Last Day of August

Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when September ends

Kindergarten Continued

Pete had a good first day at Kindergarten.
However, he was disappointed to learn
that he has to go back each day,
with a few vacations mixed in,
until the year 2022.

Here is Pete with his teacher, Miss Kirsch:

Here is a picture of Pete at his desk:

His name card actually says his whole name, since there are two Peter B's in his class. So much for our idea of picking what we thought would be a less common name.

First Day of School

Today was Pete's first day of Kindergarten.

1. Here are Pete and Sam waiting for the bus:

2. Here is Pete in line to get on the bus:


Note: I have not included the photo of Pete driving the bus. The police have asked that we don't post any more photos until they have concluded their investigation.

Unpacking

The good news is that we have unpacked most of the boxes from the move. The bad news is that we have about 700 left.

Unpacking moving boxes is similar to unpacking Birthday gifts from my mom. First, there is the anticipation. You get really excited, because you don't remember what is in the box -- all you know is that it has an intriguing label like "Playroom". So you're thinking it is perhaps some board games, or maybe something cool like a dartboard. You daydream about inviting some friends over for some Pictionary, a little darts, maybe some Daiquiris. Then, there's the letdown. You open the box, and it just has some extension cords and a few manilla folders with old utility bills.

I had a dream last night that I was unpacking some boxes that I found in a corner of the basement. Then I find Pete in one of them.

Kindergarten Countdown

Pete is getting ready to start
Kindergarten on Monday.
He got a new Spongebob
backpack from grandma.
In the picture, he is trying
it on and Sam sees Spongebob
and is chasing him around the
room. I'm a little worried that
Pete will get on the bus and Sam
will say "Spongebob" and get
on behind him and before we
realize what happened they'll
both be off to school.

Dinner Quiz

Trivia Quiz

What will Pete say when you ask him what he wants for dinner?

a. surprise me
b. pizza
c. I've had pizza every night this month, so let's try something else tonight
d. anything you spend your valuable time and effort preparing for me would be fine

(Answer: b)

Sam's Item Du Jour

Sam develops unpredictable attachments to various objects. He will pick them up and not put them down until he becomes more enamored with another object or otherwise distracted.

The other day, Sam's object of the evening was a large piece of exercise equipment. He sat with it for an entire 30-minute episode of Wiggles. Then he wanted to take it into his crib, but we managed to pry it out of his hands in exchange for a tennis ball.

Weekend Report

Here are some things Pete accomplished this past weekend:

1. Invented his own language called Craimosho. If you have any questions about this, you will have to ask Pete. I don't speak Craimotian.

2. Taught Sam how to chew juice
3. Learned to climb the plum tree in the front yard, and make the tree talk.

Birthday Photo

Pete decided on Chuck E Cheese's for his
birthday dinner.

We did the booth where it takes your
picture for 1 token (even cheaper than
Wal-Mart!). When I brought it in to the
office, I found the same photo that we took
on his birthday two years ago. Here are
the two photos. It makes for an interesting
comparison. I'm just glad I'm not wearing the same shirt.

Future Economist

One of the gifts Pete got for his birthday on Tuesday was "My First Encyclopedia". He was reading it this morning when I was leaving for work.

Me: "What are you reading about? Rocket ships? Elephants?"

Pete: "I'm reading about Jobs!"

Here's Your Soda

Last time Pete was in the office, I told him to go ask Steve if he wants a soda. (I had told Steve that Pete loves to operate the soda machine, so he had been saving 50 cents for Pete's next visit).

So Pete gave Steve his list of choices, got Steve's selection, and took the money. He did a good job working the machine but, unfortunately, he somehow managed to drop the soda two or three times on the way back to Steve's office.

He gave Steve the soda and said "Here's your soda. Don't open it right away."

Pete is 5

Pete turns 5 today. He gets to pick where he wants to go to dinner tonight. Last I heard, he is agonizing between Chuck E Cheese's or Friendly's.

Last night we went to Tom's house to watch the Eagles game. Here is a picture of the last time he wore his Eagles shirt, during last season's NFC Championship Game. It's hard to see the shirt, since he found a pile of Mardi Gras necklaces and decided that the Eagles would win if he could put on all of them.

