Distracted

Evan has been thriving in Kindergarten. He loves his teachers. He loves his friends. He loves learning new stuff. He has fallen in love with reading and beams when he completes a story by himself. We are having one area of difficultly though.

This semester he has had a bit of trouble completing his work on time. This is NOT because the work is too difficult, or he is even having trouble with it. It is simply because he gets distracted. He has been having this problem for a couple months, but really started to affect his learning this past month. Not to worry, mommy and teacher always work together. Evan and I have been talking incessantly about staying on task, completing his work, not getting distracted by other kids. John has reminded Evan to stay on task, complete his work and not get distracted. I created a star chart for each day he completes his work. Naturally he wants a Skylander when he finishes his chart. He has had almost 10 straight days (with just one slip up) of completing his work on time. This has been a big talking point at our house.

Evan has a teacher who is really (I mean …really) into football. He has come home all fall talking about certain teams and players and not really making any sense. It’s cute though. The entire SK also got to meet a 'real live' football player, as Evan called him. Mrs. Hayden's (another SK teacher) husband, Mr. Hayden played in the Super Bowl while he was a Packer. Mr. Hayden came and talked about his experience in the Super Bowl. As we were walking out of school that day, Evan was telling me all about his visit....which he never does. He never tells me about school. We saw Mrs. Hayden across the parking lot and he screams, "Hey, Mrs. Hayden!! What was the name of that 'real live' football player that came to school today?" Mrs. Hayden, "Hmmm...could it have been Mr. Hayden?" Evan, "no, no, the football player." I giggle, because I know it was Mrs. Hayden's husband. Mrs. Hayden says, "Evan that was Mr. Hayden. Dallan's and Cullen's dad." Evan - blank stare...."whaaaaa?" Yeah, you saw the note about him getting distracted right? I guess it's kind of like seeing your teacher out of school. Teachers aren't supposed to have husbands that play in the Super Bowl. It blew his little mind.

John and I have always liked football but having two little ones at home prevented us from watching most games. Now that Evan loves football, he’ll actually sit and watch games with us.

As the Super Bowl approached, Evan could not contain his excitement. He talked about the teams playing. He talked about the players. He asked everyday for two weeks if the Super Bowl was on that day.

So we decided to have a Super Bowl gathering. We skipped out on our volunteer jobs at church (first time in about a year) and had a fun filled family night. While I do love football and had a favorite team, I was really rooting for the commercials and Super Bowl food.

As soon as Evan’s friends arrived, he abandoned the game and ran off to play. He did return for the halftime show to which the shirtless guy with all the tattoos amazed him. I quickly explained that that was ‘mommy’s music’ to which I quickly regretted once he was completely mesmerized by their hyper movements, loud singing, and ink covered bodies. Now, please know, he is not sheltered by any means. Several family members have tattoos (including his own mother…gasp). We have friends with tattoos. I don’t think that is was the ink that he was so amazed by. I think it was the music. We don’t really listen to ‘mommy’s music’ while in the car. I quickly found a kids’ station the moment he started singing Lady Gaga’s Poker face using all the correct words. My car radio is now fixed on Kids’ Place Live. And yes, I do find myself singing more kids songs than anything. (You listen to “Let it Go” and tell me it’s not catchy!)

 

 

The next day his class was discussing the game. Of course Evan wanted to talk about the shirtless guy with all the tattoos. His exact words, “I mean what was up with that??” But the best line came while discussing why the Bronco’s lost. They discussed defense, certain plays and how the game played out. But Evan had it all figured out. He told Mrs. Finny, “I think Peyton Manning must have been distracted.”