Keegan occasionally does/says something that totally cracks me up. So here are a couple of things for the record. It is hard to remember them all, but I write down what I do remember.
Today I asked him to use his spoon not his hands to eat his yogurt. His response was "Well mom I am non-coporeal, so my hands aren't really getting dirty."
The night after our vacation to the Dells we went to Panera for dinner. Keegan suddenly stopped and said "Excuse me, excuse me I would like to make a toast." Lyle and I are all like "a toast to what?" Keegan said "To an absolutely excellent vacation!" I am happy he had fun at the Dells despite the horrible heat last week. I still wonder where he learned to propose a toast at though.
Lyle (and now Keegan) both really love listening to Weird Al. I started signing you spin me right round baby right round while spinning a cherry at Keegan. He took up the chorus (which I didn't realize was part of a Weird Al medley) then leans towards me and signs "It's a quarter after one, I'm a little drunk and I need you now..." I almost died, just totally not something I expected to hear my five year old sing at me. And he sang it with such heartfelt sincerity...
So there are some Keegan funnies for ya'll.
Sunday, July 08, 2012
Saturday, April 28, 2012
A Big Week
The week before last was a big week for Keegan. He had a test to see if he could go up a level in swimming and he had a Karate tournament last Sunday.
Both things went well for him. The kid can really focus well when he tries. It's those other times, for example when he was chasing a fly in Karate and got in trouble, that drive me crazy. I just try to take a deep breath and remember he is five :-)
Anyway for swimming he had to redo Littles 4 this last time and was majorly bummed about it. Well we told him if he wants to move up he needs to listen and do well on testing day. Finally he did! He listened (fairly well) and didn't stick his head underwater the whole time (which makes the teacher nervous). So...he gets to move all the way up to Middles 2. Some of his friends are in middles 2 so he was super excited about this.
That was Wed, then on Sunday we had his first karate tournament. He went up against two other white belts and did his punch/block combos. Imagine our excitement and surprise when he won 1st place!
Check out the video below for his team form and the pics below for action shots. He also participated in the Little Dragons Mega Team Form; which was pretty darn cute. All the little guys (ages 4-6) got up and did a team form...together...kind of. Cate and Chris and my parents all came along to watch; it was wonderful to have them there. Then we hung out for a bit and watched some of the black belt competitions.
The other fun thing we did a couple weekends ago was our first camping trip of the season. We went to Nerstrand State Park. Saturday was absolutely gorgeous. We did some wonderful hikes, found the geocache, and fooled around on the tire swing.
Both things went well for him. The kid can really focus well when he tries. It's those other times, for example when he was chasing a fly in Karate and got in trouble, that drive me crazy. I just try to take a deep breath and remember he is five :-)
Anyway for swimming he had to redo Littles 4 this last time and was majorly bummed about it. Well we told him if he wants to move up he needs to listen and do well on testing day. Finally he did! He listened (fairly well) and didn't stick his head underwater the whole time (which makes the teacher nervous). So...he gets to move all the way up to Middles 2. Some of his friends are in middles 2 so he was super excited about this.
That was Wed, then on Sunday we had his first karate tournament. He went up against two other white belts and did his punch/block combos. Imagine our excitement and surprise when he won 1st place!
Check out the video below for his team form and the pics below for action shots. He also participated in the Little Dragons Mega Team Form; which was pretty darn cute. All the little guys (ages 4-6) got up and did a team form...together...kind of. Cate and Chris and my parents all came along to watch; it was wonderful to have them there. Then we hung out for a bit and watched some of the black belt competitions.
Punch/Block White Belt Form
Keegan with his trophy
Keegan showing us his "mean" karate face.
Little Dragons Mega Team
Keegan the Little Dragon
The other fun thing we did a couple weekends ago was our first camping trip of the season. We went to Nerstrand State Park. Saturday was absolutely gorgeous. We did some wonderful hikes, found the geocache, and fooled around on the tire swing.
Taking a break at the waterfall
Keegan braving the scary concrete bridge
Taking a ride on daddy
Finding the geocache
Thursday, April 05, 2012
The Hobbit and Karate
Since The Hobbit movie is coming out later this year we decided to try and read it with Keegan. Of course lots of questions came to mind: Will he enjoy it? Will he sit still for longer than 5 minutes? Will he understand it? Will he love it as much as I did when my dad read it to me?
