Danny's Martial Arts Class

I signed Danny up for a martial arts class at our local community center and he absolutely loves it. It's been very good for him as far as helping him to concentrate more. He looks forward to Thursday nights when he can go "practice."

On this night they had him "breaking" a board. He thought that was just about the coolest thing ever.



Unfortunately Jayden is still too young to participate, so he has to watch from the sidelines.


Danny really likes his teacher and usually volunteers to go up with him to demonstrate warm-ups for the rest of the class.



We're learning how to patiently wait out turn. Sometimes it's really hard and we can't help but play with the other kids.



But when it's his turn, he's pretty good at following directions

Kindergarten!!!

I can't believe it. He's in kindergarten already. I feel old. Surprisingly I didn't cry. Not surprisingly, neither did he. Danny is in the afternoon session, which is not really convenient, but he's at the school I wanted him to attend. What's that saying? Beggars can't be choosers or something like that?

So, here we are, the pictures from his first day:



Danny and Jayden wait across the street from the school and patiently pose for the first of (as Danny later complained) "WAY too many pictures, mom!" When his baby starts school, he'll understand. Maybe. Or maybe not.



Jayden checks to make sure that I am still behind him. Danny could care less. Mr. Independent.




And here's the school he is attending. Kindergarten is gated in, away from the older kids. (I actually had to take this after we dropped Danny off because, as you will see in the next pictures, the crowd of people waiting to get in to the kindergarten area was, um, very large!)



And here we are among all the anxious parents and ambivalent 5 year olds. I really think that the parents were WAY more nervous than the children. Well, I was anyway.



Danny didn't know what the big deal was about. He entertained himself by making weird faces.



Then the gate opened and with a loud "moo" (okay, I didn't really moo, but felt like it would have been fitting) we were all herded into the kindergarten area.







As we waited to get into the actual classroom, Danny continued to entertain himself by making weird faces.



Antagonizing his little brother



And looking into the windows of the classroom





Finally it was time for him to go inside. He said the obligatory hello to his new teacher (but she wasn't nearly as interesting as the actual classroom apparently)



Found his cubby and put his backpack away



And made himself at home, checking out all the new, cool stuff.





His teacher told the kids to pick out a book



Sit on the rug and read until everyone had a book and was on the rug.



When all the kids were ready, the teacher read the kids a story (The Kissing Hand)



Jayden really liked the book too (but not the crowd of kids).



After story time, we were not so subtly told to leave. At this point, Danny looks up for me, sees me and says "bye mom! See you at 2:30" and promptly ran off to play.



What I want to know is who told him he could grow so fast? (And more importantly make me feel so darned old?)

Brownies

We decided to make brownies today. Yes, from a box. Is there another way to make them? I've heard you can do it from something called "scratch" but darned if I know what that is. Domestic Goddess I am not.



Now, I know that health and human services may have a fit about this, but honestly, you can't make brownies as a kid and not lick the bowl. Isn't that what the whole experience is about?



Danny, of course, dove right in. Jayden wasn't so sure. He had to wait to make sure that Danny didn't keel over from Salmonella poisoning before he'd try some of the batter. Once he saw that Danny was okay, he braved the gooey stuff and took a bite.



He wasn't as into it as Danny, but Danny didn't mind. More for him anyway.

So Pretty....

Danny came across my headband the other day and just had to try it on.



For those Trekkies out there - this is the Jordie LaForge look. Did I just completely date myself? I know I just admitted that I'm a sci-fi geek. :)



After many different styles, Danny finally decided that it looked better as a beard than a hair accessory. What can I say? He's all boy.

Can we fix it?

Jayden has rediscovered Bob the Builder and has been "fixing" everything in the house lately. Good thing most everything in my house is durable.



I'm just hoping he doesn't take it to the extreme and join the Village People!

Who said my baby could grow up so fast?

Today was Danny's "graduation" from preschool. They did the cap and gown thing and even though I thought it was a bit over the top, he looked absolutely ADORABLE. You all should be proud of me, I didn't even cry. I'm saving those tears for the first day of kindergarten. My parents went to the graduation and Danny was really happy they were able to be there.

Here is Danny walking to the area where they had all the kids sit and wait for their "diplomas." Not sure if you can tell from the picture, but that boy was POWER WALKING. Definitely a man on a mission. Either that or he was trying to outrun the heat. At 10 AM it had to be 90 degrees already! Gotta love summers in Sacramento!



The kids finally took their seats. I was surprised that they put Danny and his buddies all together in the front row. To give you an idea on how close they are, the teachers at the preschool have nicknamed them "the boy band." Maybe they thought that the kids would be less disruptive if they were next to each other? Either way, us moms had a good laugh about the teachers keeping the boy band together.

Here is the entire group of kids:



And a close up of the "boy band" (right to left is Danny, Nate, Jadon and Rider)



Danny was one of the first to be called up. Of course, I could only get a picture of the back of him as he decided to do that power walk thing of his again.



I did manage to get him to slow down enough for a picture with my parents



And one of him proudly displaying his "diploma"



He even stopped for a quick picture with his buddy Rider



And Rider's mom was nice enough to take a picture of me and Danny. (YIKES I look scary!)



Another shot of the "boy band" from left to right, Danny, Nate, Rider and Jadon



Danny showing off his graduation picture. Not sure if you can read it or not, but on the bottom it says "most talkative." Do they know my kid or what?



Posing for a picture with his teacher, Ms. Shannon:



Finally it was time to eat.



After lunch, Danny left for his weekend with his dad. I still can't believe that my baby is starting kindergarten. Man, I feel old.

Pathetic

I should be mad. But I'm not. Dan is literally a joke at the daycare. Both of us were there today for Danny's graduation (I can't believe he's going to kindergarten in August!). Dan and I were civil to each other both during and after the ceremony. After he left with the boys (it's his weekend) I went to talk to the principal about Jayden's move into the 3 year old room and find out when I need to get serious about this potty training thing I've been procrastinating on.

And that's when I found out....

Dan submitted paperwork to enroll Raith (Crystal's son) into daycare with Jayden. Now, Dan and I have gone round and round on this issue. Needless to say, I'm not on board. There are many reasons for this. First, Jayden is already having to share his daddy with this new child. Asking him to share his daycare providers just isn't right in my opinion. Second, on days where I pick up the boys, how will Jayden feel if daddy walks in, takes Raith and leaves him behind? Third, how awful would it be for everyone if it just so happened that Crystal and I showed up at the same time to pick up our kids?

Anyway, despite my concerns, Dan has submitted this paperwork. Luckily, the principal of the school told him that without express permission from ME she can't accept the application. Thank goodness for small favors. I already told them that if Raith started preschool there I would be finding alternative care for Jayden. I just can't do that to my little guy (and myself).

I was also told that on the paperwork he filled out, he listed himself as Raith's Step-Father. And from what I was told, everyone there thinks that's tacky to say the least. Considering our divorce is nowhere near complete (and they know this) they thought it was ridiculous that he was calling himself Raith's step father. They also told me that if Dan is calling himself Dad to her son, it's pretty obvious that the opposite is happening as well. It gave validity to my complaints about Crystal insiting my kids call her "mom."

The joys of having to deal with a stupid ex and his bimbo new girlfriend. Seriously, I should be mad, but honestly, I'm just embarassed for the two of them. Just proves the old addage - give someone enough rope and sure enough, they'll hang themselves.