I have a memory clear as day: I’m sitting in my fifth grade classroom (which must have been particularly significant because it was my last day of my last grade of elementary school) and I’m watching the clock hands move from 2:59 to 3:00 when the bell rings on the last day of the year. The feeling of freedom can only be topped by the last day of my dietetic internship.
Today was Mazen’s last day of kindergarten!
Lucky for him, his day ends at noon instead of 3 
On Monday, Birch and I ran to his school during the mid-day hours to cheer him on in field day.
I am so proud of how far he’s come this year! He started kindergarten knowing how to recognize simple sight words and do basic math, and now he can read ANYthing and count to 500 by 10s! He had a wonderful teacher. The techniques they use these days are more “teach a man to fish” style, and once he got the hang of sounding words out, he was able to read any and everything nearly overnight. He said to me the other day: “Have you read the air bag warning sign above your head?” He’s reading signs everywhere we go, and can sit quietly and read whole pages by himself. (Although who am I kidding, this extraverted child rarely sits quietly alone!)
Rubber chicken run!
Mazen’s into Pokemon and Minecraft (naturally), and all kinds of sports, baseball and basketball (both new interests), skateboarding, swimming, dancing, and biking. He has a ton of friends (the boy is NOT shy at all!) and is a leader. He also loves painting, imaginary play, and comic books like Dogman.
Some days he acts like he’s 16. This year was probably our most challenging because the attitude came out hard and we had to try a lot of different parenting techniques and styles. But he’s also not too cool to hold my hand walking from the bus stop or snuggle in bed. And he is absolutely wild about his little brother! Every day those two brothers get closer and closer.
Kindergarten Graduation
On Thursday Thomas and I went to his Step Up Ceremony (aka graduation). It was so cute!
Meals This Week
Eggs, Morning GLory muffin, strawberries
Toffee clusters cereal from Trader Joe’s
Pre lunch-time workout PB&J
Post workout chicken + Kale lunch salad
with blue cheese dressing, pecans, and sweet potato fries
Shrimp cobb dinner salad with homemade blue cheese dressing
From Plenty! Amped up with almonds and pita chips! The dressing is just incredible. I never want to have bottled blue cheese again!
Grilled Chicken Alfredo
Also from Plenty with homemade kale salad. Boy was that a GOOD dinner! Mazen asked for seconds of noodles 🙂
Baby Led Weaning-ish
I don’t think there is one way to feed a baby, and I think you can do both purees and finger foods and simply call it “meal time.” We do a lot of purees because I am extra cautious about choking, but I also think it’s great to mix in foods babies can eat themselves. I LOVE the Boon Pop because it promotes self feeding without choking risk. I’ve been putting everything from fresh strawberries to sweet potato in there. But I’m also starting to introduce some soft finger foods as well. I made a big batch of sweet potato fries this week and Birch LOVED them.
Favorite Workout of the Week
Getting to play soccer with this guy!!
Have a great weekend!!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog says
Happy graduation to Mazen! It’s so nice to see the brothers grow closer as well! 🙂
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Rachel says
Kath,
I taught kindergarten for several years (now, I’m a K-4 interventionist). I read this and thought Mazen could be gifted. In my district, the screening referral sheet includes characteristics like reading two grade levels above and challenging behaviors. Just a thought! He’s obviously a natural reader and great kid either way!
KathEats says
Thank you for saying that 🙂
Barbara Younger says
Very proud grandma here. Congratulations MAZE!!!!
Christina says
I love the clusters cereal from Trader Joe’s – it’s like 75% clusters! I get my hair cut right next to a Trader Joe’s and stock up on the Vanilla Clusters cereal every time 🙂 I haven’t tried the toffee one, though.
KathEats says
It’s so good!!
Liz says
That’s AMAZING that he is reading that well! My daughter just finished kindergarten and cannot read nearly as well – but I know that all kids learn to read at their own pace and the range of “normal” for reading in kindergarten is very broad. She had a super young, brand new teacher and a class that had many children with extremely challenging behavior issues, so unfortunately much of the teacher’s time was spent putting out fires. I volunteered in their reading block and compared to other friend’s of mine with kindergartners, my daughter’s entire class was so behind 🙁 We are switching schools next year due to boundary changes and I’m looking forward to seeing her blossom in a new and hopefully more positive environment. Anyway, all that to say that his reading level is very impressive!! I think I’m learning as my kids get older that every kid has their individual struggles. Our daughter is a “rule follower” and a people pleaser by nature, she is extremely well behaved and very polite. But she struggles with anxiety issues, plus the reading thing. She still wears pull-ups at night even though she has been dry for months, because without them she worries about having an accident and gets very little sleep at night. Every kid has something! I think it’s great that you acknowledge some of Mazen’s more challenging behaviors and try different techniques to try to cope. That’s all we can really do as parents is try our best! I know it’s difficult sometimes to be open on the internet about parenting, so thanks for keeping it real!
KathEats says
Thanks for your comment 🙂 I’m sorry your daughter’s classroom wasn’t able to focus on reading more, but hopefully first grade will knock it out of the park.
Tonya says
Mazen, we are so proud of you! Way to go, Big Brother!
Kath, those meals are so realistic! Bowl of cereal, PBJ, and salads. This is real food for real life!
Also, eyes on the ball, lovebirds. Quit makin’ out on the sidelines! 😉
KathEats says
Hahaha!
Cassie says
Your description of Mazen could have been written about my 6-year old son! Pokémon, Minecraft, Dogman… and ours has a little sister who is 1 1/2 (who he adores as well!) I have been reading since well before you were pregnant with Mazen, and felt like we “went throughout our pregnancies together”, so it’s fun to see what your boy is up to now! I also really admire how you and Matt co-parent. You have loosened up and become more realistic in your food choices, and so happy for you that you seem very content and fulfilled in your life right now 🙂 -Friend from Lafayette, Indiana
KathEats says
🙂 Those six-year-old boys!
Elizabeth says
I can’t believe he has already finished kindergarten! I have been reading since before Mazen was born and this just blows my mind! Hope you had a great weekend