Well guess what...he loves it. He loves it to the point that we can actually get him to behave by threatening not to read it if he doesn't shape up :-) We've been reading it for over a month now. I have a very nice illustrated version and although there aren't illustrations on every page, there are enough to keep Keegan interested.
Every time we sit down to read I start to recap where we left off. Then Kee will interrupt and start telling me exactly what happened and what he is hoping will happen next. So he understands what is going on and he enjoys it.
Given that the language is a bit outdated and some parts of the story move kind of slow, I am surprised that he is so interested. But it is the suspense that gets him. He can absolutely not wait to get to the part where the dwarfs and Bilbo face off against the dragon.
It is so much fun to watch him enjoy this so much. When the dwarfs enter Mirkwood he grabbed my arm in terror. When the spiders attacked he was horrified. When the dwarfs trickled in slowly to meet Beorn he laughed at Gandalf's sense of humor. And when the dwarfs were stuffed in barrels to escape the Wood elves it was hilarious.
Not sure that he is ready to start the Lord of the Rings, but the fact that he enjoys the Hobbit opens up possibilities for so many other chapter books that I hold dear. Just think we can start The Spiderwick Chronicles, we can start the Oz books, we can read Gaiman's Odd and the Frost Giants. There are just so many possibilities.
I have to keep in mind we need to balance the chapter books with picture books as well. Picture books are very important too, and this kid of ours still needs to learn to read. Although he already has a lot of addition and subtraction down pretty well, he's been a bit resistant to learning to read. This always surprises me given how much he loves us to read him books.
Anyway, the other thing we've been doing the last few weeks is Karate. Not community Karate class but actual Karate school Karate. Keegan had been begging for over a year to start Karate. We finally enrolled him at Professional Karate Studios (PKS); the same school that I went to for a number of years.
They have a special Little Dragons program there now, the kids get more in between belt colors and tape on their belts when they've mastered small skills. It gives them a lot to look forward to and lets them have a little of little achievements to celebrate.
Keegan is absolutely enamored with it. He wants to go four times a week and just seems to love it. Kind of ironic considering for most of the class him and his fellow white belts get yelled at to focus, constantly yelled at to say "Yes Sir!" and are forced to do more sit-ups, leg-lifts, and push-ups then Keegan has done in his entire life up to this point.
I have always liked that PKS not only teaches Karate but teaches respect...for the teachers, for each other, and for your country. These teachers don't let the kids slack and they don't let the kids get away with doing things wrong. It the white belts start to get too wiggly (as 5 year old kids often do) the kicks and punches stop and they spend some time talking about how to focus your mind, your body, your eyes. The fun doesn't start again until all the kids are still with their eyes focused on the teacher.
Is this too harsh for five year olds? Nah, apparently Keegan (and his classmates) love it. Keegan has a new best friend who is also a white belt and seems excited to be part of something so cool. He is getting better at focusing...and it has the added bonus of being useful at home. When he starts to loose focus getting ready for bed we can stop and say "Keegan focus your mind...what are you trying to do? Focus your body." He usually stops and thinks for a second and then is a bit less scattered. I figure that is a skill he will probably find useful in the future.
Watching these kids do this is a bit hilarious though. Half of them don't know how to do jumping jacks or push-ups when they start. Also the "Yes Sir!" can get a bit drilled into their heads. Yesterday Lyle asked Keegan to get into the car and he said "Yes Sir!" and then started crumbling about how daddy isn't really a Sir and why did he say that :-)
We will see how long this lasts. I explained to him when he started that this isn't an 8 week commitment like hockey...this is a years long commitment. I am hoping he is as enthusiastic about it in two months as he is now. A lot of the classes overlap and that has really pumped up his enthusiasm. He is constantly watching what the older kids are doing and wants to learn that. So I am excited.
Although when I told him I would bring up my Karate trophies he looked doubtful. I finally brought them up from the basement and he was all like "Wow mom, I thought you were telling me a story! You really did do Karate!" He is so funny.
So I will leave you with the below images of "the man" in uniform.
Well guess what...he loves it. He loves it to the point that we can actually get him to behave by threatening not to read it if he doesn't shape up :-) We've been reading it for over a month now. I have a very nice illustrated version and although there aren't illustrations on every page, there are enough to keep Keegan interested.
Every time we sit down to read I start to recap where we left off. Then Kee will interrupt and start telling me exactly what happened and what he is hoping will happen next. So he understands what is going on and he enjoys it.
Given that the language is a bit outdated and some parts of the story move kind of slow, I am surprised that he is so interested. But it is the suspense that gets him. He can absolutely not wait to get to the part where the dwarfs and Bilbo face off against the dragon.
