Reading Rolling

Me: "So how's his reading coming along, reading with you?"
ECE: "Funny you should ask actually - very well - we're already moving him to the B group."
Me: "Already?"
ECE: "The A group books are just too easy for him. He's already bored."
Me: "How many groups are there?"
ECE: "3. A through C."
Me: "With the idea that by the end of senior kindergarten they are through the C category?"
ECE: "Yes."
Me: "And do you think Tommy will be through the C category by the end of Junior kindergarten?"
ECE: "Undoubtedly."
Me: "Well then what does he do next year?"
ECE: "I think we both know the gifted program is the only place for Tommy."

Of course I think that, I'm his dad. Real nice to have it validated though.

#proudPapa

Bowling

Bowling.

Just another chance to teach...

We share a common butt, butt.

Thug Daddy Pride

I drop T off at school today and his teacher (ECE) comes running after me in the hallway...

T's Teacher: "I need to talk to you."
Me: *grimacing* "Ok, what's up?"
Teacher: "I had to take T out of class on friday."
I think to myself... here we go. Smarty pants is being disruptive again
Me: "Was he being disruptive?"
Teacher: "Oh no, not at all. Sorry. I took him out of class because we don't usually have the Junior JKs read because they're not ready, but T was just bursting at the seams."
Me: "What do you mean?"
Teacher: "Well... you know that boy of yours is pretty darn smart."
Me: "Sure, just ask him and he'll tell you."
Teacher: "I took him to the library because he was mouthing all the words as we read them. I sit down with him, and he reads me the whole book. I'm not sure that I have ever seen that before."
Me: "What do you mean?"
Teacher: "Well the day before he's not reading, and then he suddenly knows EVERY word in the book. I didn't even have to help him with ANY words. Not one."
Me: "He's a fairly unusual young man. I told you that his brain has always been - unique."
Teacher: "Yeah, but it's like he already has nearly every word in the English language memorized and somehow the switch just got turned on."
Me: "T is an absolute perfectionist to a fault. So i don't think he wanted to read until he knew that he could. As I told you a while ago, all of the tools were already there. We read a lot - every day, and we learn new words too."
Teacher: "Yeah, but do you know how special it is to just learn like that? You have a very special young boy. You should be very proud of him."
Me: "Thank you. I'm very proud of him. Wait til you start doing Math, then you're really gonna be freaked out."
Teacher: "I'm not freaked out at all. I'm just reminded of why I love being a teacher."

I walked out of the school, out into the playground, and judge me not, but I had to shed a few little tears.

Because she was right, and today I learned what pride was. Real pride. The kind that makes you puff out your chest and ask the world if they wanna take you on today because you're ready for anything.

He inspires me every day.

Our kids can teach us more than we teach them - if our eyes are open.

Sorry for the rant. #proudPapa

How Vile!?!?!?!

Some anecdotes require little-to-no-setup... like this one:

Upon entering the basement to grab some clothes from the dryer, I hear Tommy say from the upstairs...

"UH-OH.... DADDY!!! Don't come up here! I farted and it really, really smells. Like bad. Like you might get sick. I'll tell you when the coast is clear."

This is the point in where I should probably mention something about the proverbial apple and how it didn't fall from the tree...

Why You Deceptive Little...

So the wee lad had a play date today, and when it came time to go - and more importantly clean-up - this little exchange took place between T and his friend:

E: "I'm the best cleaner upper in the world."

T: "Oh wow, that's fantastic. Well I think everybody should be the best in the world at something and if that's what your best at E, I don't want to get in your way or do anything to stop that. So you go ahead"

** crickets **

Both parents, and the other little playmate all just looked at each other, like:

"Did that just happen?"

He possesses the ever elusive qualities of a 9-year old already. Lord help us all.

Dude was smooth though, I have to admit. If you put him on a used car lot, he'd already write bank, and he isn't even 5 yet.

You try say "No" to him and watch him wrap you in his spider web of child deception. Poetic brilliance.

Love that little boy. lol

Christmas Anticipation

"Daddy... we need to move the (fake) fire place. If we leave it there, how is Santa supposed to get out from the fireplace and not knock the Christmas tree over?"

"And you can't leave just one carrot Daddy, Rudolph isn't the ONLY reindeer. SHEESH DAD!!"

First Trouble

When I asked T how his day was today after school, he conveyed that he had got into trouble...

T: "I got my own table today Daddy. I have to stay there forever."

Me: "Probably not forever, but do you want to tell me what happened?"

T: "No."

Me: "Well CAN you tell me what happened? I'm not going to give you trouble, I just want to try and understand what happened."

T: "Ok, I guess. I'm not going to get in more trouble, right?"

Me: "Right."

T: "Ok. I was disruptive, and talked when I wasn't supposed to."

Me: "That doesn't sound too bad, are you sure there wasn't aything else?"

