Spelling

1. pest
2. tap
3. pin
4. is
5. pit
6. snap
7. in
8. man
9. red
10. dip

• words that Isaac has to spell for his Grade 1 spelling test on Friday.

1. us
2. sad
3. flag
4. this
5. with
6. that
7. thank
8. me
9. we
10. thinking

• words that Isaac's fellow Grade 2 classmembers have to spell on Friday.
• words that Isaac also spelled to Bonnie and me tonight as we practiced for Friday's test.
  

More photos from this morning

Early Morning Photos

I went for a drive this morning and captured these images as the sun slowly burned off the early morning mist.

New Stairs

Over the past couple of days we've had a contractor come and replace the old, creaky stairs we've been walking up and down since we moved in 2 1/2 years ago. This morning he finished putting the stain on the treads and touching up the paint on the risers. It's nice have it finally done as we've been wanting this for quite some time now.

Here's a progression of shots from before he started until after he finished.

Isaac's joy

Isaac went to his first night of AWANA at our church last night. I don't know very much about it, but from what I briefly saw last night as I picked him up at 8, it certainly seemed like an excellent program for Isaac to be involved in. He had expressed some hesitation about going prior to Bonnie taking him, but he came home all excited about all the things he's involved in. So each Tuesday night from 6:30-8 Isaac will be playing games, interacting, singing songs, learning bible verses and participating with other kids in a variety of other activities. He's got a booklet that Bonnie and I can help him work through to help memorize scripture as well. I think it will be a good supplement to the environment here in our home that we're trying to raise Isaac in.

Then last night after Bonnie put him to bed, she came out and told me something else Isaac had said. Apparently he asked her to put her ear to his chest to see if she could hear his heart beating. Then he said something to the effect of, "that's my heart beating with love for you". That certainly made Bonnie smile!

Today's excitement

This afternoon we had the contractor come who is going to be replacing our front staircase this week. He wanted to confirm the measurements before he starts cutting etc. So anyways, when I showed Isaac the motorbike, he got all excited, and Jason, the contractor asked if he wanted a ride. So after Jason was finished, he took Isaac for a little ride. It obviously made an impression as Isaac talked about it quite a bit after it was over.

The difference a week makes

Last week I wrote about Isaac's hesitancy with colouring. Well tonight after supper I suggested that he try to colour the sheet that his teacher sent home with him after school today. This past weekend, and tonight as well, I asked him in such a way as to try and make it a fun activity rather than something he would dread. I guess it worked.

They've been reading about Curious George at school, and the teacher sent home a full-page cartoon of the monkey for him to colour, and I was quite pleasantly surprised when he finished the whole thing in less than 1/2 an hour. I was especially impressed at how well he stayed within the lines. Then as he was finishing, he told me that he was glad that I had encouraged him to practice colouring, because now he really enjoyed it. The fact that he acknowledged this was tremendously satisfying.

I think this whole experience thus far was a small taste of the feeling I had tried to describe to myself earlier, even before Isaac was in school. Somehow, eventhough I knew that things wouldn't always go easy, I was always looking forward to helping Isaac with his schoolwork. A lot of it I believe was because I enjoyed school. There's also that natural parental pride in seeing your child achieve something after working hard to get there. Like other parents I'm sure, I want my child to do well. I hope that Isaac finds the environment in which Bonnie and I are trying to help him, an encouraging one.

Anyways, here's the result of his work tonight.

A fun perspective

Yesterday afternoon as we were relaxing in our front yard, Isaac wanted me to take some photos of him jumping off a ramp that we had painted earlier in the day. I got right down on the ground with my camera mere inches off the grass and tried to time my exposure for the instant that he was in frame (it was tricky to guess as I wasn't able to watch him run up).

Anyways the whole point of this exercise (apart from having fun with Isaac), was to see what a different perspective from the normal profile shot would result it.

This is the best image I captured. I like how the perspective gives the illusion that he is much higher off the ground than he actually is.

Our day today

The rain went away for the day which was nice. To see the sun again, and some blue sky was a welcome change from the cold and dampness of the past few days.

And my fatigue wasn't so bad today so I managed to finish painting the front deck railing this afternoon. I'm glad to get it done, considering I put the first brush to wood back in May! It's interesting how life just takes over and a variety of things prevent you from getting things done. The back deck needs to get done now, but I haven't decided if I'll attempt to paint those railings this year or not.

Isaac and I rode Bonnie to work this afternoon and then continued on around town for about an hour or so. Seeing as it was such a nice day, it was a pleasant escape from being cooped up in the house. We stopped at Kokopelli's (a local coffee-shop) and sat outside in the sun enjoying a cool drink. Isaac wanted to show me a full-face racing helmet he wanted me to buy for bike riding, but I assured him that I didn't need such an expensive piece of protection.

After riding back home we played basketball for a while and then laid on the grass for a while looking up at the clouds. I asked Isaac what he saw in the clouds, and he talked about space ships! Which wasn't really that surprising considering that's all he talks about when he's playing and building with Lego these days.

After supper I suggested we do some colouring (really to practice his school work, but I tried to make it sound like a fun activity for Isaac). Something must have worked because he did really well, and stayed at it for about an hour. THAT made me really happy.

We also played some video games on the computer and then read a couple of stories from some of the library books we picked up this afternoon as well.

Bedtime was around 8 and then I worked on some things in the office for an hour and a half or so.

All in all it was a very good day.

First Week at School Summary

Well Isaac's first week went by without any major incidents. Surprisingly it hasn't been difficult (at least so far) getting him out of bed in the morning either. I think there were only a couple times that he said that he didn't want to go to school after breakfast, but regardless, once he got to school, he went running out to the playground to play with his friends, so I think he's adjusting alright.

The only hesitation I've experienced with him is in the "work" he has to finish at home. He tends to get distracted really easily and so doesn't finish his colouring exercises while he's at school. We're trying to let him play a little while once he gets home from school, and then ask him to finish what he started during the day. One day this week, it took him till 6:30 to finish colouring. So I hope that with practice he'll be able to develop a bit more sticktoitiveness.

But all in all, it's been a good experience for everyone. It's actually helped me spend more focused time with Isaac once he gets home from school. I'm able to get more of my work done during the day, and look forward to the time he's back so we can play together.

Isaac's First Day in Grade One

Isaac is in a class with grade's 1 and 2 together.




After getting settled in their class, the whole school marched off to the gymnasium for...


...a pancake breakfast!

Father-Son Time

Yesterday Isaac and I spent a couple hours together up at Twin Falls. It was intentional on my part to spend as much quality time together with him before he got into the activities and busyness of Grade 1. So we went hiking up the trail and over the rock at the end of the trail that allows one to get right up to the base of the falls. We had lunch up there and then thankfully someone came along with a camera. Unfortunately I had left my memory card at home so I was unable to use my own camera. But we knew the people that we met from church and so last night they emailed the photos they took. I'm posting the best of the photos here.

It was a special time and my legs are still feeling the effects of all the climbing today.

Giant Produce

We were quite impressed with the size of the Zucchini that we received from my brother's garden a couple days ago.

Last Picnic

Last week it was nice enough outside for us to enjoy a family picnic together. I don't think that it will happen again this year as the weather is definitely on the cold side of summer now.

Basketball Isaac

Here's some images of Isaac out practicing his shot-making skills.