sienna has been getting zits for the past few weeks.  the current one is right in the middle of her forehead.  see it?  she got her first one right after my birthday party, and we didn’t know what it was.  we thought it might be some irritation caused by the new sunscreen that we used that weekend.  (it was all organic and had no chemical sunblocks, but it made me and mommy itchy.)  her school even wrote up an incident report about it because they thought it might be some sort of injury.  well, that bump was on her right cheek, and it was still there last week for our school photos.  i wonder if they photoshop school pictures for preschoolers.

as soon as that cheek zit went away, a new one appeared on her forehead.  that’s when we became convinced that they were zits.  so mommy googled “pimple on 2 year old” and guess what.  almost all of the results were about other parents who thought their kids had pimples but it ended up being MRSA.  MRSA???  aaack!  where’s my cleanroom suit?!

do you know why you should never fall for a tennis player? because love means nothing to a tennis player. that’s a joke that mommy told me but i don’t get it.

anyway, one of the presents i got for my birthday was a tennis racquet and some low-compression balls.  i immediately took them to the backyard and  started playing golf with them.  mommy showed me how to swing the tennis racquet properly — a left-handed forehand (obviously, since i’m left-handed).  but even though i was making decent contact, i wanted to switch.  i was more comfortable swinging righty.

after just a few minutes of hitting around in the backyard, i was hooked.  mommy asked me if i wanted to take tennis classes, and of course i said yes!  but the problem is that tennis class is the same time as my basketball class.  so no more basketball for now.

today was my first tennis class.  the other kids in my class started their lessons last month, so i had a lot of catching up to do.  i got one-on-one coaching, which i thought was pretty cool, but mommy did not like my coach.  (that’s another story for another time.)  it’s a good thing that this is only a 4-week class.  after that, i’m going drop this class and get private lessons from auntie judy.  she doesn’t know it yet.  😛

i could tell you about what a natural i am and how great i did on my first day, and you might believe me if you were just looking at the photo.  but if you watch the video, you’ll get the real story.  mommy always tells me that i have trouble keeping my eye on the ball and my coach said the same thing.  it’s doesn’t matter — i still love tennis.  tennis is my new favorite sport, tied with swimming.  and if you know how much i love swimming, you know that that’s saying a lot.

i spent the past week transitioning from the owls to the eagles class at school. the first day, i only spent a few hours in the eagles. but that afternoon, all my stuff got moved into my new cubby in the eagles class. on day 2, i got dropped off in the eagles class and then stayed in there full time. (not much of a transition, huh?) that morning was rough, and i cried when daddy dropped me off. but after that, i did great and now i love being an eagle. so it’s official. i’m a pre-K eagle.

now that i’m in a new classroom, miss gina and miss kiran (the owls teachers) aren’t my teachers anymore. so today, i made cards for them telling them that i liked the snacks they gave me and that i hope i can still visit them. mommy had lined the dining table with scratch paper so that i wouldn’t get it dirty with glue and glitter and markers, but after making two cards, i got really messy and lazy and tired of writing. so as i was signing my name, i drew on the table with permanent marker. repeatedly. i won’t bore you with the details about why i was using a permanent marker, but i will tell you that mommy was SO MAD. she thought i did it on purpose.

mommy tried to clean the table with soap and water. that didn’t work. that made her more mad. she tried the special wood cleaner that we usually use. that didn’t work either. so she got even more mad. she was getting more and more upset by the minute. so what to do? she turned to the wisdom of the internet, of course. there were a bunch of suggestions on the internet — one of them was toothpaste. so she gave it a try. lucky for me, it worked. it took the pen marks right off the table and didn’t appear to damage the finish. whew! mommy’s blood stopped boiling almost immediately.

thank you, toothpaste. you saved my life.

i can’t wait for halloween to come.   for weeks, i’ve been talking about wanting to go to a pumpkin patch with a maze.   and every time we drive by a house with halloween decorations, i get really excited.  “look!  they’re having halloween at their house!”  so this weekend, we got ready for halloween.

