Homework

Last week Maya got her first packet of homework that is to be worked on each night at home. It was my turn with Maya this week so we worked on her second packet of homework. The homework so far consists of worksheets taken from some sort of workbook covering Language Arts and Math. Then there is the "Name Sheet" where is suppose to practice writing her first name. The worksheets are really easy for Maya and she has no problem going through those. It's the name sheet that we spend most of our time on. It's funny, a few years ago, Maya's daycare provider helped Maya to write her first name and Maya was pretty good at it. All capital letters, but she did a great job at it. Then when she moved into a preschool, she also had to write her name, and I noticed she would write a capital "M" and capital "Y", but lower case "a". And it sort of got sloppy. So now, she struggles to get the lower case "y" correct. She seems to have trouble remembering how to do it. Her "M" is mostly ok, and her "a" is inconsistent...it looks different each time she writes it. So we spend a lot of time working on writing her name. I know she can do it better because I've seen her write it better before.

It's been nice sitting next to her while she does her homework. I guess this has been one of the things I've been looking forward to with having children...helping with their homework. Although I have to really work hard at keeping my cool when she doesn't do the work correctly or decides to do it "her way". Just another part of being a parent...keeping your cool.

Boy Crazy - revisited

Last week Maya informed me she and Francisco were broken up. Then she went into describing what was said by her, by Francisco and the third leg of the Love Triangle, Jaye. I really didn't follow any of it, but I felt like I was watching some sort of teenage romantic comedy...or rather drama. She's been at school less than a month and already she has broken up with her "boyfriend". This past weekend my family had a get together...a camp out in my sister's backyard. Over the weekend, I overheard Maya telling various family members about her breakup with Francisco and how she hoped she could be his friend again. I have no idea if this poor boy even knows what has been going on in Maya's head.

Man, I really don't know how I'm going to survive Maya's high school years.

End of the World

The other day Maya and I were driving and she asked something like, "Where is the end of the world?" I had to ask her to repeat her question because I really didn't understand it. She said again, "Where is the end of the world?" I told her the world is a ball, like an orange and reminded her that she has seen a globe before. But she didn't like my answer and rephrased her question, "No, when will the world end...when all this stuff goes away?" I saw in the rear view mirror she had her hands stretched out and was referring to all the stuff around us.

Man. I didn't know how to answer her question. Why would a five year-old be asking such questions? Why wouldn't a five year-old ask a question like that? I guess it's only natural to ask those sort of questions. I think I told her we didn't know when the world would end, but that only God knows that answer. I guess she was satisfied with that answer because she didn't ask any more questions.

Walking on Water

I haven't fully blogged about this yet, but several weeks ago my sister took Maya and I on Maya's first backpacking trip. I've been hoping to make a more detailed blog entry about this trip, but just yesterday I received this picture from a guy and his son whom we met on the backpacking trip. Maya and this father's son instantly bonded and had a great time together. Maya still talks about her friend. Anyway, I just wanted to post this picture that was sent to me. It's just a great photo. The view of the lake is great, I like Maya and the little boy sitting next to each other and my sister in the background walking on water.

Lollipop

The other day in the car Maya started singing that old song, "Lollipop". She kept singing it over and over. I had never heard her sing it before. Then she said, "I can't get that song out of my head. I just want it out of my head."

I thought it was just funny she said this. I didn't know where she had heard it. I guess she said she heard it on a TV commercial.

I think this was the commercial.

Homework

We got a letter from Maya's teacher that in a few weeks she'll be sending homework home. I guess Maya wanted to get the jump on doing home because each day this week she has asked me to help her do her "homework". At the start of summer I bought a workbook for Maya to do some educational work in. So every night I've had her this week, we've spent some time doing a few pages of work. She actually gets into it...for a period of time...but if it starts to take too long I can tell she gets bored with it and starts to do sloppy work. I think that will be our challenge with Maya...keeping her interested in her work long enough to get it done correctly and neatly. I really think that is the challenge for any school-aged kid.

Maya really needs work with identifying and writing her numbers. She's pretty good with the alphabet, but not good with her numbers. I think I'll have to make up some flashcards or something so we can practice learning her numbers.

If anyone has any ideas on the best way to get her interested in learning her numbers, I'd be happy to hear it.

Camping Trip

This past weekend my high school buddies took our kids camping. This isn't the first time we've done this. We did it last summer except one of our friends wasn't able to make it. But this weekend, all four of us were there. The kids ranged from 9 to 2.5 years old.

Maya had a good time this weekend. We got to play in a small creek. In fact we went for a long walk in the creek, climbing over rocks and looking at nature. We even found a small waterfall.

And we found a banana slug that Maya told me she did NOT want to kiss.

I think the best part for Maya was that she got to go skinny dipping in the river for a few seconds. She was really excited about that.

It really is a lot of fun to do these sort of trips with Maya. She is a good girl and I don't have many problems with her. She's very curious about things and for the most part follows the rules. It's fun to see her experience new things and hear her laugh when she's having a good time with her friends.

Boy Crazy

I'm taking Maya on this caming trip this weekend which means I'll be getting her right after school ends and she won't be going to the "Step-Up" program.

Last night when I was saying goodnight to her on the phone, she told her mom that she needed to talk to just me and so Linda excused herself from the room.

Maya said it would "break her heart" to not see Francisco today and we need to cancel this camping trip. It's funny that Maya can't quite pronnounce this boy's name, but instead attempts to call him "San Francisco"...but that doesn't even come out right.

I told Maya that she would see him next week, along with all the other Step-Up friends she has met. I really don't want her to get hung up on this boy...she is way too young and I really don't want her to make this boy feel uncomfortable. I'll have to have a talk with the Step-Up teachers next week to make sure she isn't spending too much time with him.

Yesterday she told me she had a "situation" between Francisco and the "curly haired girl" that hangs out with them. I wasn't sure exactly what the "situation" was, but it involved deciding who was friends with whom.

Aye-aye...this is starting way toooooooooooo early for me.

Meeting Friends

This is Maya's second week of Kindergarten. It's been interesting hearing about her day. She really doesn't say much about the time in her Kindergarten class. She goes to an after-school program when Kindergarten is over. It's called "Step-Up". Yesterday when I picked her up she was sitting at a table reading a book with a boy...an oder boy. Maya told me his name was Francisco. Although that's not how she pronounced it. She had trouble pronoucing it. She said she liked Francisco and he was in the 2nd grade.

This morning I got an email from Linda who said Maya was very talkative about this boy, Franciso, last night and this morning. I guess she told Franciso she would write him a letter and Maya asked Linda if she could help write a letter to him, telling him that she loves him. I guess Maya had a dream about this boy last night.

Geesh.

In other news. Maya started the last of her swim lessons last week. So right after school is out, I pick up Maya and head to the pool for her lessons. Maya's old babysitter, Tommie, has all her daycare kids at the pool for lessons when we get there. She makes an afternoon out of it and since we get to the pool about 30 to 40 minutes before Maya's lesson, we hang out with them. Maya has told Tommie several times that she misses Tommie and gives her hugs.

Today will be Maya's last day of lessons because on Friday, we're going camping for the weekend. I'm calling it "Last Borns with First Borns Camping". My high school buddies, all the last born in their families are taking their first born child camping this weekend. So, it'll be me and Maya, Joe and Paul, Kelly and Julia, and Mike and Everett.

It should be a fun weekend, I hope.