Did you have a green day?

Of course, I said I did. Isaiah had a pink day today. Why, you might ask... It seems that he didn't think he needed to be nice to his friends. He thought he was being funny. He was told more than once to stop whatever it was he was doing. That was one card. Then he did something else, and that cost him another card. He also got into trouble at latch key for telling one of his friends he was going to kill her. Unfortunately, Isaiah doesn't understand that people "can" say things that they hear on television, but that doesn't mean they "should" say them. So, on the way home from latch key, we had the following conversation.

Isaiah: Did you have to go to the office?
Me: No, I didn't.
Isaiah: If you have a pink day do you have to go to the office and talk to your teacher?
Me: Yes, if I had a pink day I would have to go to the office.
Isaiah: {sigh} I had a pink day because I dinnit wisten but I dinnit shoot anyone.
Me: Why did you tell your friend something mean?
Isaiah: Well, I wanted her to be the mom and she wanted to color. So, I said I would kill her.
Me: That wasn't nice; we don't say things like that to our friends.
Isaiah: Manny says it to Sid and Sid is his friend.
Me: Manny and Sid are make believe. Sometimes we hear things on our favorite TV shows or our favorite movies, but that doesn't mean that we can say them to our friends. Real people don't say mean things like that.
Isaiah: But I dinnit shoot anyone. Guns aren't nice.
Me: Right. We leave taking care of the bad guys to the police.
Isaiah: So, when you have a good day, you don't have to go to the office and you don't have to pull any cards.
Me: That's right.

Once we got home, we decided we'd work on his homework project. His class is learning about chickens and eggs, and the different parts of the egg. The kids were all given a plastic egg and told to put something into it and come up with three clues. Then, the rest of the class will hear the clues and try to guess the content of the egg.

I tried to think of different things he could put in and come up with clues for. First up, was a quarter. I told him if we put in the quarter, he could say that it was more than a dime, less than a dollar, and a silver color. He piped up and said that it was less than a half-dollar. I said yes, it was less than a half-dollar. As I tried to get him to see what the clues were, he started singing a song he's learned about money. He said that "me and Delaney are half-dollars," which made no sense at all to me. The song starts out about pennies, then goes on to nickles, dimes, and quarters. I have no clue about it.

Next, I tried to put in a Band-aid. That one went right over his head. He wanted to put things in the egg that were much too big. It was a good lesson in bigger and smaller. The third item I put in was a button and tried these clues: You find it on your shirt, it holds your shirt closed, and sometimes it falls off. He said something that was totally foreign to buttons or shirts. So, I tried to draw attention to the buttons on my blouse as I was going through the clues again. His guess was again totally off. By now, I'm trying to figure out a way to get him to understand what we could use that we could come up with clues.

I gave up and told Amy that she needed to re-address the homework tomorrow.

My name is Mario

Isaiah has moved on. No longer does he introduce himself to others as Pablo (as in, Pablo the penguin from the Backyardigans). While I realize that he is old enough to move away from the Backyardigans, although he does still like to watch the show, it is a bit sad to realize that he’s growing up, too.

Mario is obviously from MarioKart and from Mario Bros. Isaiah likes to play the Wii and as such, he’s learned who Mario is. Mario is not the character he uses when he plays “the game called racing” (otherwise known as MarioKart) but it is the name that he’s focused on.

Since his school had spring break last week, Amy took Isaiah to a friend’s house for her to watch during the day. Jamie also watches two other children and when the mother came to drop them off, Isaiah introduced himself to her as Mario. She laughed and Jamie explained that was his pretend second name. (That’s a big improvement over “My first name is Isaiah and my second name is Piggybank” that we had for several months. We have not figured out where he got Piggybank or why he used it. Isaiah has his own thought process on that one.)

Amy has been slowly trying to approach Isaiah with a name change. She would like to change his given name to reflect his life and his family now – not continue to be a reflection of the man who has abandoned him. My ex-SIL has not attempted to contact Isaiah in over a year; he’s not seen him since Christmas 2006 and has only talked to him on the phone if Amy was the one who made the telephone call, usually to Isaiah’s grandmother because she didn’t actually have a phone number or address for his father. This man has quit paying child support, works under the table for cash, has moved and not provided even his own mother with his address or phone number (he’s afraid she’ll give it to Amy, and she probably would because she thinks her son should be held responsible for his child support), has remarried a woman with six kids, and has really put out no effort to be a father to his son. Yesterday in family court, Amy was awarded sole custody, sole physical custody, and sole control. Her ex did not show up for court (the paperwork was sent to his last known address – his mother’s house) and she was awarded a default judgment. He will still continue to rack up child support debt but he has no rights to Isaiah at all. Next, Amy’s goal is to legally change Isaiah’s name.

