What is basketball?

Here we are, back in March, pretending to be SU fans. Notice our clear lack of orange attire. Also worth mentioning is Preston's complete lack of basketball knowledge. I think his first question was something like, "Mom, what is he trying to do with that ball?" Umm, shoot it into the basket? Have I taught you nothing?!? Luckily, nachos carried us through. P was ready to go after the first 5 minutes. Also lucky that we were trapped in the middle of an aisle with no way to safely exit. Or maybe not so lucky? I was also done rooting for SU after 5 minutes. I mean really...

Monster Jam

Nothing says "redneck" like going to Monster Jam.
Here Preston is with friend Liam (who reminds me of Ray from Jerry Maguire), enjoying over-sized trucks race around in the dirt. And talking about poop and butts. Mostly the latter.

Also, a video for those of you interested in seeing what Monster Jam is like: (although you don't quite get the full experience of the deafeningly loud engines)

And here is P, earlier that day, pondering the intricacies of fine art at the Everson Museum:

For the record, he has about as much appreciation for fine art as his mother.

Heartwalking

Earlier this week, Preston agreed to participate in the American Heart Association's local fundraising 5K with me (walking, not running!). I made sure to disclose up front that it would greatly interfere with his Saturday morning routine (TV and unlimited lego-playing...or is it vice-versa?), and require a decent amount of physical exertion. I was quite surprised that he agreed in the first place, knowing this. I knew it was only a matter of time before he would finally realize the gravity of the situation, but amazingly it did not come until we were actually about half a mile into the walk. Then reality hit. And oh boy, did it hit. First came the whining, (which was excruciating!), which progressed quickly to a full-on physical and emotional melt-down with actual crying, and exclamations like "I didn't ever want to do this!" and "Let's just give all the money back!" (Referring to the donations we had raised.) At one point, he even claimed that he couldn't go any further because his brain hurt. Meanwhile, by the 1 mile mark, we had been surpassed by just about everyone. Of course, the full 5k meant 2 laps around the course, and more than half the people bailed after the first lap. But not us!! Oh no, I wasn't going down like that. Preston has a serious case of negative self-talk for his age, and considering that I have never told him he can't do something I'm still quite perplexed by where it came from, and what the hell I can do to get rid of it. So if I had to carry him on my back the rest of the way, we were going to finish the damn 5k if it killed me. So, with great efforts to distract/motivate/threaten, (and falsely convince him we were on our way back to the car at one point), several snack breaks, and a fair amount of piggyback riding, we somehow managed to complete the full 2 laps. I think there was one person remaining behind us. And they might have been disabled. Anyhoo- here a pics from this triumphant day:

Team Upstate!

Preston's enthusiasm for the kids fun run (once he realized it was not a competition) was actually quite endearing. He needed no encouragement to venture into the mass of children despite that neither of us had any idea what to expect. And he was very attentive to the guy in charge. Wish I had caught a photo of his face as he sprinted by me on the other side of the track! Unfortunately it didn't dawn on me to get myself over there until the last minute so I made it just in time to see him go by. He had a huge grin on his face and not surprisingly, this kid has quite a stride!  

This might be one of the few real smiles ever caught on camera!! He was quite exhilarated upon completion of the fun run. Which is good for a kid who said he "didn't want to race because he knew he couldn't win" the night before.

Completely un-phased by the 1+ miles we walked around the arena getting freebies before the walk even began. 

This was clearly taken within the first 100 yards of the walk. Things went sharply south from here.

Don't think he's actually crying here, but definitely whining. It would have been really terrible for me to take pics of him crying. Right?
Notice we are clearly pulling up the rear here.

Amazingly, he found several bursts of energy near the end of the 5k and was actually running at the end. Go figure. 

Maybe the last ones across?

Pman, Artist & Author.

Stories and illustrations, by Preston.

"Ninjago skeleton problem."

"Three storm troopers and their names were Blaster, Destroyer, and Crusher. They were in the Millennium Falcon."

"I have a Millennium Falcon, it has nine bags, it also has four lasers, it has a driving place, it can open up. The end."

skiing!

