Another birthday for Lincoln! This year I'm going to do birthday posts on the elementary school years. Right before kindergarten Lincoln learned to ride a two-wheeler on the infamous purple bike which motivated Garrett to also learn at the same time.
Lincoln started kindergarten at Cascade Elementary. Most days he rode his bike there--a little less than half a mile away. I think it was a little scary for him at first. He was a good kindergarten student and seemed to enjoy his class with Mrs. Sumsion.
On the first day of school, he was feeling very serious.
At the end of kindergarten, Lincoln turned 6 and not long after that, his little brother Talmage was born.
In first grade Lincoln started playing soccer on the same team as Garrett. He also took swimming lessons and piano lessons. He really enjoyed soccer and would go out in the backyard to practice. He and Garrett were on the same competition soccer team 2004-5 but I couldn't handle the constant driving to practices and games so after we came home from Germany we dialed the soccer way back.
I think this picture was taken at Halloween, 2002. It was a really cold Halloween so Lincoln is wearing his winter coat underneath his costume that I don't recognize, but he's obviously feeling pleased with his haul.
At the end of Lincoln's first grade year and a few weeks after his 7th birthday, our family moved to a new house. Lincoln was a good student and school was easy for him. In second grade, his teacher told me how the kids had to write equations for the number of the day--the number of days they had been in school. Lincoln's was: 100/20 +20 -15=10. It was a little advanced for the beginning of 2nd grade but Lincoln had checked out all these math books from the library over the summer and taught himself division.
Something that wasn't easy for him was keeping track of his stuff. He lost a winter coat once and I was going to have him help pay for a new one but the old one finally showed up. Another time he accrued a big library fine for a book he lost. One day I wrote, "On Friday Lincoln was late getting to school because he told me he couldn't get his homework folder into his backpack. I was sure it would fit so I tried it myself. That's when I discovered there was an old yogurt container in there that had spilled. There was also a jacket, a bag full or markers and magnetic letters, and an old lunch bag or two. Lincoln is a major packrat and doesn't like to throw anything away. After we took out all those things and cleaned out his backpack, his homework folder fit quite nicely."
As a mom who loves to make lists, this makes me proud:
Lincoln took violin lessons for a little while. I was his teacher and I tried to help him practice. He was doing fine but in the end, we decided it was a little too much with everything else we were trying to do. I started him on piano in kindergarten and then after a while, he took lessons from his uncle Kurt. Kurt loved to tell him crazy things that Lincoln would believe. Once Lincoln asked what time it was and Kurt told him the time (probably guessing). Lincoln asked how he knew and Kurt said, I looked at a clock once and I've been counting the seconds ever since. Another time, Kurt told him that the speed limit was really ten miles above what the sign said. I told him that he couldn't always believe everything Kurt told him.
The day before Lincoln's 9th birthday, our family flew to Germany to live for one year, arriving on his birthday. It was an exhausting trip. I think we celebrated before we left. One week after we arrived, Lincoln started school and got lost on the way home. I was supposed to meet him where the crossing guard was but I was confused about what time to meet them (it seemed like they got out at a different time every day of the week). So Lincoln tried to figure out where to go and wandered around town for a couple of hours. I didn't have a car because Scott was off buying one for us so I borrowed the neighbor's bike and went to the police station to get their help. They tried to tell me they were short-handed because the Israeli prime minister was flying into town and they needed extra security at the nearby airport. But eventually they found Lincoln near the edge of town by the fire station. We were all very relieved and happy to find him.
Lincoln was in 5th grade with Mrs. Siebach when we got back, followed by 6th grade with Mr. Hall. He was in advanced classes and started making friends there whom he is still friends with.
Lincoln especially enjoyed playing games with his brothers and making crazy videos. They had a good time together.
We are so glad you were born into our family, Lincoln! Have a great birthday!
The picture of Lincoln and Garrett holding their duet music and certificate reminds me that their performance of the theme from Peter Gunn got them a standing ovation (of sorts) from the judges at Best in Music when they performed at the Duet Festival. Although both boys were my piano students at the time, Kurt helped coach them in their duet performance, and they really did an outstanding job.
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