Kasin gets a letter from school.

 

Dear Parents,

Kasin has been recommended for an enrichment class. Students recommended for this program are those who show high academic ability in class and demonstrate abilities such as creative problem solving, showing solutions in more than one way, spontaneously applying acquired skills to new situations, and rapid understanding of new material. Students show an interest in and a curiosity about a wide variety of subjects and have mastered many grade level skills. Enrichment uses these skills to encourage learning by providing fast-paced, hands-on activities. Enrichment areas of study include: creative thinking skills, logical thinking skill, and attribute/classification skills.  

 

 Please sign and return this form if you would like your child to be included, I look forward to working with him.

Sincerely, 
GT Lady from Denali

 

WELL. There’s that. the letter said that this does NOT mean he’s being recommended for GT (they call it ELP these days.) but if he stays in the top 5th % of his grade till 3rd, they will test him for GT that year. Interesting. Apparently this program was designed for primary grade kids because they are trying to keep kids who have already mastered their grade level skills engaged in some kind of learning. 

Ironically, Kasin has been in BIG of trouble at home! He came home Monday afternoon crying hysterically and completely beside himself, to the point that Ross was worried and called me in class so I could talk to him. He made up a huge long story (LIE) about how a 2nd grader "beat him up" in the gym during indoor recess (it’d been like -30, -40 for a couple weeks up till yesterday, 2 above! WOOT!) and how the duty/supervisor person didn’t see because some other kids were getting in trouble and he didn’t tell them about it. Uhh.. okay, weird, but he was SO upset, we were like, okay, I’ll talk to the teacher. Ross felt so bad for him he brought the Wii upstairs to the bedroom (all of our electricity is out in the basement and half of Milo’s room) and let him watch Netflix instead of doing his homework. 

The next morning, as I’m getting ready to drop Kasin off and come inside to talk to his teacher, he says "No, no, don’t talk to the teacher! I made it up, I was really just crying because I was cold from walking home, since I didn’t pack all of my snow gear on Monday morning."  

NOW, he apparently felt it necessary to lie about this because he was reminded that morning, as he is EVERY morning, to make sure that his gloves and hat and snowpants were all in his backpack. He argued with me that morning, saying that since they have indoor recess, he wasn’t going to need them. I told him to make sure they were there, because you never know what could happen and he may need them after all, despite not having outside recess. And then, lo and behold, he had to walk home from school and didn’t have his gear, and at -40, that’s not something fun to do.

SO, rather than tell us he was cold and didn’t have all of his gear, he made up a huge story so he wouldn’t get a lecture about packing his gear and following directions.

I was nottttttttttttttttttttttttttt happy.

He got grounded for the rest of the week and every waking moment spent at home has been devoted to either homework or housework. He is not allowed to have a sleep over with Grandma Julie this weekend, and also may not have his customary movie night on Friday. He hasn’t been allowed to watch TV or Netflix or touch the Wii or his DS. YUP, good times.

So, there’s that.

The other day he also randomly said to me, "I hardly ever get ANY attention, you’re always with MILO!" and I reminded him that Milo is a baby and needs me to do every single thing for him, whereas he is a big kid and can do many things on his own, and that he also gets lots of one on one time when Milo is in bed and he gets to do things Milo can’t do, like stay up an hour later on school nights, have movie nights and popcorn with me and Ross, and so forth. He seemed okay with that. 
 

In NON kid related news, Jamie and I have been hitting the gym 3x a week for an hour. Although, Fridays sometimes I don’t make it because I get called in at work to cover a shift. (two weeks in a row this week and they already asked me to cover someone next week, as well.) So that’s nice, it feels good. I’ve been eating horribly, though, but that’s next on the list. I’ll get in this groove, working out and going to the gym, and then work on intake. I’m thinking about it, just not making changes. 

Ross started this completely ridiculous fight with me the other night right as I was going to sleep (POOR timing, sir.) and it was basically a fight about Milo’s birthday party, which is on the 18th.. He wanted to do VERY small, his parents and our siblings, and he wanted it to be at home. Well, I stated several reasons that I DO NOT want it at home, our house is a series of small levels (3 floors) and it’s hard to put everyone on one level of the house at one time, plus we don’t have enough seats and our kitchen is too small, plus I don’t feel like cleaning to the degree that I feel having a bday party here would require. We would also have to buy or make all the food for everyone. NOT my idea of a good time.

I wanted just a large venue we could use to invite family AND friends, put up some decorations, all sit together at a couple of big tables and eat, drink, talk, hang out. Nothing huge, just more than our house can handle. I also really wanted to invite a bunch of other people, not just family. We don’t really have that much family here in town, and we aren’t especially close to most of them, unfortunately.. so I felt like it was unfair not to invite other people who I KNEW wanted to come and celebrate with us, and who have been around more for Milo’s life, and who I actually would RATHER HAVE THERE! 

So I reserved the party room at Pizza Hut for Milo’s birthday on the 18th and Kasin’s bday on the 26th. I know, it’s a lot of Pizza Hut. BUT, oh well. I figured I’d get a few pizzas and some salads and sodas and we’ll have games for Kasin’s party and a couple of little activities for Milo’s. I’m going to print out some Happy Birthday colouring sheets and have everyone decorate one for Milo’s birthday and make them into a First Birthday Book with photos and I’ll save a napkin and some stuff from his decor to put in there. Should be cute.

ANYWAYS, Ross launched into this huge tirade about how he never gets to make any decisions in raising his own child and I’m being absurd and more than 5 people is completely ridiculous for a 1 year old’s birthday, etc etc, basically gone completely off his rocker, seriously freaking the eff out, VERY mad. RIDICULOUS!!!!!!!!!!  It was obscene. We didn’t speak to each other for more then 24 hours because he was mad about ~*how many people I’m inviting to our baby’s 1st birthday*~ .. is that not the most ridiculous thing you’ve EVER heard or what? *shakes head* he was SO rude and mean about it I was just MAD about it. He wasn’t making ANY sense, I was like "Ross, I don’t

understand, can you tell me WHY you don’t want more people there?" and he was like "OF COURSE YOU DONT UNDERSTAND! YOU JUST ALWAYS WANT WHAT YOU WANT!" …uhh.. what?! Dude. Chill.

So that was a hoot. 

Wanna hear what the kids are getting for their bdays? OF COURSE YOU DO!

For Kasin:
 Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot books 1-4  a supplemental book of Captain Underpants short stories
 Ricky’s Might Robot activity book 

 the Ugly Doll guide book to the Uglyverse  Ugly Doll search and find book.  calendar
 Tray Ugly Doll,  Ket Ugly Doll,  Classic Sonic game collection for his DS
 Mario and Luigi, Bowser’s Inside Story,  Sonic figure,  Tails figure. (He’s having a Sonic and Tails Bday Theme)

That’s all I’ve gotten him.. so I guess we’ll see what else he gets, I feel like that’s plenty because the games are expensive.

For Milo: 

 Little People cars for his race track , Laugh & Learn Puppy, 
  Melissa and Doug puzzles, Fine Motor Skills Cow! 
Dishes for his play kitchen set, 
More Pots/Pans and Utensils for his ktichen,
A Dr Kit

I was also planning to get him a swing for outside but it seems silly to wrap that and have it be a present, since he won’t know what it is. lol and won’t be able to use it for a few more months. 

ALRIGHT, I gotta get ready for work.