It is so much fun to watch him enjoy this so much. When the dwarfs enter Mirkwood he grabbed my arm in terror. When the spiders attacked he was horrified. When the dwarfs trickled in slowly to meet Beorn he laughed at Gandalf's sense of humor. And when the dwarfs were stuffed in barrels to escape the Wood elves it was hilarious.
Not sure that he is ready to start the Lord of the Rings, but the fact that he enjoys the Hobbit opens up possibilities for so many other chapter books that I hold dear. Just think we can start The Spiderwick Chronicles, we can start the Oz books, we can read Gaiman's Odd and the Frost Giants. There are just so many possibilities.
I have to keep in mind we need to balance the chapter books with picture books as well. Picture books are very important too, and this kid of ours still needs to learn to read. Although he already has a lot of addition and subtraction down pretty well, he's been a bit resistant to learning to read. This always surprises me given how much he loves us to read him books.
Anyway, the other thing we've been doing the last few weeks is Karate. Not community Karate class but actual Karate school Karate. Keegan had been begging for over a year to start Karate. We finally enrolled him at Professional Karate Studios (PKS); the same school that I went to for a number of years.
They have a special Little Dragons program there now, the kids get more in between belt colors and tape on their belts when they've mastered small skills. It gives them a lot to look forward to and lets them have a little of little achievements to celebrate.
Keegan is absolutely enamored with it. He wants to go four times a week and just seems to love it. Kind of ironic considering for most of the class him and his fellow white belts get yelled at to focus, constantly yelled at to say "Yes Sir!" and are forced to do more sit-ups, leg-lifts, and push-ups then Keegan has done in his entire life up to this point.
I have always liked that PKS not only teaches Karate but teaches respect...for the teachers, for each other, and for your country. These teachers don't let the kids slack and they don't let the kids get away with doing things wrong. It the white belts start to get too wiggly (as 5 year old kids often do) the kicks and punches stop and they spend some time talking about how to focus your mind, your body, your eyes. The fun doesn't start again until all the kids are still with their eyes focused on the teacher.
Is this too harsh for five year olds? Nah, apparently Keegan (and his classmates) love it. Keegan has a new best friend who is also a white belt and seems excited to be part of something so cool. He is getting better at focusing...and it has the added bonus of being useful at home. When he starts to loose focus getting ready for bed we can stop and say "Keegan focus your mind...what are you trying to do? Focus your body." He usually stops and thinks for a second and then is a bit less scattered. I figure that is a skill he will probably find useful in the future.
Watching these kids do this is a bit hilarious though. Half of them don't know how to do jumping jacks or push-ups when they start. Also the "Yes Sir!" can get a bit drilled into their heads. Yesterday Lyle asked Keegan to get into the car and he said "Yes Sir!" and then started crumbling about how daddy isn't really a Sir and why did he say that :-)
We will see how long this lasts. I explained to him when he started that this isn't an 8 week commitment like hockey...this is a years long commitment. I am hoping he is as enthusiastic about it in two months as he is now. A lot of the classes overlap and that has really pumped up his enthusiasm. He is constantly watching what the older kids are doing and wants to learn that. So I am excited.
Although when I told him I would bring up my Karate trophies he looked doubtful. I finally brought them up from the basement and he was all like "Wow mom, I thought you were telling me a story! You really did do Karate!" He is so funny.
So I will leave you with the below images of "the man" in uniform.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Ice fishing...caribbean cruises...and other things
So uh...it's March. We are still here. Still busy and still doing stuff.
I am very busy at work. Mostly enjoying the new job, but not so much today. They still haven't turned at the air over at good old 3M campus so it was 87oF today in the office area. Totally sucked. Then I had a bit of a cycling accident last week which left me with a really bashed up knee. It was doing better but then after a 20 mile ride Sunday it's not doing so hot today. This translated to work suckiness because I was on the coater at work all day and my knee was killing me. Some days it makes me wonder why I do this everyday...
You can add the knee injury to the bruised shoulder I got when we went sledding down some rather icy slopes. Only in MN can you get a sledding injury one week and then a cycling injury the next...go me!
Lyle seems to mostly be enjoying his new job too, although he has to deal with being an employee which drives him a little crazy. He has to get back into doing goals and attending corporate meetings.
