Today, I dropped off the kids like I normally do, Brandon at CDC, then Peyton, then I came back to Brandon’s school to help out with their Fine Arts and Music Everyday (FAME) project. The kids are exposed to an artist and composer with each lesson, and they emulate an artist’s work in the process. Today, it was Pablo Picasso. The FAME parent leader was presenting for the second time, as she’d already given the lesson to her daughter’s third grade class. She brought what she’d learned from that to today’s experience. She gave me some tasks as soon as I walked in the door, since I was about 10 minutes early. I got to work, and I tried to sneak in, so as not to disrupt the students, who were working quietly. I didn’t want to make a scene, so I snuck in behind where Brandon was sitting. I think he didn’t want to make a big deal either, and when I did catch his eye, he quickly waved to me. The FAME leader started with a short presentation, while I passed out materials. She was asking the kids about superstitions. She asked the kids if they knew of any good superstitions, and a few raised their hands. When she asked if any knew of bad superstitions, a few more hands went up. Brandon was among them, and he patiently waited for his name to be called. “Ripping a red envelope.” The mom politely told him she’d never heard of that, but that it may be one. After she was done, the music was started, and it was a piece from a ballet. The students started working, then I told her where he’d gotten that superstition from, quite possibly just one of our own family’s traditions, but I haven’t taken a large sample from other “red envelope-giving” families. Brandon took his time, and put forth a lot of effort into the creation of his artwork. He completed the task as directed, adding detail, and coloring with his pastels. I was proud to see him behave, take turns, and participate in the lesson! He didn’t need any reminders, he sat in his seat, and didn’t shout out, as I’d seen him in the past, even just last year. The kids were finished by 10 am, and they even helped us clean up without being asked! The FAME parent was commenting how the first graders did a better job than the third graders in terms of their work and clean-up. The kids were being dismissed for recess, and I walked out with Brandon. I gave him a big hug, and told him how proud I was to watch him in class. I told him to have a great rest of the day, and to have a good practice. I went in to work, and then left a little later to pick Peyton up. We didn’t have as much time today for dinner, so we stayed home instead of our usual walk to the park. She didn’t complain, so I was happy about that. As soon as she was done with her bath, the boys came home. She was excited to ask Daddy to give her some numbers so she could tell him if they were “odd” or “even”. Surprisingly, I saw that the numbers were written down on the board in the first grade class as they were learning about them, too. Dave quizzed her on a few numbers, and she got them all right. We got them down around 730 pm, since both were up at 550 am!! Hopefully they fall asleep quickly, as I’ll be going to the gym.
This is what Peyton ate after dinner. Kathy gave us two more this evening, and Peyton told me, “You can have the white one if you want to.” She really wanted the purple one!