Well, 3 years in to my efforts to make Preston into a skier, and we still haven't made much progress. He doesn't definitively hate it, but he's also not particularly fond of it. He did reluctantly agree to lessons at a local ski hill this season; unfortunately they rely solely on natural snowfall in order to operate, and this year has not been a good year for snow accumulation. So here we are, at the end of February, and he's gotten in only 2 lessons. We've also been to Toggenburg twice, but we still haven't advanced from the bunny hill. There was that time I tried taking him up the full mountain, only to find he wasn't ready, then almost got us both seriously injured trying to get him back down the hill. We won't go into those details. Or talk about how that probably set us back 5 years.
Here's Pman at the Camillus Ski Hill:

This was the day it got up into the high 50's during lessons (and quickly destroyed the nice accumulation of snow). One of the instructors was skiing in shorts. 

I don't think it's him screaming...

The obligatory post-skiing stop at Dunkin Donuts. Pretty sure this serves as the main motivation for attending skiing lessons. Incidentally, P decided halfway in that he's not a fan of powdered donuts. Guess who won out on that deal? Not the first time he's picked a donut that he didn't like. You don't see me complaining.

New friends

A few weeks ago, I got a lovely little note from the mother of one of Preston's classmates, who had coincidentally discovered that we live only a few blocks from each other. I then rejoiced that we now have a playmate within walking distance! We've already been to their house once, and last week, when it was unseasonably warm, we met for a walk and looped around the duck pond. I did not bring my phone, but luckily Evanny's mom did, and she even put together this little collage on the Facebook:

Just another Sunday

Good intentions

Children's birthday parties are not like they used to be. Nowadays, you have your choice of a multitude of facilities that cater to little kids birthday parties, and it's a bit of a step-up from the McDonald's bday parties of days gone by. Although the cost and general extravagance seems a little overbearing at times, there are several good things that have evolved from this. First and foremost being, the disappearance of gift-opening time. Usually, the party revolves around whatever activity the children are doing, and at the end there is just time enough for food, cake, and goodbyes. As a result, the receiving and opening of gifts no longer takes center stage. In fact, it takes such a backseat, that when I suggested to Preston that he forego receiving any bday gifts at his party, he basically shrugged his shoulders and nonchalantly said, "Sure." Of course, when I mentioned it again later in the party planning process, he paused about it a bit longer, and started to question the validity of such a suggestion, but was still very easily amenable to foregoing gifts from friends when I offered the option of being allowed to pick one gift for himself that I would pay for. (At the time, there was one toy in particular he had his sights set on, so it made him an easy target.) So, in the interest of cultivating a little generosity, I suggested that he consider soliciting small donations from his friends, in lieu of gifts, to donate to a good cause. He was agreeable, so I gave him some options of local organizations I thought would be of interest. He chose to go with the SPCA, after I explained that they take care of homeless animals, and it's where our dog, Bailey came from. We included a copy of their wish-list in Preston's invitations as well, so his friends would have the option of bringing a small item to donate, if they were so inclined. The final result:

Plus about 100 bucks in cash which he gladly handed over when we went to visit the SPCA a few weekends ago. I was hopeful the front desk person would be a bit more inquisitive of how/why a 6-yr old would be handing over a stack of money, but alas, she was not. But I guess maybe it's a better lesson when there is not excessive praising involved. So, that was that, and Preston got to experience the act of giving, and a lesson in modesty as well. 

I'd like to say it really made an impact on him. But, if his recent demonstration of absolute unwillingness to pass along an old board game for pre-schoolers to one of his younger friends is any indication, it did not. Still have a bit of work to do in the benevolence department.  

 

Pman does Gaga

If Preston learned one thing from being exposed to several hours of uncensored prime time television on Superbowl Sunday, it's that he likes Lady Gaga. Well, at least her music. Here he is singing (unaware that he's being filmed):

Preston the performer

Just recently, Preston became very fond of having himself videotaped, and putting on a show for the camera. If he gets in the mood, he will ask me to tape him repeatedly, and then he'll want to watch the mini-episodes of himself. Which is really what I should try to record, because he cracks himself up. He apparently thinks he is HILARIOUS. He will split a gut watching clips like the one below. 