Keegan is doing school and is very excited to start Kindergarten in September. He got into the Kindergarten Extra program which means he will go every day all day; it is much much cheaper than daycare. I probably shouldn't talk cost but I will anyway. For him to do K-extra is $2000 a year. For him to do daycare is $1000/month...you do the math.
Keegan is also doing many extracurricular things: floor hockey, swimming, and most recently karate. He has his first official train in for karate tomorrow. He wants to do everything, but then gets bummed when he doesn't have more time to play. I keep telling him he has to make a choice, but he wants it all!
So what did we do this winter? It was a little bit of vacation whiplash...a few days up North followed by a Caribbean Cruise a couple weeks later. Anyway we took a great trip up to Brainerd with some friends. It was supposed to be a snowmobiling trip but because of lack of snow turned into an icefishing trip.
I am very busy at work. Mostly enjoying the new job, but not so much today. They still haven't turned at the air over at good old 3M campus so it was 87oF today in the office area. Totally sucked. Then I had a bit of a cycling accident last week which left me with a really bashed up knee. It was doing better but then after a 20 mile ride Sunday it's not doing so hot today. This translated to work suckiness because I was on the coater at work all day and my knee was killing me. Some days it makes me wonder why I do this everyday...
You can add the knee injury to the bruised shoulder I got when we went sledding down some rather icy slopes. Only in MN can you get a sledding injury one week and then a cycling injury the next...go me!
Lyle seems to mostly be enjoying his new job too, although he has to deal with being an employee which drives him a little crazy. He has to get back into doing goals and attending corporate meetings.
Keegan is doing school and is very excited to start Kindergarten in September. He got into the Kindergarten Extra program which means he will go every day all day; it is much much cheaper than daycare. I probably shouldn't talk cost but I will anyway. For him to do K-extra is $2000 a year. For him to do daycare is $1000/month...you do the math.
Keegan is also doing many extracurricular things: floor hockey, swimming, and most recently karate. He has his first official train in for karate tomorrow. He wants to do everything, but then gets bummed when he doesn't have more time to play. I keep telling him he has to make a choice, but he wants it all!
So what did we do this winter? It was a little bit of vacation whiplash...a few days up North followed by a Caribbean Cruise a couple weeks later. Anyway we took a great trip up to Brainerd with some friends. It was supposed to be a snowmobiling trip but because of lack of snow turned into an icefishing trip.
There's my Northern...don't I look thrilled?
Cate got a fishy too! As did Lyle and Chris.
Keegan was scared that the Northern kept moving...
Then after that we had Kee's Bday party. Fun was had by all.
After that was a week long Caribbean Cruise. We got to see some very cool stuff. Although the experience was a bit uh...touchy because me and Keegan both were seasick. All I can say is those Seabands really do work...even on young kids. We stopped by Haiti, Jamaca, and Mexico.
The first day we did a character breakfast...and
mini-golf...and...
a family fun festival (yes I guess my family plays chess for fun)
road the merry go round...and
did rock-climbing...and that was only on the ship.
Day two we spent in Haiti on the beach and did are somewhat scary but truly awesome alpine roller coaster called the Dragon Coaster
Chilling on the beach (above)
The next day we toured Green Grotto caves...and...went to Dunn River Falls
The next port stop was... Cozumel where we rode a horrific tender to the mainland. Seriously everyone was barfing (okay well not everyone but I thought I was doing to die...if you have ever been seasick you know I am not exaggerating). But we got to see the Tulum Ruins and spent a relaxing day at another beach. Before reembarking the tender from Hell.
So all in all we had a great time! I'll try to update more on our winter later. Hope you all had a great winter as well!
Wednesday, January 04, 2012
Some positive things...and chaos continues
So things were busy yet fun over Christmas. Going back to work on Tuesday was incredibly hard, it was so nice having the house organized and having time to plan meals and keep things straight for the week I was at home between Xmas and New Years. Now I am back at work and things are getting chaotic...stuff is everywhere around the house and, as usual, we are just barely keeping up with everything that needs to be done.
There has been some fun stuff though. We are going to be taking a icefishing/snowmobile trip up north with some friends in a couple weeks. I have never done either activity so I am looking forward to it...assuming we have ice and snow.
We also finally decided on our spring vacation. In February we are going to take a week long cruise to the Western Caribbean. Hopefully we will do fun things like swim with sting rays and explore Mexican pyramids (per Keegan's request).
Between that of course we need to plan Kee's bday party. Which he is super excited about.
