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"

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.

Drawing

Conor Draws from Lisa Carmody on Vimeo.

Conor is Four!!!

Conor turned four today! He went to school this morning (had to make his imagination birthday cake with his friends!) and then we went to lunch and tried to go to see Monster's University.  He didn't like that idea at all and declared that he was afraid of "Monster's Incs." So we left.  His party is Saturday, which he is really excited about.

At four, Conor is rambunctious, energetic, curious, sensitive, silly, funny, and loving. He loves swimming lessons, playing outside, collecting things (bugs, dinosaurs, rocks...) and drawing pictures. His favorite books are Thomas early readers and any book about animals.  He has an awesome imagination and amazes me with the things he thinks up.

Four Year Stats:

Weight - 42lbs (90th %ile)
Height - 42.5in (90th %ile)

Instead of writing everything out for his questionnaire, I'll just let Conor tell you his favorite things:

Conors 4Year Video from Lisa Carmody on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday Conor!!!  We love you :)

Recent Funnies

The other night at bed time, Conor told me there was an "oprah-oprah" (I imagine that's how it would be spelled) hiding in the corner under the "thinking chair" (his glider.)  He said it was small and purple and spiky, and "a little bit scared".  I helped him pick it up but it kept trying to run away.  We decided that if we laid down quietly it might come sleep in the bed.  He named it "Boopah". The next morning he told me that Boopah the oprah-oprah had in fact spent the night in the bed.

...

Conor put Norman the t-rex on a stool and made me open his mouth so he could check his teeth with his flashlight.  He said "Oh, okay, yeah, that's great! ... That'll be $24."

...

If you tell Conor he can't have something, he'll reply "well, I didn't see any hands on it."

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He has been practicing asking politely for something and will say "Please pass the [whatever is its], after [whomever has it]."  He saw his balloon floating in the kitchen and said "Please pass the balloon, after the air."

...

Talking about our vacation cottage he said, "This house doesn't have any toys.  Only decorations."

Toledo Zoo Trip

We drove down to Toledo this morning to check out the Toledo Zoo and see some animals that the Detroit Zoo doesn't have - elephants and hippos.

The hippos were a bust - they were sleeping in their "garage" - big grey blobs, Conor said "They look like Gloria!" so I guess he was happy with that.

He got tired of riding in the wagon and pulled it for a while.  Plymouth represent!

Dada's fresh popped "nummy hot corn" is a favorite zoo snack.

Gender stereotypes on the restroom signs.

We did see the elephants in the indoor viewing area. The little guy is "Lucas" and I think the bigger one is "Renee", his mama.

Conor and the Elephants from Lisa Carmody on Vimeo.

The reptile house...

Orangutan hiding under a Spiderman blanket:

Conor checking out the silverback:

Polar bear viewing is much better in Toledo than Detroit.

Fall Recap

September

With Tim back in school, it was just Conor and I again for Monday Funday.  We try to go somewhere different every week, like Bennett Arboretum in Hines Park...



or Domino's Farms...





or the Hands On Museum.

October

Fall color this year was really amazing so we went to Tollgate Farm to check it out.

The Plymouth Fire Dept. had an open house and we sat in all the fire trucks.



Conor and I took a trip to Texas to visit Mimi and Grampy, Aunt Kelly, Uncle Jason, and cousins Madeline and Clara.  We went to the Dallas Arboretum...



and the Dallas World Aquarium...



and the Ft. Worth Zoo.



Back in Michigan, Conor cheered on runners at the Detroit Marathon.  We tried to see dada run but the timing was bad.



For Halloween, Conor was a greaser.



He was a little nervous about proper ToTing procedure at the first couple of houses, but by the third he was warmed up and ready to go.  "Trick or Treat!  Thank you!  Happy Halloween!!  Okay, let's go!!  I see another light on!"

November

We hosted our playgroup this month at Gretchen's House.  They're all so much more rambunctious this year!

We had a quiet Thanksgiving at home.



The day after Tgives, we went to the Detroit Zoo...



and decorated for Christmas.






In general, this is what the first half of three is like for us-


He loves dinosaurs, animals, emergency vehicles and Thomas the Train.



He is learning to read and write his alphabet and just learned how to spell "C-o-n-o-r."

He likes to lip sync in the car and his favorite pop song is FloRida's "Cry".

He loves to act out scenes from movies and books.

Swimming lessons are going well and he is working on Superman glides and keeping his face in the water.

He likes baking and being a helper.

He is very curious and asks lots of questions.

As of early September, he is completely potty trained.

He is moving into 4T clothes and size 11W shoes.

He still takes a nap in the afternoon and sleeps 9 hours at night.