on saturday, we went to a nearby pumpkin patch with cousin zoey.  she took us to G&M farms, a place in livermore that she goes to every year.  we liked this pumpkin patch a lot.  they have all the usual stuff (corn maze, cow train, pony rides, etc.), but the coolest part was the hay maze, corn pit, and the playground.  yup, there’s a playground right in the middle of the farm.  cool, huh?

first, we hit the hay maze.  i brought my maze map (do you see it in my hand in one of the photos?), but it still look us a really long time to find the exit.  mommy said that she made a starbucks run while we were making our way out, but i think she was just being super silly.

the corn pit was the best.  we had never heard of a corn pit before!  sienna and i buried ourselves in corn kernels, and then cousin zoey and i made corn angels.  cousin zoey loved the corn pit.  sienna and i liked it too (me, more so than sienna), but we got hungry so we went to go find some food.  cousin zoey refused to leave.  i think she is going to live in there forever.  as we were getting out of the pit, we heard a lady say that there were a ton of corn kernels in her underwear.  gross!

on our way out of the pumpkin patch, we said hi to a mama cow, a baby cow, and a couple of llamas.  and of course, we had to stop at the playground so that sienna could go down the slide and i could play on the digger.

we didn’t even have time to ride on the cow train or the ponies but it was still super fun.  and we picked up a couple of overpriced pumpkins to complete the decorations for our house.  here are more photos from our day at the pumpkin patch.

today (sunday), we put up our halloween decoration.  we have a giant spider web, some giant spiders, spider icicle lights, a giant plastic jack-o-lantern, and of course, the pumpkins that we got from the pumpkin patch yesterday.  now, we are having halloween at our house.  we are halloween-ready!  come trick-or-treating at our house so you can see all of our decorations.  i promise that we won’t give you the melted chocolates from my birthday party pinata.

california is pushing up the date by which a kid must turn 5 to enter kindergarten.  it used to be dec. 2.  starting last year, the change is being phased in one month at a time over three years.  by next year (when kyden will turn 5), the date will be september 1.   he will miss the cutoff by 1 month.  my thoughts?  i’m disappointed that he will not be in the same grade as his cousin zoey (who lives in our neighborhood and is only a few months older than him).  it would have been nice to be able to call my brother and ask “hey, what was their math homework for tonight?  kyden lost his assignment sheet.”  other than that, it doesn’t really make a difference to me.

i had always thought that the “tiger mom” thing to do would be to get your kid into school before the state-approved age.  you know, pushing your kid academically with little consideration for social development, emotional maturity, athletic performance, or anything else that isn’t math, science, or reading.  or piano.  can’t forget the all-important piano.  i know these moms (and dads).

however, a couple of weeks ago, i learned about a phenomenon called red-shirting.  prior to that, i had only heard that term in the context of college sports.  here, it’s the same concept, but with kindergarteners.  parents are holding their kids back so that they will be older, bigger, and more advanced than their peers.  i couldn’t believe that this was an actual thing.  it took me awhile to wrap my head around the idea, but i get it now.  these parents believe that they are giving their children the best chance for success.  while i don’t know any parents who have held (or plan to hold) their children back, i know some who look forward to their children amongst the oldest in their class so that they have a “greater chance to take leadership roles at school”.

to be clear, i’m not criticizing or judging other parents.  at all.  they are making decisions that they feel are best for their children.  so what’s my point?

kyden’s teachers have always talked about how bright he is, how well he understands complex concepts, and how it’s obvious that we work with him at home.  (we don’t).  they felt that he was ready for more of a challenge at school.  but if he advances to pre-K now, what will he do next year?  he will be too young to start kindergarten under the new age requirements.  so, what to do?

we did nothing.  when the school year started (in september), almost all of his friends advanced to pre-K, but he stayed in his current classroom.  so he became the oldest in his class.  he was more advanced than his peers.  he became the teachers’ helper (and teachers’ pet).  he loved being at the head of the class, and it was great for his self-confidence.  (maybe it would have happened anyway, but he now has the confidence to speak up for himself, like ordering his own meals at restaurants or asking store clerks where the restroom is.)  kyden was loving school, and that was the most important thing.  all good, right?

