Jog-a-thon 2010

This morning, there was a jog-a-thon at Zahra's school. It was a fundraiser to help the school earn money for special programs, art supplies, field trips, and "extras" that the school would otherwise be unable to provide for the students. We dropped Zahra off when school started at 8:00 and then Max and I hung out for awhile since the jog-a-thon wasn't scheduled to begin until 8:20. He finished what was left in the juice box that Zahra had partially consumed on the way to school.

When we crossed the street and went back on campus, the kids were still getting ready, so Max and I decided to walk over to the farm that's part of the school. We stood at the fence and looked in while we waited. Max yelled gibberish emphatically at the animals. Since they're are used to hearing kids yell all the time (as the chainlink fence is all that separates their area from the playground), a few of them took it as an invitation to come over and greet my little boy.

"Hello, Mr. Goat."

(I was a little worried that Max would keep sticking his chubby little fingers through the fence and that the goat would come over and try to nibble on one, but the goat never got close enough. Whew...)

Then I noticed that Zahra's class was starting to warm up. Max and I headed over to that part of the playground to capture the action. Here's Zahra, in her huge (size: small) jog-a-thon t-shirt/"dress," stretching with her classmates.

Zahra and Nahomi, standing around before the action began. Zahra really wanted Max and I to come join the group, but we had to hang out on the other side of the divider line. Before the activity even began, Zahra complained, "I'm tired!" (I think she really meant, "I'm bored"). I had gotten her to sleep earlier than usual, but she has been kind of sick lately, so maybe she really was a little under the weather.

Before the Race: The card pinned to the back of her shirt, to keep track of how many laps she made. The kids got entered to win prizes equivalent in number to the amount of laps they ran (for example: 10 laps, 10 chances to win). (Alfie Kohn's theories about being "Punished by Rewards" come to mind.) I don't think the prizes were actually that much of an incentive for Zahra. I think she took sheer delight in running around with her friends and classmates just for the sake of running. Honestly, I think she forgot that there was really a reason the whole thing was even happening!

More stretching. I wish she could really touch her toes without bending her knees! I do stretches at home every day (though usually at night, before bed) and sometimes when Zahra sees me, she tries to follow along with whatever I'm doing. I've noticed she isn't very limber any more (not like the rubber baby brother), and I don't really remember often enough to get her to stretch every day. Since she doesn't see any progress and doesn't think that the stretches feel good, she doesn't really like to do it.

Stretching again. Not exactly Zahra's favorite part of this morning. But soon enough, she'll be having fun...

Listening to Mrs. Conton give directions. Off to the left is the teaching aide, Mrs. St. Pierre. For some reason, when Zahra talks about her, she always calls her "Miss Pierre." I think she really likes her, because every time there is a holiday (Christmas or Valentine's Day), she always wants to include Mrs. St. Pierre in whatever we're preparing to bring to school.

Lively music began to play and announcements were made over the PA system. Here they go! Then we see Zahra completing the first lap of the jog-a-thon. Definitely not tired yet. Still ready to run a lot more times around the track...

Pulling off to the side of the track to get her lap marked off on her tally sheet... I think there was at least one or two laps that didn't get recorded, but I guess this isn't the Olympics anyway.

Although it's not centered properly, I like this shot since it captures her braids flying in the air as she runs along. (It was so hard to get good shots with all the chaotic kindergarten and first grade kids running around!)

Running with friends. Next to her in the red pants is Gracie, then Lian or Leah (the two girls in her class look somewhat alike to me and their names are so similar, I always get them mixed up!), and Kylie. They look like they are having such a good time!

A little while later, she found her friend Kyle and they held hands and raced around the track together. One of the things that Mrs. Conton had mentioned at the parent-teacher conference (did I already mention this?) was that Zahra has a lot of different friends and will play with both girls and boys, which was somewhat unique, in that many of the other kids are not that open. I think it's neat that she choses to interact with a lot of different kids. There are still particular friends that she mentions from time to time, but overall, I think she has fun with almost anyone she plays with at school.

During the "cool down" phase, Zahra and Kyle continued to walk around as the activity drew to a close.

One of the moms is holding a box of popsicles. Look who's all ready for hers...

The final tally: 14 times around the track. Not bad for a first time. Bessie said in years past, they had a smaller track set out for the kindergarten kids. This year, they ran around the same track that the rest of the school did. There were times when Zahra seemed to be getting tired or slowing down, but when I would yell, "Go, Zahra, go!" she would perk right up and break into a sprint. It was awesome!

After the jog-a-thon was over, she still had some energy left to run to the tables where the kindergarteners eat snacks and lunches. The light at the end of this jog: popsicles! (And yes, even today, she's still jovially calling them "popiscles! popiscles!")

Max in Maine

Enjoying popiscles with her classmates

The end of a good morning: Way to go, Zahra!