First Day of Kindergarten

Conor started Kindergarten today!  We walked down this morning and figured out the line up procedure, then I went in with him to help him get settled.  He did so well, took it all in stride - no tears!  After school we met with some other kindergarten families at the park for a play date, some of whom we already knew and some we didn't.  Tonight was open house, so we toured his classroom and the school.  (He has a locker!  I didn't have a locker until 6th grade!!!  Actually, it doesn't lock at all and is more like a cubby.)

It's going to be a great year!

First Day of Kindergarten Questionnaire:

My teacher's name is... Mrs. Conn.
Favorite part of the first day  - "sitting at my table"
Thing I'm most excited about this year is - "playing outside"
Favorite book - "The Kissing Hand" (Mrs. Conn read this book at the beginning of class today.)
When I grow up I want to be - "a teacher"

4th of July

The 4th of July is my favorite holiday in Michigan.  The weather was amazing this year - highs in the 70's and plenty of sun.  Plymouth Twp. does an amazing fireworks display on the 3rd, then the next morning a parade goes down Main St. just steps from our house.  We've gone to the parade each of the nine years we've lived here, with the except of 2009 when we watched it from Conor's nursery window (he was 8 days old.)

We got to Township Park early to have a picnic before the fireworks.  Conor made it thru about half of the show before he fell asleep.

Conor was so excited to see the Plymouth Whalers mascot, Shooter (or he sometimes calls him "Sprayer") but of course once he was in sight, he made sure to keep his distance.  Earlier in the parade, Paws came by and I think that may have reinforced his fear of people in costumes.  

Conor turns 5!

Conor celebrated his birthday last week!  At 5, Conor ...

is funny and silly, and loves to tell knock-knock jokes
is loud and rambunctious at home but shy and reserved around new people and situations
loves dinosaurs, animals, pretending, telling stories, Legos, drawing, and playing games
is learning to read, can recognize dozens of sight words and is sounding out new words
draws all day long, usually with markers
loves to act out scenes from his favorite movies
can count to 50, with a little help
is excited about Kindergarten
is growing like a weed - unofficially 49 lbs and 45 inches, size 5 clothes (in big kids), size 1 shoes

Conor had his birthday this weekend at Goldfish!  His cousins from Texas traveled here for his birthday, and he enjoyed partying with them and his friends.

Happy birthday Conorman!  We love you!!!

Reading

Conor has been reading up a storm lately. He hadn't really been too interested in trying to sound out words up to this point, but just in the past few weeks has been much more excited about practicing. Tim bought him a few sets of Bob books for Christmas and he really likes those.  They spend 10-15 minutes every evening practicing reading them together.  He can read all the first set of books from the beginner series by himself.  Sometimes I know he is just memorizing or looking at the pictures ("Dot sat on the mat" he will read as "Dot sat on the carpet") but he has looked at books he's never seen and sounded out brand new words, too.  He definitely has learned lots of "sight words" that he can recognize independent of the books, and is trying to sound out new words as well. He's made so much progress in just a few weeks!

Here he is reading - he was not interested in a "Take 2" without the Michigan game blaring from the radio.