Visit with Evan

I dropped Peter off for a play day with his buddy Evan. The boys started running almost instantly. Evan's mom reminded them no running in the house. I told Pete that if he ran in the house I would have to come pick him up early. He said ok. Then he said "Daddy, it's time for you to go now"

I asked how his day was and he said "good until you ruined it by picking me up".

Is 5 pre-teen?

That's What Superhero's Do

This story was spoken by Tera, but was written (verbally) and directed by Peter.

That's What Superhero's Do

Once upon a  time there was a boy named Peter. He was a good boy, he was a smart boy and he loved to help his friends.

One day his friend Evan called and said: "Help Iron-man! There are four thieves trying to steal my groceries." And Peter said "Iron-man is on the way!"

So Peter put on on his Iron-man costume and his rocket shoes and blasted off to help his friend Evan.

When he got there, he grabbed the four thieves and carried them off to jail. Peters friend Evan said "Thank you Iron-man" and Peter said "That's what superheros do."

Back to School for the Spring

It's been a long time, but I had a few minutes so:

Kids are back at school. Diana is doing early College at BCC and is getting both high school and college credits for her work.

Both are happy to get back into the routine. Diana helped Tera take care of Pete over break and I'm sure she's happy to be spending more time with kids her own age.

Peter just moved up to the Four year old room. His 2 best friends are there too. One is about 6 months older (Evan) and was already there. Sophie is about a month younger and moved up at the same time. The teacher said that on Sophie's first day her and Pete put the heads of their cots together at nap time and spent the whole time talking. :-)

Speaking about Friends:

At Peter's old day care (from about a year and a half ago) Peter know all the kids, and most of the parents, but when he talked about school it was usually the same 2-3 boys . At the BC Center day care he talks about different kids all the time. Three or four parents have told us that Peter is their child's best friend. I've been very happy with Peter's social development, and I thought he was pretty social before. And he still knows all the parents.

Online education

I recently saw a story that some college teachers are fearful of online education. Here are my thoughts from the corporate world.

Online education should worry teachers. It can disconnect the students not just from the campus life but from geographic concerns too.

People can take years to get a legitimate degree, while some online programs offer advanced degrees in a year or less.

Online "diploma mills" already impact the value of a degree, as people who have received or claimed an online degree are advanced quicker.

I know of cases where neither the existence of a degree nor credentials of the online university were checked.

One person got a promotion at a college using a degree based in part on "life experience".

Consider that Call Centers can be moved to lower cost states and counties with a sometimes significant loss in quality.

Some companies are willing to give up the quality to save money or offer 24/7 service, as long as customers acccept the lower quality.

As long as employers do not know to care about the quality of an on-line degree it should be expected that the cost will be primary factor.

The strengths of a traditional campus will generally be secondary for an older student, if quality isn't percieved as an important concern.

Cheaper and faster online degrees are probably not good for teachers at "brick and mortar" campuses.

Vocabulary Lesson's from Pete

Tera's  FaceBook Status

ME: You can't wear your monster gloves today because they were so dirty.
PETER: I was throwing mud at school yesterday.
ME: We do NOT throw mud at school.
PETER: I was *tossing* mud at school yesterday..

Nice use of alternative words, clearly showing he understands them. But still missing the point. Sometimes it's hard not to laugh, but other times it's like dealing with a lawyer.

Mr. mom, day 1

Step one: Lose track of the time and hit the snooze button on the "Wake up Diana alarm." I was up and in the kitchen, just not paying attention. So I got her up 10 minutes late so she missed the bus.

I had Diana wake Pete up so we could give her a ride to school, but on the plus side...

Peter woke up with a dry diaper! Such a big boy! Still not something he volunteers to do though, even for candy.

As Peter and I returned home, Pete decided that he wanted to go to the Oakdale Mall in Johnson City. I said we couldn't because we had to go home and let Duncan go pee pee on the potty outside like a big boy.

Pete said "he does Duncan bombs outside too."
D: "that is true"
P: "I want to get my little shovel  and scoop them all up. I an going to get a bag and scoop them all up and put them in the bag and throw them away!"
D: "You are too little, you need to wait a few years"
P: "But daddy, I am good at it."

I used the bread maker make pizza dough. I started it in the morning and set it do be done at 5 PM. I'm not sure what I did wrong, but I got home to a yeasty soup. a little over 2 cups of flour later, it came out perfect! Peter helped me spread the dough and he helped Diana spread the cheese. We made 2 pizzas. We had enough open store sauce for one and are out of the homemade sauce, so we just did cheese on the other. Diana wanted to try bacon on it and she's helped out a lot the last few weeks so I got some. it worked very well.

Lost-one blue balloon

   Please contact me if you find a light blue helium balloon. It took off from home in chenango forks and was heading towards the school at about 5:30 pm 2/1.

   Pete and I did a little shopping at Price Chopper. A nice lady in the flower / balloon section offered Pete a balloon and even put a plastic weight on it. We finished shopping and went back to the van without any problems. We got home and I set the weight on the ground while I unbuckled Pete. He said where's my balloon? I turned to see it 15 feet off the ground and making good time. The weight still attached!* It hung up briefly on the phone wires, and then headed south. Bad daddy (my words, not his).

Peter was very sad. After taking him in to snuggle with mama, I helped the girls take the groceries in. Pete was still sad so I got a balloon out of birthday supplies and Pete was happy. Until he popped it 5 minutes later. Good thing I brought a couple.

This morning Pete told me the neighbor would bring his balloon back. I explained that it went over his house and didn't stop.

A little while later he told Tera and I that the falcons would bring his balloon back. We explained that falcons don't do balloon returns. He kind of stuck to that, but eventually decided the black birds (crows) would help.

On the way to daycare he decided that the balloon blew all the way to daycare and got sucked in through the brown pipe and Stacy and Kelly (his teachers from last semester) would have it. I tried to explain that the wind was blowing the wrong way, but he was sure.

We got there and outside his old room was a tan rain gutter, but no blue balloon. Pete forgot about the balloon once he got inside.

* we go up about 350 feet in elevation between the store and home. In theory a helium balloon WOULD be slightly more buoyant at the higher elevation, I have just never been in a situation where it was a noticeable effect. Bad daddy :-(