Parenting month 84: Now we are 7

It has been an eventful couple of months. T started at a new school, new classmates, new schedule, new bus.

Met new friends at the bus stop. The girl who lives three doors down turns out to be one grade ahead of T.  We were glad that it turned out there was someone else in his taekwondo class in the same rank and the same grade. And also one of the relatively calm kids

Double knife hand block

Jump kick

His new school is much bigger than the one he came from. So we are worried about him getting lost in the mix. There have been good days and bad days. Days where he comes home and goes on and on about what he did and who he played with, and days he played with noone and did not want to talk about it.  But he is getting more good days as he adapts and gets to know people, and there are some kids where apparently he is the playmate of choice (he still seems to attract kids who like quiet).

Looking at the near solar eclipse

We still try to encourage a making attitude.  At the solar eclipse we made our solar eclipse viewers, and at the library viewing party we were the ones teaching everyone else how to use them.  (it helps to know the physics of how pinhole cameras work)  His favorite birthday present was a Foldscope, which is a paper based microscope that we had to assemble.

I made a Foldscope

And we had our now annual Makerfaire visit.  One highlight of the end of summer is we have a visiting colleague with a 5 year old boy, who enjoys having a playmate.  We went to Alcosan together, then the Science Center and their ropes course.

Visiting the Science Center

And also MakerFaire at the Children's Museum

Playing in the web at the Children's Museum makerspace

Some issues, not as much as attention span as he used to have, although that may be regression to the mean, or it may be that with more kids at school, he is realizing how unusual he was and he does not have desire to do much more than blend in.

The little one is still in day care.  She still talks our ears off, and now she can do that with words. Lots of words.  Funny note: we got our annual evaluation from daycare. It indicates how she is quiet and shy, and encourages us to talk with her more.  We wonder if we are talking about the same kid, as this girl talks to use alot.

Fun!