As a part of our Western European/St. Francis block, J participated in an Ecumenical Children's Choir at an area Episcopal Church. Today the program wrapped up with them performing several songs at the morning mass. I tried out my new Flip video camera (thanks, Leslie!), and will try posting below so you can share in our morning music.
Well, it's taken me long enough, but here are the photos from Zoo Boy's birthday party, which was held on Sunday at The Children's Museum. Eleven of his friends and many of their parents attended, as well as his grandparents and a couple of aunts and uncles. The Boy chose several rooms for his guests to visit with our party guide, and they all enjoyed exploring exhibits and watching some very entertaining animals for about an hour.
Then it was off to our own private party room, where Zoo Boy had selected a chinchilla for his guests to learn about and pet. He was the ultimate host, refusing to pet the chinchilla himself so that his guests would have enough time with it. When I asked him about it later, he said "I've petted chinchillas lots of time, but I chose that because I thought that's what everyone would like the best."
Then it was time for cake and presents. Here's how the caked turned out (his name is under that gray bar). I wasn't too pleased with it, given that it took me several hours to make, I thought I could have centered things better. But everyone else was pretty impressed, and Zoo Boy absolutely loved it, so I guess I've just got to be happy with that!
Zoo Boy opening his gifts. I have to say, he handled himself really well, reading each card, laughing where appropriate, finding the giver and making eye contact with them to make sure they were watching him open the gift, and thanking them sincerely afterwards. Then they all went down to the planetarium to enjoy a show while I cleaned up with the help of a couple of my friends. Afterwards we handed out Bakugan toys (hand-picked by Zoo Boy) to each of the boys and wooden bead bracelets to the girls, and all the kids got passes for a return visit to the museum. It was a nice party, but a little chaotic. Zoo Boy was really happy with it, though, so it's all good!
One of my favorite things that Zoo Boy got, a hand-made card from my artistic friend Lori, with Kiri featured. We look forward to her cards at every birthday, she's so creative!
And the best gift of the day -- a home made bird chart from the boys' friend D. Zoo Boy plans to frame it and hang it in his bedroom.
Yes, it's all true, Zoo Boy turned 7 today! He was half-excited, half-worried in the days leading up to it (a vast improvement over turning 6, which he was 100% dreading). But, as usual, it was all good once it happened!
We had a little cake, both because you can't celebrate a birthday without a cake, and, more importantly, because Mommy had to try out her idea for a Bakugan cake on something small before a couple of dozen party guests see the real, much larger one. (Under that black bar is the boy's name, but since he goes incognito on the blog, I figured I'd obscure it.)
Blowing out the big "7" candle. He liked the cake. ("Thank you Mommy for this delicious cake," LOL, I love that kid!) I hope he's not disappointed with tomorrow's cake, he refuses to look at it to approve it, saying he wants it to be a surprise. Pressure on me!!!
Opening his gift from J. J shopping on his own this year, telling me before I ever had a chance to ask what he wanted to get him. Given the delighted look on Zoo Boy's face, I guess he done good. He did, however, have trouble keeping anything a secret, spilling the beans on more than one of the gifts, so I'll be careful how much information I share with him in the future....
All outfitted with his new Bakugauntlet, stocked with his new Bakugan cards, and a battle all laid out on his Bakugan battle field (a gift from The Map Man and I). He and J spent the whole afternoon brawling, which made for a happy, happy birthday for The Boy.
The kids had a day of science classes at The Children's Museum yesterday. J had his own schedule and map, and managed to get himself to his own classes all day long, so I didn't have any opportunity to photograph him. But I tagged along to all of Zoo Boy's classes (a bit of a necessity if I expect him to actually stay IN his classes...) so I got a lot of pics of him doing experiments, observations, and projects, so we can follow him below.
Zoo Boy's classes were geared for pre-K through 1st grade. His first class was in the planetarium, where they showed a cute program about two boys who build a cardboard rocket and visit all the planets in our solar system. (I had a nice little nap during the show.) His second class was a chemistry class about Polymers, and the kids created slime. Predictably, the Boy didn't want to handle the slime, so I had to assist him with all of the experiments they did with them to try to determine whether slime is a liquid or a solid.
Next he had a biology class about the life and habits of red worms. Also predictably, he didn't want to look in the bin of compost the worms lived in (and honestly, I don't blame him, it smelled just awful), nor did he want to touch the worm he was assigned to study. Fortunately he had a lab partner who was more than willing to do the more sensory-challenging portions of the experiments, and after much reassurance from me that nobody was going to make him do anything he didn't want to, he managed to participate more or less fully in the class.
His final class was about magnets and discovering which objects they attract, and how they interact with each other. 
I was grateful for the opportunity to observe Zoo Boy amongst a large group of his peers -- 30 or so similarly aged homeschooled children. I've known right along that he kind of sticks out in a group of typically schooled children, but some of that I blame on the difference in their learning environments. But getting to watch him and see the same differences amongst a good sampling of same-aged homeschooled kids was a bit of an "ah ha" experience for me. Clearly he's academically advanced, and just as clearly he's quite emotionally immature, both of which I only had a vague feel for. Combined with his lingering sensory issues, it gives The Map Man and I some fodder for more thinking on and discussing the subject of meeting his needs.
It's an annual tradition for us to read the Enki Education Kindergarten Nature Story "Sugaring Time." Each year we approach the artistic digestion differently, however, and this year I decided that painting would serve our needs nicely. After recalling the story, I started by talking about Old Maple feeling the East Wind starting to blow during the day, and the North Wind returning at night, while we painted our entire paper yellow with broad, long brush strokes. (This first painting is J's.)
(Zoo Boy's painting.) We then sang "Sleep Root Children" (from the story) while using an arcing brush stroke with the blue. We finished by singing "Haul Sweet Water" (also from the story) while dabbing on the red. The boys readily recognized the maple tree with sap buckets in my painting (below) and J's (although I never said a word about it). Zoo Boy forgot to wipe off his brush before loading it with red paint and wound up with a sear of purple instead of red sap buckets. But we all kind of like it this way anyway.
The next day we participated in a Maple Sugaring program at a local park's sugar house. This is also a yearly tradition of ours, although my guess is this is the last year we'll bother with the class -- the boys knew all the answers to all the questions. Next year we'll just tap our own trees and make our own sugar and syrup. I feel that sugaring is a legacy for kids growing up in New England.
No work on the seasonal sugaring activities would be complete without tasting sap, syrup, and maple candies. This is a hard maple drop, a bit different than the type of maple sugar candy we usually buy and make.
My painting, for anyone who might be interested. (By the way, if I were to do it over, I would let the painting dry before adding the buckets so that they were crisper.)
