Spelling.

I am a pretty terrible speller. Ask my students. I put things on the board, misspelled, often. I think it humanizes me to them and, therefore, they like me more. So, I guess I'm okay with being a terrible speller. Undereducated. Whatever.

But, it is difficult for us to not correct Turner's misspellings in his homework. In a single night, in a single hour, Turner completes his homework, eager to beat all the other kids in submitting it to his teacher the next day. Love that initiative lots. Today, his classwork comes home in his backpack, and it is focused on the weather.

Sunee. Windee. Roude (suppose to be rainy). Klaudee (cloudy). Ranee (second Rainy).

Also today, the Kinders watched Turner's documentary about penguin migration. He says, "Ms. Cipolla taught us some stuff about penguins."

I say, "What did you learn?"

He says, "Nothing. Really, nothing. I already knew it already. Penguins slide on their bellies to the water. They carry their babies on their feet. They have beaks, on second thought, they have bills. And they poke with them for food. They give it to their babies of course."

At the park this afternoon, near Turner's old school, we take advantage of the "really tall slide." He goes down it several times, as do I. Fourteen steps to the top. A REALLY tall slide. And, fast moving. When I get down to the bottom, I can't keep my feet under me. I must do those several extra steps to regain my balance after all the momentum of shooting down the silver and slick slide. Turner and I do the high five slap-my-hand-as-I-go-down bit several times. When I get tired of getting my teaching clothes so dusty and gross, Turner meets with an older boy who wants to show him tricks on the slide. His mom sits in the swing *laughing* about how her son sprained both wrists falling down from the slide not long ago. This after, of course, he'd broken both his wrists falling off school gym equipment a year before. So, he's wanting to teach Turner tricks down the slide. I'm nearby and ready to discourage. The kid shows Turner a trick. Without missing a beat Turner says, "Dude that is dangerous. Why do that to yourself?" Turner refuses to go down the slide back first with his legs tucked under him. When the older kid does it, he lands on his face. He laughs and does what cool kids do: pretend it didn't hurt. Before we left, Turner's courage grew and he ended up going down backwards while on his belly. We continued with the high five game, which is a bit more Mom's speed.

Turner sits down to clear the sand and rocks from his shoes, perched on the fourth step of the slide. As he stands up, somehow, he rips his pant legs. Huge hole. "Oh mom. Did you see that?!"

"Yep. These things happen."

"My first ripped pants kind of day."

Exactly what I texted to the aunts and uncle.