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It’s not even Halloween, and they’re already putting up the New Haven Green Christmas Tree (my wife will love it…, it’s her favorite one). I guess the holiday season has officially begun. Not that I’m complaining…, I like Christmas time – especially the music, which always puts me in a good mood. I’ve often thought that there should be a radio station that plays only Christmas music 365 days a year. Having a bad day? Just listen to Wham’s “Last Christmas” and everything’s as right as rain.

By the way, I took the photos and posted this from my iPhone…, pretty cool, huh?!

Last night was one of those times as a parent when you question whether you’re doing the right thing…

Quinn seems to be getting an unusually large amount of homework for a 2nd-grader. I would expect the workload to increase as she moves up in grades, but the jump from 1st to 2nd grade has been HUGE! Maybe it’s not so much the amount of work, but rather the level of work she’s expected to do that has me bothered. Should 2nd-graders be doing 3-digit addition and subtraction with regrouping when they haven’t even commited their basic single-digit computations to memory? Should 2nd-graders be asked to write a 25-30 sentence story – with an introduciton, body and closing – when their still working on basic handwriting and spelling? I know kids are responsible for much more than I was in the 2nd grade, but this is bordering on ridiculus to me.

We’re lucky, in that Quinn actually likes to do homework. Sure…, some nights it’s tough to get her to focus for 30 minutes to get it done, bu most of the time it’s not a fight. These past few weeks, however, have ended in tears more often than not. I can only imagine what parents of children who don’t like to do homework are going through!

Last night I was really struggling…, is this something that we need to push her through – tears and all – or do I need to have a talk with her teacher? I don’t want to come off as a whiney parent, especially if nobody else is complaining. We’re being a patient as we can be with her, but when she breaks down and starts throwing her pencil on the table and sliding her papers onto the floor, I worry that this child who likes to do work is going to turn into someone for whom learning ceases to be fun.

I think the best thing to do would be to talk to a few of the other parents in her class and get their take on the homework thing. Maybe we’re all experiencing the same thing and none of us wants to be the one to speak up?

Anyone else out there struggling with the same thing?

The wife and kids were away all weekend. They went to PA to visit my sister-in-law for her baby shower. It’s the first time I’ve been alone in the house for more than a day in I don’t know how long. They left Saturday morning at 7am, and with the exception of leaving the house to go to 4pm mass, I was at my computer for almost 13 hours straight. When I did finally get outside and realized how nice the weather was, I was a little upset at myself for wasting a gorgeous day (well…, not completely wasting…, I was working on a few personal projects for most of the day).

So today – another beautiful day – I made a point to get outside and do as little in front of the computer as possible. I decided to go for a hike at Sleeping Giant State Park, which is just up the road from my house. I did the same thing last year and showed you a video of my climb to the top of the tower, which is at the top of the mountain. This time, I brought along the camera and made a quick video of the whole trek.

After the kid party at the gymnastics place in the morning, we took the family out to dinner to a restaurant of Quinn’s choice. She wanted to go to Kumo – a Japanese hibachi restaurant that’s literally walking distance from our house (and yes…, we walked). She had been there for the hibachi once before and really liked watching the chef cook the food in front of her, and wanted to share the experience with everyone else. And now I’m going to share it with you…