Star of the Week

This week Alex is Star of the Week in his 4th grade classroom. As he worked on his All About Me poster, he wrote this for My Personal Hero: "My dad. He has his own band." Needless to say, learning this tiny tidbit of what makes up Alex's inner world made his dad and me feel kind of mushy and happy inside.

Today at school, Alex got to tell his classmates about the special items he brought in to show (a Statue of Liberty bear donned with National Park Service Junior Ranger badges from the summer, a piece of real amythest, a handmade ship he made at Mystic Seaport, among other things). Then he talked about what was on his poster, which he had covered with photos from our summer of adventures all over the United States. He garnered much adoration from the boys when he talked about how he got to ride a waverunner last May and he went "at least 37 miles per hour." (If I can get the photo to upload on this blog, you'll see that the look on his face kind of says it all.)

According to his wishes, I made his favorite Swedish almond cake to share with his classmates, and also brought in pepperkakkor cookies so he could show everyone how to make a wish and then see if it will come true by tapping the middle of the cookie and making it break into the magical three pieces. The kids loved it all.

But the best part was when his hero Dad/Mike was playing the guitar and singing for the class. He led the kids in singing "Upside Down" by Jack Johnson (from the movie Curious George) and the school fight song. Alex was beaming next to his Rock Star Dad. Along the way, all three of us answered lots of thoughtful questions from the kids in the class. It was a great day!

Check back tomorrow. I just committed to taking part in a challenge for National Blog Writing Month, so I'm going to try to post something... anything... once a day during October. Let's see if I can do it.