Noah

The Tooth Fairy Is Like Nocturnal

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 1 Comment

My children are going to kill me.  If I turn up dead please blame them.

I have not spent much adult time around little kids and I have to say–they are pretty smart little things.  I’m pretty sure Noah is going to have the whole world figured out before his 7th birthday.  How did my kids get so smart?  I try to infuse their life plenty with mindless TV, but alas their intellectual potential just keeps growing.  Maybe I should reconsider this whole private school thing–public school might just dumb them down.  All kidding (maybe) aside.  My kids are pretty bright.  I’m not going to say they are brilliant or gifted (I’ll let their grandparents do that bragging), but they are bright kids.

Of course, I’d love to take the credit for it, but I don’t know that I can.  I won’t be so presumptuous to take credit for their intelligence–not until I know that they will only use it for good deeds–then I am all over it.  If they use it for evil–total and absolute denial.

Yesterday we were in the car and Noah said: “Do you know the tooth fairy doesn’t sleep at night.”

“How do you know?”

“She comes when kids are asleep.”

“Do you think she gets tired?”

He waits and thinks–his thinking face if very cute

“She must sleep during the day.”

“I bet she does.”

“Mom…the tooth fairly is like nocturnal.”

“Yeah.  I guess she is.”

“Like bats and owls….and reindeer.”

“Reindeer?”–I’m slightly confused by this one

“Yeah mom–they fly at night with Santa.  They don’t fly during the day–they must sleep then.”

At this point, I’m not sure what to say.

“I think reindeer aren’t nocturnal, honey.  It’s just that one special night.”

“Like they get to stay up late?”

“Yep.”

More thinking…

“Mom?”

“Yeah.” I say with trepidation–who knows what he might be asking about now–reincarnation? gravity?

“Do you think Santa shaves his beard the day after Christmas?”

 

 

New Camp

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 1 Comment

Today, I dropped my kiddos off at a new summer camp. A camp where they don’t know anyone, except each other. Last summer, my son when to summer camp all summer at his school–which is amazing, but with two kids it would have cost us about $4000 for 8 weeks of camp….sorry, I choked a little just writing down that figure.

We need somewhere for them to go during the summer. I work. My husband works. Our kids (5 and 3) aren’t old enough to entertain themselves at home while letting daddy work (he works at home). While we love the summer camp at their school–and all of it’s comfort. We just can’t afford the price tag (or aren’t willing to afford the price tag). So we are mixing it up this summer. They get to do 4 weeks at their school’s summer camp, two weeks at a new summer camp (at the Y) and then 3 weeks at the sitters.

This is the first new camp week. The kids were excited, but Noah was a little skeptical. He wanted to know if any of his friends would be there. I said no. Maybe someone from your basketball team, but probably not anyone from your school. He was okay with that–for the most part. And Zoë, well she just likes to be around people and she hasn’t made a lot of friends yet. Whereas, Noah has spent two years with the same group of kids and has formed amazing bonds. I am think that this will be good for him, to know that he can make friends. To remember that he can make friends. I have noticed that he has become more self-conscious about making friends. I think part of this is because that he is in a school that is so much a family that he forgets what is was like 2 years ago when he started and didn’t know everyone.

So, I will make a concerted effort to put him in situations where he has to make new friends, so that he remembers that he can do it and how easy it is.

I hope it went good today. There were no tears or “mom, don’t go” when I dropped them off today in a sea of unfamiliar faces. Let’s hope that keeps it up.

Honesty Is Cute On A 5-Year-Old

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / Leave a comment

I was gone for 4 days in NYC on business.  I missed my kiddos and they missed me.  It was so cute when we skyped (when did that become a verb?) on Saturday morning and Noah wanted a hug.  Oh how I love him and his sister.

I got home last night and of course the kids were still up and I gave them hugs and all the goodies I brought home (some lego figures I made at the lego store and different shades of their favorite colors in m&m’s.

This morning Noah and I were sitting on the couch and he was playing with his new lego figures (the clown and viking are the early favorites) and we had the following conversation:

“Mom, I’m so happy you’re home.  Thank you for these legos.”

“Would you still be happy if I didn’t bring you legos?”

“Yeah.  But not as happy as I am now.”

He’s too cute for his own good.  And of course I had to ask the silly question.

New York was great.  I’ll do a top 10 list from my visit tomorrow–right now all I can think about is how my feet still hurt from all the walking.

He Has Had Enough, Thank You Very Much

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 3 Comments

Noah has had enough of me pointing out black kids.  My attempts to get him to see other kids like him hit a breaking point on Monday.  Monday was the start of summer camp and I would be lying if I didn’t say how happy I was to see another black child in the camp class.  Noah’s school isn’t hugely diverse (24% of kids are non-white) and he does have another black boy in his class during the regular school year.

When I picked him up from camp I asked him if he made any new friends.  He said he did and he had fun.  I asked who the black boy was and if he played with him.

Noah responded: “Why do you always want me to see and play with black kids.  I play with kids who like the same things as me.  I play with my friends.  I don’t need to play with someone just because they look like me.”

I was shocked a bit.  But he is right.  He knows he is black.  He knows I am white.  He knows that the majority of his world is white and he knows how to make friends.  He has friends and he likes his friends.

I told him that I understood and that I wasn’t trying to make him play with someone just because they looked like him, but I wanted him to see that he wasn’t the only boy who was black.

“I don’t care if there are other kids who are black mom.  That is just my skin.  I care that there are kids who want to play what I want to play and who are my friend and who like me and are nice.”

Well, he certainly told me didn’t he.  I think this is good.  He is developing a sense of self and what is important to him.  He recognizes that skin color is just that and that it doesn’t (and shouldn’t) define him.  So, I will stop pointing out the kids who look like him and let him be who he is.  I will certainly continue to seek out activities and places where he can be around others who look like him, but I’ll let him pick his own friends.

Oh this parenting thing is hard.

Another End, Another Beginning

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / Leave a comment

Today Noah walked across the playground, through the dinning hall, and through the classroom doors of Newport for the last time. He will walk out of his classroom today a kindergartener.  I don’t know how this happened.  Time has gone too fast.

On the first day of school this year

Noah you have grown so much.  You started the year still a little boy.  Now you can read a few words, tell stories, and solve problems.  You have learned so much and most of it through your own desire and need to learn things.  You have continued to build the friendships that were started last year and you are such a good friend.  You also have begun to figure out what you want and to make sure you get it.  You are ready for kindergarten.  I have no doubt you will continue to flower and grow and amaze me and make me proud to be your mother.

End of school–how he has grown

You are growing up so good.  Last week, one of your new teachers came up to me to tell me how excited she is to get to have you in kindergarten next year.  It made me proud to know that you have made relationships with the entire TCS family.  As you walk down the halls and the older kids say “Hi Noah, how are you?” it reaffirms that we selected the right school for you and our family.  You smile and say hi back and it is clear that you have found a place in this world that has accepted and embraced you.  That is so important.

Keep flourishing my little man.  Keep growing.  Keep learning. Keep loving life and learning.