the lid of the dish, asking him to make sure he closed it tight when he was done. And sure enough, he did!

It's so handy being able to leave notes for the little man!

Progress report

Met with Todd's teacher today for a progress report. He's doing fine in all areas. His reading is doing especially well. She tested him up until 5th grade, and he was still able to read well at that level. Not only his sight-reading but his phonics were good, too, enabling him to sound out unfamiliar words. So far so good!

Making lists

Todd's class read the "Frog and Toad" story in which Toad makes a list of things to do that day. Inspired by the story, the kids set about creating lists of their own. Todd's list contained things like

Eat barkfust
Take callium (calcium)
Play on the conputer
Read stories to my mom

etc... all of it written by himself, with very little spelling help!

Since then, he's had fun making lists at home, too!