First day of Kindergarten

I'm sure it was just the other day that we brought Jad home from the hospital in Dubai! Just a month or so ago that he was tasting dirt in Zimbabwe. It couldn't have possibly been more than a week ago that he was splashing in the surf of the Persian Gulf in Muscat. It doesn't really seem possible that our little boy started Kindergarten today!

But there he was this morning - in his new school clothes, his Wall-e backpack in one hand, a note to his teacher in the other, raring to head out the door to class! He crawled in to our bed this morning at 5:30, telling us that he couldn't sleep... yep, he was excited!

It was a day of learning new rules, making friends, and figuring out how things work in this wonderful new world called school. He informed us that he met one friend who was a girl who had a "really cute voice" (he didn't remember her name though.) Oh - and that he wants to go back tomorrow!

So - our first graduation has now officially taken place - from the "School of Mom" to the International School of Prague. Jad's first step of many to come... on a journey away from the shelter of home and into the big, wide world that awaits him!

Jad's ready! But are we? After five years of sheltering him in the secure surroundings of home, are we ready to let this boy of ours take his first tentative steps into the big wide world?

He'll meet bullies and have to figure out how to deal with them on his own. He'll bring home new vocabulary (not all of it good), and learn that you can't always win. He'll make mistakes, and have disappointments. Find new friends... and loose friends. Skin his knee when we're not around to slap on a band aid. He'll see things he's never seen before, and make discoveries all by himself. And continue to travel... down the path we've started him on... towards becoming his own person.

Travel well, Jad - and know we'll always be just a couple steps away!

Of Manatees and Rowboats

Meet the newest member of our family! Flash is a manatee (also known as a sea cow) who lives in Florida. We "adopted" Flash from the Save the Manatee Club a couple weeks ago, and just got his picture and adoption certificate the other day (OK, so he is a bit pudgy... but that's a good look for a manatee.)

Jad discovered manatees a month or so ago, while watching an episode of the "Reading Rainbow". Ever since, he's been very concerned about the fate of these large, slow moving marine mammals. One of the biggest threats to this endangered species is injury from propellers on motorboats cruising the waterways of Florida.

The other day... in the middle of his normal activities (figuring out if he could fit a manatee in the bathtub, conducting science experiments, saving the world, building "inventions" and "reading" Tintin and Asterix and Obelix books), he decided it was time to pray about the situation.

"Dear God" he started. "Please help all the people in Florida to drive rowboats. Amen." Talk about a specific, logical prayer request! If all the people in Florida rowed rowboats, the number of propeller injuries to Manatees would certainly decrease dramatically. Of course, whacks on the head by an oar may become more prevalent, but oars are seldom lethal.

So - if any of you out there are reading this from Florida... for Flash's sake... please consider trading in your Boston Whaler for a nice, reliable rowboat. Just think of the money you'd save on gas alone!

Wonder Super Snow Bunny

Name: Wonder Super Snow Bunny

Super Powers: Super hop that is as loud as a warerabbit. The super hop makes him fly. His hearing is very good. He can hear far away - even he can hear Hawaii (from Prague). When he goes all around, he hears all of the United States of America and even the other places. He can even hear Asteroid Tiny or Photon or Neutron or Professor Darkness or even the Planet Heros or even astroids!

How he got his super powers: Well, when Wonder Super Snow Bunny was a baby, he lived on ColdAndDusty (a planet inside Star Wars), and then he went on a flying saucer and he landed on Earth. One part of ColdAndDusty was destroyed, but not the super hero that is from ColdAndDusty - that superhero, he is at earth.

Bad guys he fights: One is called "Bank Robber" and one is called "Store Stealer" and one is called "Toy Shop Stealer". The "Store Stealer" don't have any weapons or any powers.

His Super Friends: Super Bunny - from the planet where Superman was a baby - the planet Krypton. Super Bunny was there when he was a baby at the planet Krypton. And then when Krypton destroyed, Super Bunny, he went in a flying saucer and Super Man went in a flying saucer and they went all the way to earth. And Super Bunny was disguised as a news reporter.

Secret Identities: His disguise is he can disguise as a bush. And he goes into a forest and he gets disguised and he sits down and then when a bad guy passes him, he jump out and get him.

And the Super Grasshopper comes and then Super Bunny comes and the Superman comes and then Fog Man. And they all fight the bad guys together.