First Lego League Competition

Posted on November 15, 2014 by Tessa

This year Lex joined the local First Lego League group and finally found his tribe. :) There are ten kids in the group and they have been meeting twice a week for the past few months, designing and building a robot to complete a variety of challenges (aka “missions”). Today was the big competition. Nineteen teams from around the area competed in robot missions, design challenges, team work exercises, and presentations. It was a full day for these kiddos and a day of firsts for Lex! Overall it was AWESOME!!

The event started at 8am today at Dartmouth College. Lex and I went while Alan took Eve to karate. Suddenly we are that over-scheduled family! I wasn’t sure what to expect, but parents from last year said there is a lot of waiting and just hanging out. I personally felt the day flew by! Alan brought Eve over around 11:30 and I was having a great time hanging out. I loved watching the kids on the team work and play together. You could clearly see who had been there before (the older kids) and who was new (the younger ones) and how they went about things differently.

#10 Pencils, hanging out before the events begin.

My #1

#10 Pencils, getting ready for their turn.

Lex gets final updates on the mission order before their first match.

Part of the competition is a presentation and demonstration of their robot design. Each person had to read a part and then they all had to answer questions.

Question time.

I love how Lex stepped right up to answer questions without hesitation. He was so confident!

Team picture!

Another part of the competition was to solve a non-robot challenge. This years challenge was to design a new way to teach someone something. Their team came up with a new way to teach someone to run. Then they had to present it to the judges.

He looks so little in this group! He did great though.

Eve and Alan got there right around lunch time. We had some lunch, hung out, went to one of the team’s presentations, and then Eve talked me into leaving. More like she wore me down with her whining. I was conflicted because I had told her ahead of time that Alan and I would probably switch off and that she wouldn’t have to be there all day, however I was having fun and really didn’t want to leave! I didn’t want Alan to miss out on the whole thing either though, that didn’t seem fair. I begrudgingly left around 1:30 and we went home. Eve wanted to play house and dolls and all I wanted to do was text Alan to see how it was going. We settled on reading, which I did not do very well. Eventually she asked if she could play on the computer and I flopped over on the couch and took a nap!

Alan took a video of their third match and sent it to me. It made me very happy. The team had tried the “sports” mission (where the robot throws the ball into the net) twice before and each time it missed, but this time they got it! Hence the cheering. :)

Lex and his team ended up winning an award for Best Robot and progressing to the championship round next month!! I am super happy and excited for them!! It will be a busy day and I am totally looking forward to it! Alan is excited because the championship is held at his old high school. :)

The team won an award for the best robot design. Alan sent me a picture. :)

The actual award. I wonder what they will do with it.

Lex today wore a shirt that matched everyone else’s (or at least 10 other people), stood in front of a group (twice) to do a presentation, and happily survived a day full of noise, people, and chaos. I’m so proud of him!! He is growing up into such a strong, smart, fun little guy. I’m so glad that he is introducing us to this fun new world. That’s one of the many joys of parenting, all the places your children bring you. I think my parents would agree with that!

A new plan

Posted on November 2, 2014 by Tessa

The evening routine has been making me crazy lately. Alan works late, I feed the kids whatever they want (which is generally one of about three things: bagel, cereal, or toast and butter), and I make myself something healthy(ish). We all three read at the table and zone out. I finish my dinner then nag/bug/remind them to eat, stop reading, shower, etc. The whole thing makes me crazy! After a long time reading at the table I take away their books and they cry because they are still hungry. We fight. It’s awful.

In my perfect world we would all sit down together, eat a hot, healthy meal (that the magic dinner fairy has prepared), and engage in conversation together. In a perfect world.

So, at family meeting on Saturday I brought up the evening routine as a problem. We discussed solutions. Eve proposed not reading at the table, which Lex was very hesitant to agree too. We finally decided on no reading at breakfast or dinner because those are times we have a time-frame and schedule to adhere to (school or bedtime), but reading at snack or lunch was ok. Reading at the table when you’re not eating is fine too, of course. Lex agreed to try for a week. Last night we all ate pizza and garlic bread at the table and had a great conversation. In bed that night Lex told me that he really liked the conversation and it was a very nice dinner. This morning, Sunday, a day we’d usually read the paper at breakfast, Lex decided to eat quickly then read the comics afterwards, all on his own without me reminding him of the new rule. I made french toast, per Eve’s request, and we all sat together and again had a lovely conversation about the day. Lex ate toast and butter, but still joined us for the meal and conversation. No fussing about reading. It was great! Tonight Lex was at Lego League and Alan was at work, so Eve and I prepared a nice meal (lentil soup and fresh bread, again at her request) and set the table with candles and everything. When the boys got home we sat down together for a great meal. Lex had bread and yogurt. I would love to get him eating more variety, but for now I think the meals together again are awesome! I hope it continues without fuss. Maybe after a few weeks we can start working on trying new foods again.

