"This is a very nice gift you and Dad got me."

Four! 4! Four years old! How did it go by so fast? He is so grown up. Here he is in his class today handing out treats to his friends and then showing the book he donated to the school in honor of his birthdays . It was the sweetest thing. Each kid said either "Happy birthday" or "Thank you" and he had to say "You're welcome" 24 times. He was concerned because his best buddy at Montessori is Jonah and the entire time Jonah was in the bathroom so he missed everything, including the song/dance Felix got to pick to do, Skip to My Lou. (See video below.)

Then, after school (while I went to Dusty's memorial service at the VFW) he went to Chuck-E-Cheese with his best friend Charlie and his family (thanks Kelly). He had a blast, got more transformers and won pirate gear (for next year's Seafair parade) and was glad to find that Natalie was waiting for him when he got home. We ordered pizza and breadsticks, his favorite meal apparently, and watched WALL-E after opening his presents. Ahh, the presents. I'm a little embarrassed at how the pile of presents this year resembled Rooney's. We'd been setting things aside for several months and then Dana still had to run out and buy Felix a...digital camera. (I'll let Dana explain that one in his next blog.) Anyway, Grandma Peggie sent some dinosaurs and a great dinosaur encyclopedia to settle all those conflicting facts in out-dated library material and Natalie got him a dinosaur book with a 3-D model he (we) can put together.

After eating 3 mini brownie cupcakes he was finally ready for bed and when I left to get Natalie to read to him he said he would just look at the stars on his ceiling (from the solar system model I got him) while he waited for Natalie, and then my little man, so sweet and polite said what is music to my ears, "This is a very nice gift you and Dad got me." What an angel. I'm just as spoiled as he is.

3 Degrees of Separation

It had come to my attention just yesterday that our possible future VP (god forbid) and Felix are separated by three degrees. The picture above includes a friend of mine (the one with the basketball) playing against the "Barracuda". It probably isn't fair to claim such a relationship as my friend does not remember Sarah.
To add to Felix's fame by acquaintance, the link below is to this years I-Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival. You may remember a previous post where I included a picture of Felix in chalk. That picture was one of those chosen for this year's brochure. If you visit the link, go to page four and the memory of that past post will come flooding back to you.
http://www.aiacentralcoast.org/AIA-IMADONNARI/FULL_Brochure2008sm.pdf
Felix has been in school for about two and half weeks and he loves it... I wish I could say. Actually, he's kind of tight-lipped about it. When I come home I ask him how school was that day, and just about every time he answers "great", and that's about it. He seems to be at that stage where school is great while he's there, but the next morning when it's time to go, he's not all that interested. Well, tough luck kid, you're going.

Last weekend we were invited to an event held by one of Renae's clients. I'm not sure Renae understood the invitation because when we arrived we were given instructions on how to serve the guests. That didn't happen, and we did have a lovely time. Actually there isn't much to tell about it so I made up what would have made for an interesting story. Felix did discover the power of the light saber as he played with one of the boys. And yes, that is a soccer ball, not a light saber in Tru's hands.

Recently cousin Rooney stopped by to make some chocolate chip cookies with Felix. And on another day Felix and April went to the beach.

Felix's First Day of School

Felix has started school!

Felix was admitted into our top choice for preschool two weeks ago after a long, long wait on the waiting list. Today was his first day and this is how it went. Felix and I got up early and spent a wonderful morning together until it was time to change out of his pj's and get ready for school. Luckily, Daddy arrived back from work just in time to get the ball rolling and get us out the door on time. We were welcomed at the school by his teacher and lots of other eager kids with reluctant parents (there were a few with reversed adjectives). He took off his shoes and donned his rubber boots and we proceeded to the playground to 'check in', a term which he is required to say to the volunteer with the clipboard each morning but which he was unwilling to voice today. Once in the playground my little Seattleite, who always refuses his coat, was told he had to bring a coat each day and if he didn't want to wear it he could hang it on the bridge (picture below). He soon found his comfort zone (picture below) and forgot about his hovering parents. After the flag raising (complete with salute and song - oh, by the way, a moment of pure kindred spirit occurred during the flag salute when I, as is usually my custom, omitted the words "under God" and the woman next to me said, "I do that too!" - Oh, I am so going to love this Montessori community) the kids changed back out of their boots and went into the classroom while the parents gathered down the street at a park for a coffee social. When I picked Felix up he was ready to go home and asked me if I missed him. He said he missed me too and was hungry for lunch. He said they had ELEPHANTS! at the school (not to confuse you, they do have goats, lizards, and an alpaca but the elephants were miniaturized toys).


Side note: Felix and I were visiting a neighbor (a couple roughly the same age as Dana and I with no kids and two spoiled dogs) when Felix shyly asked if the woman could make a sun. It took him so long to finally say it out loud and then we were so confused as to what he meant. She and I spent a few minutes unsuccessfully attempting to gesture a sunshine much to his disappointment. He motioned in front of himself with his hands but we just couldn't figure it out. Finally, he said, "No, one that will turn into a boy." Guess he was looking for a playmate. Out of the mouths of babes...