Last 28 Videos of Sam

Sam, when you grow up you are going to ask us why we have no video of you. The answer is that it is entirely your fault.

The last 28 videos we have of Sam are all as follows:

1. Sam has just stopped doing something wonderful and interesting, like stacking 14 blocks to spell verisimilitude while singing Ave Maria
2. Sam senses something, looks around, spots video camera
3. Sam runs toward video camera
4. Super close-up of Sam's eyeball
5. The inside of Sam's mouth

Sam Does What You Do

Yesterday at the pool Christy felt a mosquito on her cheek so she smacked it. Then Sam walked up to her and smacked her on the cheek.

Never Never Land

Pete has taken a liking to the word "never". Here is an example of a conversation:

Me: "Hey Pete, can you grab that magazine on the coffee table and bring it over here."

Pete: "NEVER!!!"

Pete's Dog Names

Pete likes coming up with names for things. Here is a picture of Pete with his dogs, and his names for them.


Wilvis
Dominos
Ground
Gus
Basket
Police Doodle
Plushy
Super Pal
Pillow Dog
Mini
Puppy
Tara
Pluto
Portrait
Snow Dog
Little Ground with Mustache
Hats

If you are really bored, you can try to match the names up with the dogs in the picture.

Sam's Personal Items

Sam always needs to have one thing in each hand when going for a walk in the stroller. This would seem reasonable, with a variety of useful implements such as a drink, a small toy, book, etc. However, the actual selection process does not involve standard logic. Here are the implements Sam selected on our last three walks:

1: left hand - fork; right hand - case for Casper DVD
2: left hand - TV remote; right hand - Pete's swim shoe
3: left hand - ATM card; right hand - tube from paper towel roll

Website Favorites

Here is a list of Pete's critera for carefully evaluating and adding websites to Favorites:

-- start of list --

(1) it is a website

-- end of list --

Mr. Folder

This is how we discovered that Pete knows how to type. A few months ago I was looking for something under Favorites. I noticed in addition the the Mike and Christy folders, there was a new folder called "Mr. Folder".


I said to Christy "why did you create a new folder of favorites called Mr. Folder?". She said "I thought you created it". Then we look over at Pete and he has that mischievous grin.

Nintendo - Clothing Optional

We rigged up the kids slide in the yard so it goes right into the kiddie pool. Pete likes to set up the hose so it's like a water slide. When we came back in the house, I was toweling them off when they both ran over and started playing video games. So I grabbed the camera and took this photo.

Chess Break

Here is a picture of me and Pete taking a break from packing for the move. He is getting better at chess. The only concept he doesn't really have yet is how to win. So far, we just play that you win if you take all of the pieces except the king. Whenever it's not his move, his singular activity is counting how many of my pieces he has taken to make sure it is more than how many of his I have taken.

This morning I'm in the shower and he runs in to the bathroom.
Pete: "Dad, dad, emergency".
I turn the water off.
"What is it?".
Pete: "Can the rook move multiple directions like the knight?"

Away From My Desk

Here's the instant message I had this morning when I returned to my desk after a meeting:

Cookies Before Bed

Pete was a little hyper last night after I gave him a cookie right before bedtime. He was running around Sam's room with the diaper I was trying to put on Sam. Finally I said "Pete, that's a one". Then he said "and a two, and a one-two-three-four" and started doing a tap dance.

Remembering Names

Pete gets very annoyed when you do not know the names of the characters on his TV shows. Not just the main characters, but also the monkey, the monkey's robot, the monkey's robot's cousin who is visiting for the weekend, etc. So I like to annoy him by saying stuff like "hey, that yellow dog is being mean to that guy". Then he pauses the show, slowly turns to me, and says "hel-LO, the dog is Corneil and the guy is Bernie". I can make smoke come out of his ears by saying "hey, that yellow Sponge guy isn't listening to the pink starfish" or "wow, that red dog is bigger than that house".

Of course, Pete inherited the ability to remember names from Christy. If she could harness this ability for remembering military targets, we could make a fortune from the US government. Example, I'll walk into the room during Law and Order and say "hey, that bailiff looks oddly familiar" and she'll say "it's Blake Clark. Don't you remember, he played Wally in St. Elmo's Fire and the security guard in Corky Romano".