well, fast forward one month, and kyden’s teachers continue to talk about how advanced he is.  and as new kids are turning 3 and moving up into his class, the gap between him and the rest of the class is widening.  the teachers do their best to keep him challenged in his current class, but they continue to tell me that he is definitely ready for the challenges of pre-K.  so what to do?

well…  i see a lot of myself in kyden.  curious.  super smart.  phenomenal memory. incredibly LAZY.  my parents did everything they could to keep me challenged at school.  i skipped a grade.  i moved from public school to private school, to a GATE program, and then to a different GATE program at a magnet school.  i took college classes on a UC campus while i was still in high school.  and if you’re wondering, yes, i did plenty of extracurricular activities, too.  i played the alto sax (and piano), i ran track, i volunteered at local elementary schools and convalescent homes.  but as hard as my parents tried to keep me challenged, school always came easy to me.  the other day, my dad told me that it always frustrated him that i was such a procrastinator — i never started working on a project until the night before it was due.  so i asked him, “did i ever not finish?  did i ever not get a good grade?” no.  i didn’t need to start those projects early because i knew i could knock them out in one night.  all of this reinforced my laziness.  it made me grow up not believing in studying for exams.  (what was the point in studying?  i knew the material, or i didn’t, right?  and as it always turned out, i did know it.)  i see myself in kyden.  already.  and i do not like it.  i do not want kyden to skate through life thinking that everything will always come easily.  I DO NOT WANT KYDEN TO BECOME ME.  (i also don’t want him to become that one annoying know-it-all kid that every class has.)  so what to do?

so we thought about allowing kyden to move into pre-K now, and then having him assessed to start kindergarten next year.  assuming he’ll be allowed to start school early, what would that mean?  kyden is a small kid as it is.  being the youngest kid in class would exaggerate that size difference.  would he always get picked last for the dodge ball team because he’s so small?  would he be bullied because of his size?  maybe he would be bullied regardless of when he starts school, but if he starts a year later, would he be more mature and better able to handle it?  when he gets to high school, will girls in his class not want to go to prom with him because he is younger than they are?  these are the things that keep me up at night.

<FLASHBACK>

i was 4 years old, and i had just started kindergarten at the local elementary school.  i was completely bored.  my teacher and parents agreed that in order to provide me with more of a challenge, i would be allowed to join the 1st/2nd grade class for reading and math lessons.  so, while all my kindergarten friends went home at lunch time, i stayed through the afternoon.  i still have vivid memories of sitting alone on the playground with my white vinyl holly hobby lunch box, eating lunch by myself.  every day.  i hated it.  so after a lot of thought (and criticism from family and friends), my parents made the decision to let me start 1st grade.

</FLASHBACK>

so yes, i started 1st grade at age 4.  i was always the youngest and smallest kid in class.  it never bothered me.  not once.  the only time i was really aware of the age difference was when my friends started getting their driver’s licenses and drove me all around town.  i couldn’t return the favor, and i knew i wouldn’t be able to for a long time.  oh, and in college, i needed a fake ID to get into DV8, an 18 and over club.  but overall, i did fine.  my peers were always 1-2 years older than me, but we barely noticed.  but is it because i was a girl?  would it be different for a boy hanging out with older girls?

as a parent, i have always been extremely confident.  when i was pregnant with sienna, mike asked me if there was anything that i wanted to do differently with sienna than we did with kyden.  i said no.  i believed that every decision that we made as parents was 100% right.  not right for every family, but right for ours.  i have been confident in every decision we’ve made for/about our children.  until now.

this week, kyden is transitioning into the pre-K classroom.  academically, i know this is the right decision.  socially, he fits right in.  but what about the longer-term effects of all of those things that keep me up at night?  i just don’t know.  at the end of the week, we will need to make a decision about which classroom kyden will stay in for the remainder of the school year.