T: "No. Well... that did actually happen a few times. Like in the class... in the gym... in computer class... in centres..."

Me: "Is there a reason that you were talking?"

T: "Yeah, cuz N was talking to ME."

Me: "But you know that there are times you can talk to N and times that you can't."

T: "I know Daddy. I'm just bored. We keep learning stuff I already know."

And so it begins.

The eternal walk of trouble through boredom...

I know it well. I got in a bit of trouble at school.

But I lasted more than a couple of months before I reached the state.

What I learned from my experiences, and the piece of "wisdom" that I hoped to convey to Tommy, was this:

Me: "I understand. We've already done a lot of learning because you're very lucky, and very smart. But you have to let everybody else learn too. Do you understand?"

T: "No."

(lmao)

Me: "(fighting off the laugh) Well just because you have already learned something, doesn't mean everybody has. Let them learn - you'll have more to talk with them about. If you're bored, memorize everything the teacher says. I know you can remember things with incredible detail. Focus on the details."

T: "I like details."

Me: "I know you do little man. So when you already know something, learn it better. Learn it well enough that you could teach one of your friends if they didn't understand something. Wouldn't that be nice?"

T: "I could help be a teacher?"

*recognizing the enormous negative ramifications that could stem from this*

Me: "Well not really a teacher bud. But you can be a helper to your friends. You could help E (his little girlfriend, awww) if she ever didn't understand something. Like say she was having trouble counting..."

T: "So I could have a play date about counting?"

Perhaps it's wrong, but while this isn't what i was neccessarily driving at, it seemed like it was the reward at the end of the rainbow, so I went with it...

Me: "Sure you could bud. If you understood well enough because you had listened and memorized everything."

T: "I will listen. i will memorize everything."

And the scary thing is... he just might.

Math Boy?

Dear World, 

It's become apparent (to me) that lil T is quite gifted with numbers. Obviously at such a ripe, young age - it's tough to gauge any type of relative intelligence, but over the weekend, T counted to 110 by ELEVENs. 

Now advanced skip counting isn't new to him, but what was unique about this was that nobody taught him... he didn't memorize it, he didn't see it in a video... he just recognized the "pattern" and locked it down. He doesn't know or understand it completely yet, but he just taught himself his '11 times tables' before he was 5 years old.

He can now count by 2s, 3s, 5s, 10s and 11s.

His brain interests me like nothing else on the planet earth. 

Keep learning kimosabe, that quest for knowledge is not only exemplary, but inspires even your dad.

Signed,

Proud Papa

First Day of School is Finally here!

My young Jedi...

First Day?

First day of school for many in these parts... congrats and good luck parents. Tommy has been waiting for this day for months but with staggered JK, the poor kid doesn't start until Friday. Much to his chagrin I assure you.

So this morning, he was standing first on the porch, and then going to the end of the driveway, and was saying, nay yelling, "Happy First Day!!!" to every kid that walked by. 

A couple of the older kids looked at him sideways, but most just laughed and waived back. He hasn't even got there yet, and he's vying for school embassador. Funny kid.

Happy Back-to-School Friendos.

Last Weekend Before Back-to-School!

Dear fellow Dads,

This is the start of the last weekend before school starts. Do what you have to do to make sure your kids have what they need to be cool next week. Your son will need...

New Clothes - Wash them though. Get rid of that new clothes feel. Printed tee and jean shorts is all you need to make a neutrally cool splash. Or go with a cool theme like the Minions, or Star Wars, or Angry Birds etc.

Backpack - Lots of great themes to suit any child. Star Wars for Tommy. They're a style statement though. Don't send him with last year's backpack or underestimate it's cosmetic as well as functional purpose.

Lunch Pail - Find one that matches the backpack if they aren't together.

Thermos - Same as above.

New kicks, styling as you can find. Nike. Vans. Converse. You never get a second chance to make a first impression. If it were you, you'd want to look cool, so choose shoes wisely.

Oh yeah, then you have all the other stuff that you need for school, like pencils, paper, fancy stationary, and food containers. That stuff is probably important too, but nowhere near as cool or #thugdaddy blog worthy.

You don't have to spoil them to be considerate of their wants; but do something that puts a smile on their face.

That's the best thing they can have on their first day of school.

Daddy Reflexes

You hear people talk about "cat-like" reflexes all the time, but this awesome montage shows that Thug Daddy reflexes may be even more spectacular...

Thug Daddy medals to every dad in this video whose reflexes helped narrowly avoid the every day dangers of childhood.

Rock Star Day

Today was Rock Star day at T's daycare.

Needless to say that a Thug Daddy like me needed to make sure that Tommy brought his "A" game. After all... he might actually be a Rock Star one day. lol

Mildly 80s inspired... mixed in with some badassery... and here's what we came up with...

