Homework

Yes, I have homework tonight.

This week, ES is the "Sea Star" in his class. Each day this week, he had something he had to bring with him to school to help his class get to know him better. I figure that's a good thing since he's new to the school and all.

On Monday, he had to take a sharing sack with one or two special items to school. "Try to encourage your child to choose items that have some sort of meaning rather than a collection of toys." ES took two of his favorite stuffed animals - Lotis and Sanders, and a scrapbook that I'll explain in a moment.

Sanders is the newbie in this house. It's a dolphin. ES picked it out because the dolphin was the mascot as his old elementary school, and he named it after his old school.

Lotis is an old salt. Lotis is a small puppy dog that ES takes everywhere. He had a predecessor, Otis, who used to go with us everywhere, too. It became a habbit for us to take a picture of Otis everywhere we took him, and at one point, our friend Shannon made a scrapbook of all the places Otis had been. Here are a few examples...

Otis Geocaching in Manassas, VA

Otis enjoying the Cherry Blossoms in DC

Otis visits Thomas the Tank Engine
Strasburg Historic Railroad, PA

The problem was, Otis liked to hide. There were many times that Otis spent the night away from home at places like Chick-fil-a because he was "hiding" and ES forgot to extract him from his hiding spot before we went home.

One time, I took ES with me to the grocery store to pick up a few things. When we got back home, we walked into the house, and ES gasped and said, "Otis is at the grocery store!"

Me: He's what???

ES: He's at the grocery store! We have to go back and get him!

Me: Do you know WHERE in the grocery store he is?

ES: Yes, he's in the toilet paper.

Me: Riiiiiight.

So we drove back to the grocery store. Sure enough, there was Otis, peeking his head out between the packages of toilet paper on the shelf.

Unfortunately, Otis hid a little too well at some point. He's been MIA for a long time now.

Anyway, that was a long-winded way of telling you ES took Lotis, Sanders, and his Otis scrapbook to school on Monday.

On Tuesday, he had to take an "all about me" poster. It had stuff like his age, favorite color (orange), favorite books (The Hobbit and Frindle), what he wants to be when he grows up (President of the United States), food (pizza), sport (swimming / snorkeling), etc.

On Wednesday (today), he had to take one of his favorite books to the class to share. Since The Hobbit and Frindle are a little long to read in class, he took a shorter book that his teacher could read to the class. He chose Dooby Dooby Moo. This is actually a book I bought while on deployment, and I made a video of myself reading the story to the boys and mailed the book back along with the video.

On Thursday, he's supposed to take a letter from one of his parents. This is why I have a homework assignment tonight. "Parents, you will write a letter to the class telling us how special your child is to you. Send the letter in a sealed envelope to school with your child, and I will read the letter to the class."

ES doesn't like this part of being the Sea Star of the week. He wants to skip this one. I can't imagine why. As if *I* would EVER do ANYTHING to EMBARASS him!

Skipping ahead a moment, on Friday, ES will be presented with a friendship booklet created by his classmates. "The booklet will include the Sea Star's picture and include compliments written by the class." Overall, I think it's a nice lineup of events to help the class get to know him.

So back to my homework assignment. I suppose some of you might think I'm just procrastinating by blogging, but I started writing this to help get the creative juices flowing and help come up with some ideas for my letter to my son's class. No really. Me, procrastinate?

Let's get started, shall we?

Dear Mrs. E---'s class,

My name is Kevin, and I am very lucky and honored to be ES's Daddy. There are lots of things we like to do together.

We have had a lot of fun hiking together. One time, he really impressed me by going on a 4 mile hike when it was 17 degrees out. That's REALLY COLD! ES is strong and determined, and he finished the hike on his own two feet. I was very proud of him.

Me and ES Hiking Near the Potomac River

Another time, we were on a long hike through a rain forrest in Hawaii, and a sudden rain storm turned the trail into slippery, gooey mud. It took us a long time to hike out of that valley. The sun went down. It was very dark out, but ES was very brave. He took my flashlight and led his younger brother and me back out of the forest. He made sure to point out where there were dangerous holes for us to step over and poisonous centipedes for us to avoid.

Waimano Valley before the storm

While we lived in Hawaii for the past year, we liked to go snorkeling together. We saw a lot of beautiful tropical fish and sea turtles.

Me and ES Snorkeling in Hanauma Bay, Hawaii

We also went kayaking together three times. The first time, we just went out on Pearl Harbor for an hour to see if we liked it. We did! The second time, we rented a kayak for the day and paddled all the way around Chinaman's Hat and back. The third time, we were on vacation in Waikoloa on the Big Island and rented a kayak with a glass bottom so we could see the fish and sea turtles swim underneath us.

Me and ES Kayaking Around Chinaman's Hat, Hawaii

We have fun at home, too. ES is very good at chess, and we like to play video games and watch movies together. I can't wait to watch Star Wars Clone Wars with ES this weekend for our family movie night.

Since I am in the Navy, we have to move around a lot. Although ES is only 7 years old, he is now living in his sixth house. He has made many good friends through all of our moves around the country, and I know he will make good friends here, too.

Sincerely,
ES's Daddy

How's that? Embarassing? Too mushy / too much parental pride?