an old friend that hadnt seen kio in a few years recently asked me about him
what he was like, ect
so with this i responded...
he just turned 6 in april
he just started reading a couple of months ago
i dont know where that is according to the average but he does it in english and french so as far as im concerned hes ahead of most
he doesnt mix up the pronunciation either
the teacher said hes got skills too
but...
he is a total space cadet
at least as bad as me
you gotta tell him at least 5 times
mega a.d.d.
he can concentrate like a goldfish
hes a sweet kid
always smiling
always singing
sometimes he'll bust out an improv song
just riffin' on whatevers around
a garbage truck
a bird, whatever
hes always daydreaming
he's always in his head thinking about who knows what
when he started school here in jan he had a bit of a problem scrappin' which was never a problem before
like, daily fights
apparantly he'd have regular run-ins with the other ruffions from the other classes during rec time
one time i brought him to school in the morning and this kid comes right up to me and says
"kio, il est mechant" ("kio is mean" in french)
he just put his head down
i swear it was the saddest thing
i grabbed the kid by his shirt and asked him if he knew what they did to little kids that snitch where i'm from
just kiddin' (scared ya didnt i?)
what i actually did was try and take advantage of the opportunity and i asked the said snitch what kio does
he told me he pinches and what not
so with that, i told the little rat that kio wasnt really mechant and maybe its cause other kids pinch him too
with only a couple of minutes before i had to let the teacher get on with his business, i told kio that im not mad at him and to try and be nice and not hurt other kids or else everyone will think you're
mean
unless they hit you first of course
i didnt share that last bit of advice right there and then but its something we'd gone thru before and had to go over again a few times
i was pretty firm and clear on that one as soon as i started hearing about his scraps
i got beat on as a kid and it was awful
its a pretty degrading affair
if they know they're gettin' a clock back they usually arent as anxious to dish it out
one time he told me about this kid that was a notorious terror
he said the kid hit him first and he cried
then he said he hit him and he cried second
i wanted to high-five him but i settled with the 'fightings bad' spiel
he's doing much better now
he tells me almost every day "i didnt get punished today! not once!"
and hes getting along with the other kids too
there are these cute little twins that get all giggly when they see him
"cou-cou kio" (hello)
i better tell him to stay friendly with them
hes a total computer junky
everyday
"papa, can i play on the computer?"
everyday, over and over until he gets his way or i somehow get it thru to him that it aint gonna happen
i curb it as much possible and keep his exta-scholastic activity varied with indoor and outdoor stuff
we always kick the soccer ball to and from school
whenever we go anywhere in town we always ride bikes or he'll rock his rollerblades and most recently he's gone onto skateboarding
hes pushing on his own, tic-tac turning and hes already making respectable ollie attempts
i swear he got all four wheels off the ground once or twice
hes pretty decent on the rollerblades too
he jumps curbs and overrall has pretty good balance
hes a little lazy so i usually wind up towing him on my bike
when he does get on the computer its strictly educational and strictly english
if you can recommend any kids programs or web sites please do
his internet activity is limited to pbs and noggin (hes outgrowing noggin pretty fast)
occasionally i let him on lego just for some straight up fun (good for spacial comprehension too)
nick jrs got some good stuff but waaay too much advertising
he eats up evrything in his path
he figures em out real quick, masters them and moves on
he gets up way too early
usually before eight and hes bouncing off the walls till bedtime
i got it to where he'll let me sleep in if i really need to
he gets himself a bowl of cereal then he boots up the computer and does his thing
he can get the computer on, get on the browser, get on the site and start playing a game in about a minute
then hes click, click, clickin away
maybe theres a computer related profession in his future
he loves lego
he doesnt like to write or draw much
i almost always read him a bedtime story
in english, of course
i still dont have a tv but i had a portable dvd player for a bit and we'd watch some classic cartoons
woody, popeye, casper ect.
he loves spinach now
he asks for it!
when i was home i bought a can of popeye spinach (thanks brenda) with his picture on it and everything
i dont know how long i can keep that can there before he figures out i havent opened it and have been using other non superhuman strains of the vegetable
hes still a bit whiny
he gets really frustrated when hes tring to do something and its just not working
he'll pitch a fit sometimes
hes gotten way better though
hes pretty polite
says please and thank you unprompted for the most part
hes not very good at sharing
he doesnt usually have to
he requires alot of attention
all day its papapapapapapapa
no peace till bedtime
but he's great
a real sweetheart
i love him
so i got a nice little surprise the other day