Costume: Bandanas (red and black), cool printed tee, chains, skulls, and hair chalk. The rest is pure attitude.

When I picked him up at the end of the day, we had a typically cute Tommy conversation...

T: "Daddy, everybody was bugging me today."
Me: "Like teasing you?"
T: "No... just bugging me. Even people I never play with, wanted to play today."
Me: "Being a rock star is like that sometimes."
T: "I just wanted some space man."

He has all the makings... charisma... entertainer... loves to sing... I'd never try talk this kid out of being a rock Star one day. Or anything else for that matter.

Heck, this might be our get up for the first day of school in a couple of weeks.

Fancy Tea Day

Spit-shined for Fancy Tea Day at daycare.

He cleans up pretty good!

That's ma boi!!!!

Darth Tom

Costume Day at daycare.

Darth Tom wants you to join the Dark Side. We have cookies.

Vader mask... lightsaber... ladies witch outfit hacked into a cloak... black shorts... black shirt... all things that were already on hand. Easy queasy Japanesey! most importantly, he loved it.

Admit it... at some point you did the vader breath thing...

KSSSHHH KUUUHHH

KSSSHHH KUUUHHH

Team Green

Soccer.is.done. 

The kids and the coach... melancholy. 

Fantastic last game today - really closely contested. There was a young lad on the other team named Flynn who was EASILY the best kid we played all year - what a great little player - kept it a game or it would have been a slaughter. I actually saw something from the kids they don't usually have to display - stamina. End of game... we rolled over them finally. And convincingly.

What an incredible experience this year has been. So fulfilling to have 16 hungry eyes looking at you every week just waiting for you to teach them something. Only makes the "beautiful game" that much more beautiful. My thanks to everyone but especially to Jenn for her awesome soccer momming. Today she made all the kids water bottle goodie bags... so smart. Most of the kids forgot all about the medal they got. Kudos.

I thought I would create a graphic for the kids and their Facebook pages...

Roll on Team Green!!! The season may be over but the memories will last forever. Thank you all for an incredibly rewarding experience.

Meet... Electricitor

Walking to daycare this morning, Tommy invented his own superhero without provocation. He calls him Electricitor. (wicked name buddy!) 

He is bald, made of metal, cannot die, cannot be hurt by fire, and he shoots electricity that he makes from the sun. He is like he is because he got struck by lightning. He has no tongue. He cannot fly, but he can use electricity to shock jump him anywhere he wants to go (like a Hulk jump).

Awesome sauce. :P #‎comicBookInspiration

I put together a rendition but I think Tommy wants something "meaner". He says he already can't wait until Electricitor turns into a bad guy "like all the other superheroes do now". lol

Kids are so creative. What has your son or daughter "made up" that made you go "Hmmmmm...."?

Soccer Pride and Prowess

So proud of tommy today. This morning at soccer, we encountered a real problem child on the other team. He was kicking kids and then pushed my smallest kid to the ground very forcefully. I spoke to his mom (also the other coach) and she did nothing. Enter Tommy. 

Didn't say anything... wasn't uber aggressive... just started bossing the kid around the park like he was his own personal you know what. Kid got even more frustrated and more physical and STILL Tommy didn't resort to uber aggression, he just stepped up his finesse, and his footie game. There may have been a straight elbow to the other kid's mouth that I didn't see, but for the most part it just looked like Tommy willed the other kid off the pitch. Not only did Tommy instantly strip him of the ball every time he touched it, T scored FIVE more today, including a natural hat trick in less than 3 minutes, and basically set a tone that could not be equaled by any other player on the field. #‎solid 

And we destroyed yet another team - the only team that had given us a game earlier in the year. Today, it was about 11 or 12 to 2. I'm proud of all my team for playing with control and not getting ratty, but I'm proudest of my son for recognizing that he's a big kid... this is his team... and if you push them around... you are gonna get a visit from the T man. And he's bringing quiet pain. 

Concrete Proof that I Am A Thug Daddy

Why yes, I did write his name in the wet concrete. What of it? Embrace your inner child.

Trouble shmouble.

#thugdaddynation

Team Green Rolling!

Our U4 soccer team has reached such prowess that we are destroying teams each week. It's ugly out there. The opposing parents and coaches... not enjoying it as much as us!!! Woot! 

I would say in the last 4 weeks, we have outscored the opposition approximately 60-5. Every game is about 15-1 or thereabouts. Nobody ACTUALLY keeps count but obviously you keep a running total in your head, or of who on the team has scored a least.

And if I put my foot on the throttle, it'd be 25, not 15. We just seem to be improving a little quicker than the other teams. Really, really jacked about how well the kids have taken to it and have come ready to play each week. Tall order from a 4y old, so I assume they're enjoying themselves as much as Coach is.

Tommy about to score one for Team Green!