And yes, he is in half a death-trooper costume having just returned from taking the dog for a walk. Doesn't everyone dress up in Star Wars costumes to walk their dog?

Whose child is this?

Behold; Preston's mid-year evaluation (the summary anyway). I could have included the full 2 pages of commentary regarding Preston's outstanding social, academic, and cognitive development, but alas, it was almost too much praise for even his mother to digest. After 1.5 years of similar evaluations, I am convinced his school refrains entirely from providing negative feedback, which I find to be highly suspect.

Pman turns 6!

Last year for Preston's birthday party, we had like a 50% RSVP rate. So this year I thought I'd send out one or two extra invites, and of course we had a 100% RSVP rate. Luckily the wonderful people at the gymnastics center entertain the children for you, for the majority of the time anyway....

The bday party crew. You don't want to know how long it took me to hand write in everyone's name using the mouse...

Mmm...this picture was supposed to be mid-jump. Fail.

The long wait for the trampoline catwalk.

Cousins caught off-guard.

Cousins putting on a show.

More cousin-ly love.

World's awesomest cupcakes.

This year's attempt at homemade cake making, like a boss.

Jan 17th breakfast request: bowl of straight Kylo Ren cereal, no mix-ins.

A real smile! Legos= a happy Preston.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The real deal, Jan 17th with T&B.

My 1st note

Thanks in part to my unwillingness to abide by certain dietary restrictions (although the exact culprits are a relative mystery), I am occasionally the victim of some rather incapacitating GI issues. I recently had one such episode. The result? My first ever "get well" note from Preston...or note of any kind really (that he wasn't prompted by someone else to write anyway.)

("sore"= sorry)

And this little mini-drawing of the 2 of us:

School pics!

I've decided the arrival of school pictures are the adult equivalent to christmas. I forget when school picture day was...sometime in October, I think? But I found myself eagerly anticipating the arrival of the photos, so much so, that I even checked the calendar at one point to see how many weeks it had been since they were taken. Why must you make me wait so long?!? I pleaded with the imaginary school picture gods. Then of course, I was laying in bed one friday night, checking email and fading quickly, when I read through the school news email that had been sent out that day, informing parents that the pictures should be in everyone's friday folder. Why hadn't I emptied Preston's backpack that evening?!? I stumbled through the dark house and located the backpack sitting on the bench in the kitchen, ripped apart the zipper, yanked out the folder, and BEHOLD:

What a treasure. The first official school picture of his life! Merry Christmas to me!
And the token class picture:

 Unlike last year, Preston can actually name everyone in his class! Last year I think he could name 3-4 kids, I was somewhat concerned at the time. Like...maybe you should ask their names dude? Apparently that is not a high priority for pre-schoolers? Oh well. At least as a kindergartner he is apparently a little more conscientious.

Welcome back!

Well here is my attempt to re-kindle Pman's blog. If nothing else, for my own permanent record, as I'm finding that my memory fades depressingly quickly from one new development to the next.

Lately Preston has made some keen and/or interesting observations that I find to be quite funny, so I will attempt to chronicle them here.

For instance, last week, we were driving home from school (during which time Preston is usually mum) when he told me that our last name was "Eck-RICH," which means we must be RICH. Getting the impression that there had been a discussion at school about what it means to be rich, I tried to re-direct the meaning... "Weeellllll......we may be rich with LOVE.....or....." (I struggled to find other examples on the spot).
Then Preston: "We could be rich with LEGOS! Yeah...we are lego-rich!!!" Indeed we are, kid. Indeed we are.

My house has been pretty much taken over by legos. But, if it possible to have some early engineering predisposition (as demonstrated by lego-building capabilities), then this kid has it. He just got started yesterday on his biggest project yet, the Millennium Falcon. More than 1300 pieces, and labeled for kids age 9-14. He has assembled 3 bags so far, with almost no assistance from me. And yet, he still can't get himself dressed in the morning. Go figure.