Taking the Scenic Route

The weekend was good. On Saturday we pulled out the gifts for the kids from the luggage: Some Haba Fantasy Blocks for Zane and a selection of Haba Play Food for Zora, and chocolate for both. They both were happy, but probably happier to see us than the toys.

We also discovered a picture Zane drew at some point while we were gone. It is from an old kid’s Carraba’s menu.  He drew a maze with a cartoon under it.

The notable thing on this is that he wrote “my ball” (in the blue crayon) and made some variations to the drawings to make his own cartoon. He smiled a big smile when we found it and commented on it.

Sunday evening my folks came up so we could take them out for a thank you dinner at Carabbas and give them some chocolate and mom’s traditional coffee mug. (a tradition started when I was young…I always pick mom up a coffee mug as a souvenier whenever I go someplace).

They brought up the chalkboard they had bought from an auction at the church. It was from one of the Sunday School classrooms and probably older than all of us, but most importantly, real slate. It was mongo heavy. Dad and Zach worked for an hour or two trying to get it hung downstairs in the room I plan to use as a classroom for Zane. (will allow school stuff to be in it’s own area, just off the playroom). We still have a ways to go with the room (plan on getting a bunch of cheapo bookcases to line one wall for supplies and books, and a table). We have chairs already, also from the same church auction and ones I probably sat on throughout my own childhood.

On Monday we went to the school supply store to get some good chalk and a felt eraser for the board, and Monday evening, Zach was showing Zane the chalkboard and Zane talked him into drawing Mario stuff on the board. He kept bringing him different games and wanted Zach to draw them on the board, and would then go through and explain who each character was to Zach. It was a neat interaction.

Always getting in the middle of the action….

One thing I noticed right away is that the chalk sounded “right” on the board to me.  It didn’t set my teeth on edge like a lot of chalkboards do.  I had to laugh a bit at my on sensory issue that I forgot existed.