Spinning Webs

For those of you who don't know, Ben is a superhero. Sometimes he's Batman, sometimes he's Robin, sometimes he's Spiderman, sometimes he's Flash, sometimes he's a Power Ranger, sometimes he's Iron Man, sometimes he's Ice Man...you get the picture. He is a man of many talents and powers. Now he has an electronic web blaster that makes realistic sounding web shooting noises just like Spiderman. He absolutely loves the fact that he can shoot webs and is actually pretty good at it. He can shoot the webs over cars, over your head, through trees...you name it, he can do it. Here's a few pictures of him in action.

Homecoming

This weekend is the first ever big Homecoming weekend at MICDS. Last Friday they sent t-shirts home for every kid, teacher and staff member in the whole school to wear yesterday to show their school spirit. Today everyone's supposed to wear red and green (school colors) to show their school spirit. Ben wore his Homecoming t-shirt yesterday (it was HUGE on him), and today he wore a green polo with a red t-shirt underneath since he doesn't own any MICDS gear yet. I also bought him some red and green beads and red and green flashers from the 8th graders who were selling them to raise money this morning. Tomorrow we'll go to the carnival and BBQ lunch that they have but will skip the rest of the festivities this year. At 4 there's not much interest in school sports, but who doesn't love a good carnival?

Here's Ben in his Homecoming shirt yesterday. He was a bit reluctant to wear it until he got to school yesterday and saw that everyone else in the whole place was wearing theirs too.

Ear Infection

I was right. It's an ear infection. We saw the doctor this morning, and he prescribed antibiotics and another kind of ear drops. The doctor asked a bunch of questions (in case you're curious, Ben reported that his ear is "juicy" - aka drainage), and one of the questions was about Ben's energy level. It takes a LOT to get the kid down. His energy level is as high as ever. He'll definitely be at school tomorrow. Frankly, he probably could have gone today, but if you're going to miss school, the time to do it and not feel guilty about it or have a problem with it is when you're 4.

Poor Baby

My poor baby woke up last night about 10:45 screaming, crying and writhing in pain and was totally inconsolable. He was clutching at his left ear and rubbing and pushing along his left jawline. He was acting the same way that he did last summer when he had a double ear infection with a perforated ear drum. After about 45 minutes of this we called the pediatrician's exchange and spoke to a nurse from Children's Hospital who was taking the calls. She asked some questions and prescribed some numbing ear drops that I ran out to get at the pharmacy. With some ibuprofen in him, he finally calmed down enough to fall asleep while I was picking up the drops. He woke up this morning right before 8, much calmer. He was hungry and asking for breakfast so I took that as a good sign. In the meantime, he has a doctor's appointment at 10 this morning and is taking the day off from school for some R and R. He ate a little bit of breakfast and easily agreed to more ibuprofen and ear drops - things he REFUSED last night (but were forced into him except for the ear drops which he was asleep for by the time I got home so we skipped those). If he does have an ear infection, he'll get antibiotics and be as good as new within a day or two. He tends to respond pretty quickly to antibiotics so I'm not too concerned. He's pretty tough. It just made for a very long night for all of us.

Incidentally, I evidently have magic kisses. Just before I went to the pharmacy last night Ben had me kiss and kiss and kiss his jawline area just under his ear for several minutes, and it seemed to really calm him and make him feel better. I also vigorously rubbed his back at the same time. I guess I really *do* have magic powers!

