Today's Toby

Toby's class marching in the Central School Halloween Parade (around the playground). They were told to wave at everyone as they walked by. Suffice to say he took that to heart. Here's the whole family in costume. We went as the 4 squirrels from Squirrel Obstacle Course 2.0. Toby wanted to be Rick (the acrobat) and he thought Spencer should be Marty (the hacker). Which meant Jason and I were left to be Frank (logistics) and Phat Gus (the mastermind). In case you haven't had the pleasure of viewing this source material, you can view it here. It's 20 minutes of NASA engineering for squirrel delight. And we finally made it back home again. But we took one too many pictures. (To be fair it was a very long day.)    

"It's bigger than my head!"  

This picture was a screen grab from a video of Toby singing one of the songs his class will doing for their holiday concert. It's a little blurry but you can tell he's in his element. (Suffice to say that it's a silly song.)  

 Waiting in the K Line to go into school. (This picture looks like he was freaking out about something other there. But it was just that I caught him at a weird moment.)  

After the pumpkin (and table) were scrubbed, it was time for painting. We had a lot of ideas. Definitely wanted a lot of colors... What could it be? How about our favorite flags with a Halloween theme?  Then it was on display at the Pumpkin Walk at school!  Great fun!

Unexpected warm weather means bonus terrace time. And - apparently - table scrubbing. Who knew?  

After dance class. So tired from all those jumps!  

Enjoying our Diya from school while eating some ice cream. May we look for the light on our darkest days. Happy Diwali!  

Supervising Dad to make sure nothing too crazy goes into the pancakes.  

Toby's school does a "Pumpkin Walk" where all the students decorate a pumpkin and then their families get to come and see them. Here he is, giving his pumpkin a good scrub (with a little assistance from Spencer) before we roll up our sleeves and start decorating.  

Subitizing: the ability to visually recognize an amount of something without having to count each item. Apparently, it's all the rage in kindergarten.  

Our latest Highlight's magazine had a game of Kindness Bingo. It included the helpful reminder that just as important as kindness to others is kindness to yourself. So tonight Toby did two of the squares: 'Look at yourself in the mirror and smile.' He also chose 'Write down good things that happened today'. He wrote "I went to school" and "I got to play with my clapper"  Consider this a reminder to be kind to yourself too.    

One day there will be no footy pajamas and no bedtime song. But today, you're still my little kiddo. Love you.   

Thanks to the Ross Family, we have added an ice cream maker to our midst. Suffice to say, it's making cold treats and warm hearts (and excited kiddos). Delish!  

Buckle up, Spencer! We're going on an adventure.  

Toby's classmate Hudson had a birthday party a local climbing gym.  There was some initial hesitation, but in the end it looked like too much fun so he decided to try it out. This game was called 'Whack the Bat'. Toby got up high enough to get this bat! His teammate ended up getting this one, but it wasn't for a lack of effort on Toby's part. Then came the bigger wall. We were grateful for the great help from the staff.  

Just casually rolling around on the floor. Like you do.  

"I want to take a selfie with you!" Reader, he did NOT want to take a selfie. He wanted to be a goofball.   

"Enjoying" being sick as much as we can by working on our Which Way USA puzzles. This month was Colorado and Pennsylvania.  

Toby was a bit under the weather today. Some nasal drip with a lot of coughing (since he doesn't know how to blow his nose yet). Sleep has been hard and we kept him out of school today. We needed to go to urgent care in order to rule out Covid (which we did). But he fell asleep sitting in the chair in the waiting room. Poor kid. Thankfully, he was feeling much better this evening.  

Ben taught Toby how to play checkers. Toby was an eager student. Thanks for a great weekend Ross family!  

Exploring the finer points playing with castles.  

We stopped for a bite to eat on our drive to Western, MA. Toby used the opportunity to work on his long jump.  

In addition to the start of Fat Bear Week, this was also Respect Week at school. (Which, as far as I can tell, is a lot like Spirit Week from when I was a kid.) This was Toby's hat for Hat Day. (Not pictured are the outfits from Central School Day, Sports Day, and Mix-Match Day.)