That brings us back to “Mario.” We asked Isaiah if he’d like his middle name to be Keith after his uncle and his grandpa, or if he’d like it to be Patrick after his great-grandmother (my mom – Patricia and his GiGi). He said he liked Mario and he’d like for his name to be that. No matter what Amy said, Isaiah kept coming back to Mario.

Finally, last night I explained to Isaiah we were looking for a real “second” name – not a pretend second name. He could still have his second name for pretend to be anything he wanted. He said, “Oh you mean like my first name is Isaiah and my second name is Piggybank?” I said yes, but that he needed to pick a new “real” second name and did he want Patrick, like GiGi, or Keith, like grandpa and Uncle Keith.

It was an instant decision – he wants his name to be like grandpa’s and Uncle Keith’s. So, as soon as she can arrange it, he will legally become Isaiah Keith.

Good Singing

Isaiah is a good “seener”

Isaiah loves to sing and we can hear him singing many different songs at any given time. He sings church songs, he sings school songs, he sings made-up songs, and he even sings songs he hears as ring-tones on telephones.

His latest “award-winning” performance is his own rendition of "You should have put a ring on it" by Beyonce’. I think the video is pretty vulgar in places and I wish she had more clothes on. But... the tune is catchy. Of course, he has no idea what he’s singing (he doesn't watch the video), he just knows that he’s a good singer (or, in his words, a good seener).

This is what transpired in the car the other day:

Isaiah: I’n a good seener, grandma.
Me: I know you are. I love to hear you sing. Are you going to sing me a song?
Isaiah: Yes. I’n going to teach you a new song. It’s “you should’a put a reen on it.”
Me: OK…

(video removed because I submitted it to America's Funniest Videos and their requirements say I have to take the submitted video down if posted on any publicized location.)

Not much to say

Isaiah is just doing what Isaiah does best - entertaining us all. Yesterday evening I was lying in bed because I had a headache. I had the TV on but I was mainly just resting. Isaiah came in and asked me if he could get me anything. How sweet is that??? He said, "if you need anything, you just call me. OK?" I said I would and that he could leave.

He shut the door and then opened it right back up. Did I need anything yet??? No, not yet. OK.

Last night Amy left to go to Hesston and before she even got there, Isaiah was missing me so he had his mom call us. I answered the phone (of course, this was the third phone call from Amy's phone in less than 10 minutes so I answered with "what???" instead of hello) and this little voice says, "Grandma, I miss you."

Me: I miss you, too.
Isaiah: Guess what?
Me: What?
Isaiah: I love you.
Me: I love you, too.
Isaiah: Guess what else?
Me: What?
Isaiah: I like you, too.
Me: I like you, too. What else is on your mind?
Isaiah: I just wanted to tell you that I miss you and I like you and I love you. You're my best friend.
Me: Thank you, Isaiah. I like you and I love you and I miss you, too. I'll see you Thursday though. OK?
Isaiah: OK. Good-night.

I am just so blessed to have him around. Even when he has his moments, he's such a joy. Nearly everyone who comes into contact with him just adores him. The rest of the people are just missing out and they don't even realize it.

School fun night

Friday night was Isaiah's school fun night. He had a blast playing the games and doing the "fun" things. He was so excited to see his teachers - as if he hadn't seen them for such a looooonnnnnggg time. LOL - it had been about three whole hours.

Isaiah has several girlfriends. He thinks they're "bootiful" and he's going to marry them. He's not sure which one as it changes. But someday, he's going to marry one of them and they can live with him and his mommy. His favorite girl, Briley, is the daughter of one of his teachers. Paige is another one of his favorite girls and Amy got to meet her and her mother. Evidently, Isaiah isn't the only one who talks about others because Paige's mom said, "Oh, so this is Isaiah. Paige has told me all about you."

Paige had been to the face painting booth and had a rainbow on one cheek and a heart on the other cheek (complete with an arrow). So, Isaiah had to have his face painted, too. Amy tried to steer him to more masculine items but he wanted his to be just like Paige's. So, what's a mom to do when a five year old wants to wear a heart and a rainbow on his face? You do what any good mom would do - you let him.