I know this sounds like old news because food has always been an issue in this house, but lately it has really hit me that he is nine and a half years old and doesn’t eat warm food. His diet consists of about five “meals” and none what you would consider a proper meal. We rarely go out to eat because all he’ll eat is the bread and butter, or bagels at Panera Bread, and he can’t eat at friends’ houses or birthday parties. It is really limiting for him and seems to be getting worse, not better. I was hoping he would out-grow the pickiness, or at least gain some curiosity about food as he grew up, but nope, not so far. I’m hoping this can be a first step. At least removing the reading makes him more aware of what he’s eating (makes all of us more aware of what we are eating!) and maybe we can work that into expanding his diet a bit. Wish me luck!

Lunch

Posted on August 26, 2014 by Tessa

I was just going through old papers on my desk and came across this cutie. The picture is from 2nd grade, I think, and hung on a Reduce/Reuse/Recycle bulletin board at school all last year.

Lex’s checkup

Posted on June 13, 2014 by Tessa

The boy is 9 years old so we went back to the doctor for a well-child visit. He’s 77lbs and 52.75″ tall. He gained 8lbs and 1.25″ from last year, but lost 3lbs from a visit in October. The doctor was a tiny bit concerned, but after a conversation and check she was happy that he’s doing just fine. We chalked it up to winter clothes. :) We had the usual discussion on activities and exercise (plenty) and healthy eating and veggies (none). I always feel guilty when the feeding discussion comes up. The doctor is great, but I feel guilty anyway. This summer I plan to get us back on a better eating schedule. This year has been tough with school and work and all.

Today was exhausting! A very rainy field day that got moved inside, so we were shepherding over-excited kindergarteners throughout the school from one activity to another. They got very little down time and no quiet time. This is a class that regularly has five or six sleepers still at quiet time, so by the end of the day they were exhausted. So were the teachers! After school we went right to the doctor’s appointment, then home and I will admit that the three of us have been staring at screens for the last 45 minutes. It’s so quiet! I’m going to rally again and make some dinner now. No rest for the weary. :) Kidding. Summer is coming soon!

An epic, EPIC birthday bash!

Posted on May 25, 2014 by Tessa

For starters — Happy Birthday Lex!! Nine years old and awesome!!

I’ve been feeling a little low about Lex’s birthday this week. It snuck right up on me and certainty didn’t get the front-of-mind attention it has in the past. Driving home from school Thursday afternoon, I started thinking about getting a head start on his cake for today, but then suddenly remembered that he needed cupcakes for school Friday! I hadn’t even talked to the teacher about it, but I sent her a quick email and started pulling out ingredients. Unfortunately we discovered, in the nick of time, that we had no good cupcake papers. Soo… Lex suggested peanut butter chip brownies, a recipe I had made awhile ago and everyone like. To fancy them up a bit I added chocolate chips as well, and marshmallows on top. They smelled delicious and looked great out of the oven. Unfortunately, when I tried to cut them at 9pm they were a gooey mess! Completely uncutable! I was going to make another batch of regular brownies, but we didn’t have enough ingredients. I was crying, seriously, over my complete lack of birthday preparedness. Alan put the brownies in the freezer and put me to bed.

The next morning I pulled the brownies out of the freezer and was able to cut them, but they were still pretty messy. I still hadn’t heard back from his teacher on sending treats in either. I gave Lex the option of messy brownies on Friday or really awesome cupcakes on Tuesday. He chose the brownies so we packaged them up in individual bags with cute labels and lots of napkins, and sent them to school. Hoping for the best and completely forgetting to take any pictures. Sigh. When he got to me Friday afternoon the first thing he said was, “The brownies were AWESOME!” Whew!

Saturday we spent making and decorating cake, filling goody bags, praying for sunshine, and prepping for a party. Oh yeah, and Eve learned to ride her bike again. Yay!

This morning came, bright and early, and my baby turned NINE! Nine whole years old and handsome as always. He had a few little presents waiting for him on the table.

Morning presents for my nine year old!

Nine years old!

I got him an awesome Lego movie t-shirt that has Emmitt on it and says “The Special Has Arrived.” I thought he would love it, but instead he laughed briefly and then discarded it. He refused to wear it today. You never can tell with that boy!

He loved these magnet toys!

Loved them so much he wanted a picture with them. :)

The forecast all week called for varying amounts of rain, but this morning it said clear skies and sunshine all day. Whoo hoo! We did our morning thing, then packed up a party and headed to the skate park for Lex’s birthday party.

This place is awesome. They have a skate park (seen here), a playground, and a big pavilion for parties.

A brave friend on the half pipe.

The birthday boy is one cool dude!

Alan joined in the fun.

Brave boys on bikes

We had a few girls there too. This one forgot her bike, but luckily I packed an extra bike and two scooters. Everyone had a blast!