All that aside I mainly came on here to brag about my wonderful son. The holiday season is tough on the kids. Keegan and his friends got sent to the office a couple weeks ago for wrestling too rough with each other. The next day I had to sign an incident report where Keegan threw a block at a girl who scratched him on the face. Then the next day I had to sign an accident report because some girl grabbed Keegan by the back of his shirt and drug him across the floor giving him horrible rug burn. I guess the girls are kind of rough in his room.
So when one of his teachers said we needed to talk about Keegan when I came into preschool to pick him up I thought...good lord what has happened now. Well his teacher wanted to tell me good things about him: she wanted to tell me how smart he is, how well he listens, and how he absolutely made her day because he was the only kid who actually remembered all his Spanish vocabulary after the break.
She wanted to tell me she was thinking about canceling the Spanish lessons at the school, but seeing that Keegan had learned so much made her realize that at least some of the kids are really learning this stuff. It was very nice to hear. Then she talked about how Keegan helps all the other kids and told me that I should get him in classes to learn at least two other languages while he is still young :-) It made me proud of him and I have to come and brag a bit...after dealing with a week of yellow slips prior to all of this (incident reports).
Keegan heard his teacher praising him and got embarrassed and left the room...he is so silly. Miss Lindsay also said that Keegan just lightens up the class and makes things fun. So I am glad he has been a positive influence. It makes me more relaxed about him starting school in Sept; if he can listen this well and perform this well now he should do okay in school.
Then when we got home Lyle had set up the telescope so that Keegan could see the moon. Keegan saw the moon and thought it was "Fabulous!" followed by "Mom I actually saw the moon's craters. Can you believe it I actually saw into space!" He was so excited that he jumped up and down and had to take a few more looks. It pretty much made his night. After that Keegan became the Lego Nijago character Zane and did impressive spins while fighting imaginary dragons. Keegan starts his Little Ninjas class in Feb. so he is really looking forward to learning some true ninja skills.
All in all it was a good day, despite all of the craziness that comes with being back at work. We can talk about all the Kindergarten registration drama later.
There has been some fun stuff though. We are going to be taking a icefishing/snowmobile trip up north with some friends in a couple weeks. I have never done either activity so I am looking forward to it...assuming we have ice and snow.
We also finally decided on our spring vacation. In February we are going to take a week long cruise to the Western Caribbean. Hopefully we will do fun things like swim with sting rays and explore Mexican pyramids (per Keegan's request).
Between that of course we need to plan Kee's bday party. Which he is super excited about.
All that aside I mainly came on here to brag about my wonderful son. The holiday season is tough on the kids. Keegan and his friends got sent to the office a couple weeks ago for wrestling too rough with each other. The next day I had to sign an incident report where Keegan threw a block at a girl who scratched him on the face. Then the next day I had to sign an accident report because some girl grabbed Keegan by the back of his shirt and drug him across the floor giving him horrible rug burn. I guess the girls are kind of rough in his room.
So when one of his teachers said we needed to talk about Keegan when I came into preschool to pick him up I thought...good lord what has happened now. Well his teacher wanted to tell me good things about him: she wanted to tell me how smart he is, how well he listens, and how he absolutely made her day because he was the only kid who actually remembered all his Spanish vocabulary after the break.
She wanted to tell me she was thinking about canceling the Spanish lessons at the school, but seeing that Keegan had learned so much made her realize that at least some of the kids are really learning this stuff. It was very nice to hear. Then she talked about how Keegan helps all the other kids and told me that I should get him in classes to learn at least two other languages while he is still young :-) It made me proud of him and I have to come and brag a bit...after dealing with a week of yellow slips prior to all of this (incident reports).
Keegan heard his teacher praising him and got embarrassed and left the room...he is so silly. Miss Lindsay also said that Keegan just lightens up the class and makes things fun. So I am glad he has been a positive influence. It makes me more relaxed about him starting school in Sept; if he can listen this well and perform this well now he should do okay in school.
Then when we got home Lyle had set up the telescope so that Keegan could see the moon. Keegan saw the moon and thought it was "Fabulous!" followed by "Mom I actually saw the moon's craters. Can you believe it I actually saw into space!" He was so excited that he jumped up and down and had to take a few more looks. It pretty much made his night. After that Keegan became the Lego Nijago character Zane and did impressive spins while fighting imaginary dragons. Keegan starts his Little Ninjas class in Feb. so he is really looking forward to learning some true ninja skills.
All in all it was a good day, despite all of the craziness that comes with being back at work. We can talk about all the Kindergarten registration drama later.
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