He was very cute and I took pictures of them because he didn't want me to wash them off of his face. He did ask me to wash the arrows off of his face because he couldn't go to bed with an arrow through his heart. This was said with the utmost seriousness, both hands across his chest, and bent over like something had actually pierced his heart.

I did let him go to bed without washing the rest of it off. I figured it would come off on the pillowcase. I was right. That's OK. Who am I to stop artistic expression? That's what laundry soap is for.

Green Eggs and Ham - Isaiah style

I will not eat them on a bus
I will not eat them... I don't memember that word.
I will not eat them Sam I am
I do not like green eggs and ham.

I wish I could have watched Isaiah doing his presentation. He got perfect marks on all areas of the assignment. He has the book nearly memorized and can recite it using more than one voice.

A co-worker has chickens and one of them lays blue-green eggs. I asked him about bringing in one of the colored ones for Isaiah and he brought it to me yesterday. When I picked Isaiah up from latch key, I showed him the egg and he was very excited - except I only had one. The book has two... and where was the ham???

I explained that my friend brought me the egg and he only brought one but we could cook it anyway. I got the egg all washed up and showed to Isaiah and cracked it in the bowl.

Isaiah: It's not green on the inside.
Me: No, it looks like an egg.
Isaiah: But the book says "green eggs" and this one is yellow and white.
Me: Yes, but the outside, the shell, is green. Do you want me to cook it?
Isaiah: Yes, but don't cook it hot.
Me: OK, I'll cook it warm but I have to make sure it's done all the way through.
Isaiah: OK, but where's the ham.
(lucky for me, we had some shaved ham for sandwiches)
Me: I've got some for you. Do you want me to cook it, too?
Isaiah: No, just put it in the bowl.
(after cooking)
Me: Here is your green egg and ham.

Isaiah:
I can eat it in a house
I can eat it with a mouse
I can eat green eggs and ham
Because I like them, Sam I am!

He cracks me up.

Off to a good start

March is getting off to a good start for Isaiah. He's had one yellow day and the rest this week were green.

Today his class presented their projects on their favorite Dr. Seuss book. Isaiah did "Green Eggs and Ham," as did many others in his class. They had to decorate a paper bag like the book and then have the book inside. They also had to tell the "story" of the book. Isaiah had the storyline down very well, complete with different voices for the characters. He's one talented little boy.

He said last night that he wants Rex to be his daddy and Juan to be his friend. If Rex doesn't want to be his daddy, then Ron (his grandpa) could be his daddy. It does not seem that he wants Juan to "resume" his role of being daddy. He's not even tried to see Isaiah for over two years, so I'm doubtful if Isaiah would recognize him. He also hasn't called in nearly a year (probably so Amy can't get his phone number) and the gift card he sent for Christmas didn't have a return address on it (gee... wonder if he's afraid she might find him for child support???).

Isaiah is such a blessing to us and he is so smart. Every time I pick him up from latch key, the teachers tell me how smart he is, how much they adore him, and how much they like having him around. It's so nice and refreshing to hear that after all the negative things we heard from day care last year. It just goes to show that people with the correct training do a better job of caring for special needs children. There's one teacher from his former day care that we can't even mention her name as he acts like he's afraid of her. I have no idea why or what she could have done, but Amy is not happy about it. LOL - she said that Isaiah better forget all about it before he's mature enough to tell her what the issue is, or "heads will roll" when she's finished. My girl does protect her baby - and rightfully so.

February was a good month

Although he had more green days in January than he did in February, Isaiah still had an excellent month.

He collected the most money in his grade for their fund-raiser so he got to eat lunch with the principal on Thursday. He was so excited. They had cheese pizza. Yum...

Isaiah misses Alexander but he doesn't miss having to share his toys. LOL, maybe the next time they get together Isaiah won't be quite so worried about "his" things. Most of the time he was very generous with his things and would voluntarily give things to Alexander to play with. Other times, he was very territorial and insisted that Alexander was trying to take his toys.

Isaiah has a great imagination and sense of humor. This morning he was heading out to the car to go to school and told "Po" to come along, too. I don't know who this is, but he's imaginary. I told Isaiah that he needed to talk to real people at school and he could pretend at home. We'll see if that works or not.