Lex on his new bike.

Hey party people!

Cake time!

The cake was an evolving process. It started with a couple of round cakes and we went from there. Lex had input, I had input, the lack of supplies had input, and we ended up here. It is supposed to look like bike wheels. What do you think?

Making wishes and blow out candles.

Cake for everyone.

I like this group of kids. I miss being in their school every day and seeing them all.

Lex got some awesome presents!

Despite my last minute planning the party got rave reviews. One kid said it was the best he’s been to in a long long time, and another kiddo said it was an epic, EPIC party. Can’t beat that. Most important though is that Lex had a blast! Everything went well.

After the party we packed up and headed home. Everyone crashed for a bit. My parents were here and Mandy and Rachel as well. We ordered pizza for dinner, per Lex’s request (though he doesn’t eat the pizza, just the cheesy garlic bread), and enjoyed dinner in the front yard on a beautiful evening.

Happy birthday to my nine year old. My baby who is no longer a baby but a big, strong, handsome, growing boy. I love you with all my heart!

Front page news

Posted on May 16, 2014 by Tessa

The little guy made the front page today! He and Alan were at an electric car event last night, showing off the Leaf for people interested in learning more. Eve and I were at a concert at school (another step closer to being a teacher – having to work the extracurricular events!) and Lex chose to hang with Alan. I picked him up when we were done and he told me that a newspaper lady there asked for his name and age and town. He thought maybe I should buy the paper in the morning, just in case. :-) Of course, I did! Apparently lots of other people did too because his teacher shows the whole class, Eve’s teacher showed her class, and several other teachers told them about it. By the time Lex got to me in the afternoon the paper was old news! :-)

It looms like he is shooing that person away, but really he was just telling them all about the electric car.

Reading

Posted on March 19, 2014 by Tessa

This evening we decided that not only does Lex love to read, but he can’t even resist the sweet lure of words on paper. In the car on the way home this evening he suddenly said, “Uh, why am I reading the manual for my car seat?!” His eyes had fallen on it and suddenly he couldn’t stop himself from reading. It’s a tough problem to have. :)

Making friends

Posted on March 5, 2014 by Tessa

“Holy mega coolness!!” said a boy in Lego Robotics class when Lex brought in his EV3 Everstorm robot to share. I think Lex is making friends today! :-)

Star of the Week

Posted on February 1, 2014 by Tessa

Lex was Star of the Week in 3rd grade last week. I meant to take pictures of something to go with a blog post, but I never did. Mostly because it all happens at school! The Star of the Week idea provides for a chance to honor each student in the class. When it is their week they bring in a bag of “artifacts” to show the class on Monday. Lex brought a project he made at Home Depot, his CHaD medal from the race, his lovey dog, and a few other things. On Tuesday they get to bring in a favorite book to share with the class. On Wednesday the parents send in a letter to the child that the teacher reads. Lex was very excited for this. I was very stressed! :) The letter is supposed to be sent to school in a sealed envelope and the student hears it for the first time with his class. Lex told me the other letters were there pages long and funny and sweet. He’s the second to last kid in class to do this so he’s heard a lot of letters so far! I ended up writing a full two pages and Eve wrote a letter as well. I talked to his teacher later and she said none of them are three pages long! :) Silly Lex! He loved his letter and that’s the most important part. Thursday was parents lunch day, so Alan picked up Panera Bread and we joined Lex for lunch with his class. I like his class and it was fun to get to see them again. As we were leaving my 5th grade class came in and I got to say hi to them as well. Friday the Star of the Week sheet says something about a special poster, but Lex said they never do that. All week the Star gets to be line leader and the teacher’s helper and more. They feel really important and special.

The downside to be a working mommy

Posted on December 4, 2013 by Tessa

Lex came into my classroom this afternoon looking a little peaked. I asked how he was doing and he said fine. His usual answer. I told him he didn’t look fine, and he said he was fine except for how his body felt. Poor guy. He clearly had a fever. I made him rest in the library while I went to a (interesting, but sad) parent meeting. When I got done (I only stayed for half an hour), I found him wandering around the library with his arms pulled into his shirt, shivering. We headed home. He perked up a bit over snack and spent most of the afternoon sitting at the table reading Calvin and Hobbes comics to me. After shower he snuggled with Alan and they watched a show. By the end he was clearly feverish again and barely moving. We gave him some Tylenol and put him to bed. If he’s still sick in the morning Alan is going to work from home, which is great, but really I want to be the one home with my sick boy. Is that selfish? I want to cuddle him and feel his forehead and make sure the world is gentle for him. Alan will do fine, I have no doubt, but I want to be there. Sigh. Just a minor downside to being a working mom. However, we are fortunate that the working dad has such a flexible schedule!

Calm and Chaos: Life with kids

Tag Archives: Lex