like any other parent, i just want what’s best for my kids.  and for the first time, i have no idea what that is.  anyone have a crystal ball that i can borrow? 🙂

comments, criticisms, and any other feedback are welcomed and appreciated!

when i first heard that mommy and sienna were going to the sharks game tonight, i was upset.  i wanted to go!  but mommy explained to me that i just went to the sharks game last week, so it was sienna’s turn.  i understood that.  i am all about fairness.

so mommy and sienna went to the game with auntie judy.  sienna hasn’t been to many games, so we weren’t sure if she would be into it or not.  well, she really liked wearing my old shark jacket.  and she really liked doing the shark chomp during power plays and clapping and yelling along with the cheers.  but she had no interest in the actual game.

sienna hardly watched any of the game at all.  she squirmed around in her seat and sat with her back to the ice through most of the game.  she waved to and flirted with people sitting around her.  and she kept talking about her boy sitting in the row behind her: “my boy has a shark on his shirt”, “my boy has a shark hat”.  and then she took off her jacket, lifted her shirt, and started playing with her nipples.  remember when she became fascinated with her nipples a few weeks ago?  apparently, she hasn’t gotten over that yet.

i swear, you can’t take that girl anywhere.  i don’t think sienna should be allowed to go to any more sharks games — she doesn’t even like hockey.  i’m going to all of our sharks games from now on.  i think that’s fair.

before we moved to our new house, i met baby emma.  baby emma lives in our neighborhood, about 3/4 miles away.  mommy met emma’s daddy because they were both searching for schools for us kids at the same time.  i’ve mentioned her in my blog before, but i never posted a photo of her until now.

anyway, emma turned 1 and she had a birthday party at her house.  i wanted to walk there, but mommy said it was too hot and she didn’t want to carry the present (and probably sienna) all the way over there.  so we drove.

sienna and i had fun playing at emma’s house.  she has so many toys.  we recognized a lot of our old toys that we gave her, but we went straight for the play kitchen.  (mommy and daddy never let us have a play kitchen at home so it will be something that we look forward to at school.  aaaaand at other people’s houses.)  we spent most of the afternoon making different dishes for mommy.  (daddy didn’t come because he was working.  boo.)  emma’s house even has an entire room with nothing but crawling tunnels and forts.  we hung out in there for a little while, too.  it was super fun.

when it was time for cake, mommy let sienna eat some jello that she brought so she wouldn’t feel left out.  and since sienna was having jello, i wanted jello, too.  no cake, can you believe it?  but that’s’ how it is with us.  we want whatever the other one has.  that’s sibling love.

happy birthday emma.  when we get bigger, sienna and i are going to ride our bikes to your house all the time so we can play with your kitchen — i mean you.  play with you.

oh and i almost forgot.  so, you know how mommy and uncle ben were looking for schools at the same time?  they both did a lot of research, made phone calls, visited schools, and talked to other parents.  and guess what.  emma is now going to the same school as sienna and me!

i have been learning spanish at school.  last week, we had this conversation at home:

me: padre, i have a perro.

daddy: …

mommy: daddy doesn’t know you’re talking to him because he doesn’t know spanish.

daddy: huh? what? you have a petal? a pedal? a paddle? show me.

me: a dog!

daddy: dog is “perro”?

mommy: yes.

me (to mommy, who was slicing apples): madre, can i have a manzana por favor?

mommy: si, mijo.

me: gracias.

mommy: de nada.

i have also been learning sign language at school.  and i figured out that if someone doesn’t know spanish, i can sign at the same time to help them understand what i’m saying.  although, i’m not sure if daddy knows sign language either, so i don’t think that will help.

but at least mommy understands me.  and since i know that she knows spanish, sometimes i’ll start a conversation, and i’ll only continue if she responds to me in spanish.  those conversations go like this:

me: madre?

mommy: yes?

me: madre?

mommy: yes?

me: madre?

mommy: yes, kyden?

me: madre?

mommy: what.

me: madre?

mommy: what, kyden?

me: madre?

mommy: what.  i am listening.

me: madre?

mommy: what!

