Two best kids in the world?

"Rylan's mom was in the class for her birthday circle. She said Rylan is the best kid in the world."

I could sense a tone of betrayal in his voice, but I was not getting the point. So I asked "so what?"

"But you said I am the best kid in the world, how can there be two best kids in the world?"

This is so incredibly cute. Here he was - supposedly the best kid in the world and right here in his Madrone class there is another best kid, how could that be?

At some point in our lives, we start to ignore all the nice things our parents say about us - thinking they are saying it just to make us happy - they are just sweet nothings. I didn't want him to lose faith in things I say yet. I didn't want him to think he is the best kid only in my world, not in THE world.

I said there are a lot of worlds - its not just one world. That explanation did not stick. He said - oh may be she is the best girl kid, and I am the best boy kid in the world.

There! Problem solved!

I wish it was a movie

A mom super-enthusiastic about live performances, expecting his son to share the enthusiasm - buys tickets to a live show, 6 months in advance - on the day of show comes back from downtown, picks everyone from eastside and goes back to downtown for the live show - and her son says, before the show - oh, it feels like a show - I wish it was a movie!

But on a serious note - he was right - all these shows which have a brand behind them are not very creative or fun. Better are the ones which are based on books or pure imagination.

Milosh's first basketball league

Milosh had mentioned that he likes basketball - because he plays in his school. Heard about this league for 5-6 yr olds and got him enrolled. Watching them play basketball is cuteness overload. Today one kid in defending his side, turned the basketball hoop itself.

Milosh absolutely loves playing basketball - can hardly wait for Saturday. He is thrilled when his team scores - and his smile does not go away while playing. I am also happy he is loving a sport I grew up playing and have so many memories about!

They make everything so cool and fun for kids with team shirts and a ball for every kid. Very happy to have this facility close to home!

Journal writing

In Milosh's school, the teacher has started a daily journal writing for kindergarteners. Milosh is so proud of it. He really looks forward to it everyday. There are days he wants to go to school so he doesn't miss the journal writing.

The teacher writes a line for each kid. And the kids write it in their books. It might be a note about what they did in the class, or about the weather or just that day.

Not sure how the teachers make it so compelling for the kids. We are going to try similar things at home.

Election day at Milosh's school

Milosh understands voting now - he voted for orange,  And the orange won! Thats what they had for their snack next day!

First 10 books that Milosh read!

Milosh had started reading Bob books many many months ago. Every night before sleeping he would read a book to me. But then he suddenly wanted to stop reading altogether. I suspect its because he saw other kids who can read a lot more and faster, and he does not feel like he is "winning" (as you know he must always win). If I asked him to read, he would say - I can only read Bob books. After giving him a long break, I started to wonder what to do next to get him interested in reading. We even explored options like Kumon. But quickly decided against it. Then we subscribed to a service called "Reading Eggs". Since this needed screen time he had a good happy start with it. The interest did not sustain very long. If I ever asked him to come read, he would say - I don't want to - and being a montessori kid, this is pretty much an end of conversation. I got a little concerned and talked to his teacher. She was not concerned; and she said that if he does not want to read by the end of his kindergarten year, then we will change strategies.

Him being a major lego fan; most recently, we decided to incentivize him. We said, if you read 10 books, we will give you a lego set. We picked the lego set on Amazon with him. The trick worked!! He suddenly started reading. At one point, he wanted to squeeze in books that he either did not read or were just super easy one word type of books. But with the help of his naani, he got back to really wanting to read 10 books. I am so thankful to his naani for getting him potty trained; and now giving him the needed attention to read and write! Over a period of about 10 days he finished reading 10 books!! He was so proud, he did a happy dance! He also loved the lego set that he got - an ambulance plane - which he absolutely loved; made it in just a few minutes; and took it with him everywhere, including school.