Xander's First Report Card

On Friday Xander brought home his first report card of the year. I'm happy - and proud! - to say that he got high marks mostly across the board. He's right at the top of things in Language and Literacy (just like his Mom!), and doing well in Math, Science & Technology.

Xander's Learning Behaviors are good - his teacher thinks he has a good attention span, which is shocking! No surprisingly, he got excellent marks for Art. Once we get into Group Participation, though, things downslide a bit. Here is the note his teacher added:

"Xander is excelling academically in Kindergarten. He understands the concepts we are learning and adds to the class conversation with things he knows. I expect Xander to sail into first grade with no problem.

His behavior issues have been a problem at different times througout the year. Xander likes to have things his way and often becomes negative about the activity we are doing if he doesn't get his way. We are continuing to work on this. When he does things well, he is very pleased with himself."

Yeah, behavior has been an issue with Xander at school. He fights, he says mean things, he ignores the rules. We've tried incentive charts, both home and at school, and the taking away of privileges. Basically it boils down to Xander being Xander, so all we can do is keep trying to get him to be the nice boy I know he can be.

If anyone has advice on that, I'd sure take it!

Monster Wall

Xander was big into drawing monsters yesterday. And of course we had to hang them all on the wall in his bedroom. (And yes, I had to take them down at bedtime because they were too scary!)

It was very funny, actually, because once the pictures were up Xander quizzed me on monster knowledge, using one of his drumsticks as a pointer. What does fish man eat? Fish. Who has the pointiest teeth? Vampire. Who has the sharpest eyes? Orc. What an imagination!!

Here we have zombie, Frankenstein, werewolf, and vampire.

Next we have mummy, fish man, troll and skeleton.

Finishing up the lineup are orc and ghost. Scared yet??

New Tattoo

If you know, or have ever met, my husband, you know he's a tattoo person. He started getting them when he was in the Marine Corps and hasn't stopped. At one point he was getting one a year, but for a while had to put that on hold. I think he's making up for lost time, because he's gotten two so far this year. This is the new one:

It's a koi fish, kind of a memorial to the fish we lost during our two power outages this winter. Apparently the new plan now is to get a whole sleeve done. (For those not down with the lingo, it means he wants his whole arm to be tattooed.)

Joe consults me briefly about each tattoo, even though he knows I'm not a fan. One or two are okay, but he's got way too many! Still, he doesn't smoke (anymore), he doesn't drink (anymore), and he doesn't fool around (who has the energy?). I can't begrudge him the tattoos. Of course, that tune may change once he gets his whole arm covered!

Father and Son

Let's be clear about one thing right off the bat - Xander is a Momma's boy. He always has been. I'm the one he wants in most situations, be it for playing or crying about a boo-boo. His relationship with Joe tends to be more contentious. Xander pushes Joe's buttons, and my husband has hundreds of them! Joe also gets impatient, and when you're dealing with a slower-than-tar five year old you end up wanting to bang your head against the wall.

And then there are days like yesterday. Xander and I went with Joe to the laundromat - usually Joe does this chore alone - and Xander was so happy to help with all aspects of laundry cleaning. The caption of this picture should be, "I shall call him Mini-Me."

Back at home, Xander cuddled up next to Joe to watch him play Heroes on the computer, a game he's too little to play but is obsessed with. He must've sat there for an hour, watching Joe play.

I hope that as Xander gets older, he and Joe will find more common ground and have more days like this one.