me: i want you to say “si, mijo”.

mommy: si mijo.

and then i proceed to talk to mommy. in english.

sienna is definitely allergic to peanuts and eggs.  but what about wheat?  in her two skin prick tests (a year ago and 4 months ago), she tested negative for a wheat allergy.  and she used to eat things with wheat in them all the time — they never made her itchy or caused any breathing difficulties.  so it was confusing that her blood tests came back moderately positive for a wheat allergy.  mommy’s theory was that it aggravated her eczema.

when sienna went to see the dermatologists at UCSF, she was prescribed some steroid ointments for her eczema.  she used it for a few days, and her eczema disappeared.   her skin has been looking fantastic for weeks.  so mommy thought it was time to reintroduce wheat into sienna’s diet, then see if the eczema flared up.

so monday morning, we said hello to wheat.  mommy made us muffins for breakfast.  she made them with real whole wheat flour — not the almond/arrowroot/aramath/whatever flour blend that she usually uses.  and she packed a sandwich in sienna’s lunch.  the sandwich was made with a pita — not the gluten-free wraps that sienna usually gets.

the muffins were so yummy.  i ate 3 of them.  sienna liked them too.  she liked them so much that she kept eating them even though they were making her itchy.  and sure enough, there were hives all around sienna’s chin and mouth too.  no more muffin for sienna.  and mommy had to re-make sienna’s lunch, too.

mommy was perplexed.  sienna had never reacted to wheat before.  maybe sienna was reacting to the coconut oil in the muffin?  everything else in there was stuff that she’d had before — bananas, blueberries, coconut, and fake egg.

so today, mommy did an experiment on sienna.  on one arm, mommy rubbed some coconut oil.  on the other arm, she rubbed a paste that she made out of wheat flour and water.  within seconds, sienna started complaining that the wheat paste arm was itchy.  and then it turned red and hivey.  the coconut arm looked shiny and well-moisturized.

mommy was wiping sienna’s arm with a towel and apologizing to her just as daddy came home.

daddy:  what are you doing to our daughter?

mommy:  it’s the wheat.  she’s allergic to wheat.

daddy:  uh, yeah.  we knew that.

poor sienna.

bad mommy.

goodbye, wheat.

i have a new doctor.  sienna has met her before, but today was my first time.  i got weighed and measured.

• height: 39.375 inches (25 %ile)
• weight: 34.5 pounds (25 %ile)

at my 3yo checkup, i was 36 %ile in height, so it seems that my growth is slowing.  but i guess that’s okay because  i wasn’t destined to play basketball anyway.

after i got measured, i had my vision and hearing tested.  i am happy to report that my eyesight is 20/20.  however, i failed the hearing test.  the nurse told me to raise my hand when i heard sounds through the headphones, but i never heard anything.  it reminded mommy of when i failed my hearing test at the hospital when i was 1 day old.  that was daddy’s fault though.  today, daddy wasn’t there for me to blame.  nobody seemed to be concerned that i am completely deaf.

my new doctor asked me a ton of questions:  what do i like to eat?  what activities do i do?  how high can i count?  what should i do if a stranger asks me to help him find his puppy?  do i fight with sienna? etc.  i guess i passed that part or the test because she seemed satisfied with my answers.  then she checked me out, and she said i looked good.  she said (to mommy) to let daddy know that my penis is bigger than it looks right now.  apparently, i still have a lot of baby fat obscuring part of the shaft.  i know she was just trying to be funny, but what a weird thing to say, right?  sorry, no photo.  you’ll have to take my word for it.

my visit ended with two shots.  one of the shots was the flu shot.  i was going to get the flu mist (nasal spray), but my doctor was hesitant to do it once she learned that gung-gung is immunocompromised and lives with us.  she and mommy discussed the risks (to gung-gung) and mommy ultimately decided that since i had to get another shot anyway, one more wasn’t a big deal.  no fair — sienna got the flu mist a couple of months ago!  but whatever.  i was tough and didn’t cry.  not even a little bit.  i’m 4 now and i’m a big boy. 🙂