Soccer Clinic

Today was the soccer clinic for the soccer team that Ben is playing on this fall. The entire JK class at MICDS - both rooms - are playing soccer together through the Olivette Athletic Association this fall (except for one boy who lives in Illinois - I don't blame them one bit for not dragging back in just to play soccer). There were enough kids who wanted to play for 2 teams of 12 kids each so both teams are all MICDS kids which is kind of nice. Today was the soccer clinic and next weekend starts 8 weeks of games (8 very long weeks...). Based on Ben's interest in the soccer clinic (all 40 or so minutes of the 1 hour clinic - if he even made it that long), I would *guess* that he's probably not going to get a soccer scholarship to the Ivy League school of his dreams (or Stanford...that would be good too). I think we're going to have to put all of our eggs in one basket and go strictly for an academic scholarship and skip the idea of being a scholar-athlete. Now, I'm not totally delusional. I know that he's only 4 and that things could totally change, but let me tell you - there were some kids who were REALLY into it today. Ben, unfortunately, was not one of them. With him, it's fun until he's done then that's it. Forget it. He was much more interested in the water and pretzels that I brought him (Sidenote: While Ben was sitting on the ground eating his pretzels and drinking his water once he decided he'd had it with soccer, he was singing the Big Mac song from McDonald's. He is so totally *my* kid!).

We got our uniforms today. Thank God we got the coveted color of blue! Some of the teams had these eye-popping neon colored uniforms that were a little tough on the eyes. And in case you're wondering, the number on the back of Ben's soccer uniform is 11. It was what we were randomly handed, and it works for us. Incidentally, Ben loves the shin guards we got yesterday because according to him they look like something a Power Ranger would wear. Whatever it takes, right?

Back To School Night

Last night was the Lower School Back to School Night at MICDS. They started with a program in the lunch room where the Head of the Lower School greeted us and then all of the specialty teachers spoke. They sure make school sound like fun! After a few minutes of mingling everyone broke out to their respective classrooms. JK started out in JK Room A where both lead teachers (Mr. Wuertz from Room B - Ben's teacher - and Mrs. Moulton from Room A) went over the daily schedule. After that all of the Room B parents headed over to Room B where Mr. Wuertz walked us through a day and all of the different stations in the room. I think I would flunk Junior Kindergarten. They do so much work! It does seem like a lot of fun though. If you ask Ben what is favorite thing to do at school is, he always says, "Play" so he must be enjoying himself. So far school has been fun for him, and that makes me really happy. When we were driving into the entrance where the big monument sign is this morning, Ben said quite enthusiastically, "I love MICDS!" That's exactly what I want to hear! It *almost* makes getting up while it's still dark outside worth it (and it would take a lot to make getting up that early worth it).

If you're interested, here's how Ben spends his days:

8:00 am - Arrival/Playground
8:30 am - Morning Meeting
8:50 am - 10:10 am - Literacy Workshop, Sensory Activities and Play
10:10 am - 10:30 am - Sharing/Clean-Up Meeting/Snack
10:30 am - 11:00 am - Co-Curricular (Art, Music, Library, Computer, Spanish)
11:00 am - 11:25 am - Recess
11:30 am - 12 Noon - Lunch
12 Noon - 12:30 pm - P.E.
12:30 pm - 1:00 pm - Co-Curricular/Math Workshop
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm - Rest
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm - Recess/Snack
3:00 pm - 3:30 pm - Dismissal

Who's The Nutcase Now?

Ben definitely doesn't talk like he's only 4 years old. He's got a pretty full vocabulary that he seems to have no problem sharing. It includes lots of phrases that are totally normal but are absolutely hysterical coming out of a 4 year old's mouth. Some examples:

"Let me tell you something..."

"Are you crazy?!"

"You're a nutcase!"

"Actually..."

"First of all..."

"Second of all..."

This morning (and come to think of it, the last few mornings) when I walk him into his classroom at school he almost immediately asks me when I'm leaving. It's not because he wants me to stay. Oh no. My kid wants me to LEAVE, and he wants me to do it NOW. It's actually kind of funny. Don't get me wrong - I'm thrilled that he wants to be at school and doesn't feel the need for me to stick around - but he's actually trying to get rid of me. It'll be really interesting to see what happens as he gets older. He'll probably tell me to slow down when I get to Warson Road so that he can jump out of the moving car and head onto campus by himself.