Birthday boy: the early edition

Tobin's birthday month has arrived! May 17 is his last day of school, so his teacher scheduled his birthday celebration for this past Friday to accommodate end-of-year festivities and other friends' birthdays. With the UNC basketball game in March (an early birthday present from my parents) and our plans later this month, he is set up for a very protracted sixth birthday celebration. He, of course, thinks it's great. And it helps me ease into the reality that he will be six years old. How in the world . . . ?

So on Friday, I visited his class for a little while. When I arrived Tobin was working on an long-term project: a book he has written and illustrated. It's not finished yet but I was pretty stoked to get a preview. Then as he and his friends headed to circle time, he showed me their classroom tadpoles and boasted that there was even a frog! He tried to show me the frog but apparently he's an elusive little guy. During circle time, he picked the song and danced in his very subtle way alongside his classmates, many of whom were a tad more animated than him.



In honor of his birthday, Tobin donated six pennies to a church program called Pennies for Hunger.



Then he shared some birthday cookies--designed by Tobin, baked and decorated by Mama--with his friends at snack time. This might have been my favorite part of the morning because I got to sit and listen to Kindergarten snack time conversations like this: One of Tobin's friends might have to find a new home for her cat since her sister is allergic to it. This elicited the suggestion from another friend that she could just keep the cat in the attic! But the cat owner wasn't so sure because "It's sooo dark up there!" Another kid chimed in and said that she could just visit the cat and bring him food and water, as long as her sister didn't go up there too. It was all very funny and sweet.



The final part of his birthday celebration involved each of his classmates sharing something they liked about Tobin and illustrating it on a page in Tobin's Birthday Book. I think this is my favorite page.