I thought it would be impossible to find enough things to take pictures of today, but as it turned out, it wasn't really that hard, once I got out of the house this morning.

A review of the rules: each day, take 6-8 photos and post them online that night, chronologically. With each photo include a time and a title, and no further explanation. And now for Day 5:

A few mornings ago, my son told me he didn't have to go to school anymore, because, as he claimed, "I already know EVERYTHING!"

"Oh, yeah?" I said. "Then tell me this: What's the square root of 144?"

Without a pause, my kindergartener replied, "12."

I thought again. "What's the square root of 10,000?"

He had that one, too: "100."

I switched academic subjects. "OK," I said, "If you know everything, tell me this: What's the capital of New York?"

And he answered, as I expected he would, "New York City." Not right, but not bad, either. A lot of adults would have answered the same. But he did have to go to school that day.

An update on an earlier post: Today I met with my son's teachers as well as the school guidance counselor and the gifted specialist to discuss their evaluations of my son for the gifted program. As I expected, he has been accepted into TAG (talented and gifted) for math. In fact, on one of the math aptitude tests, he's the only student the guidance counselor has ever known to have answered every question correctly. And this is the same test given for kids up to third grade! He's in kindergarten. So it's not just my maternal bias; he officially is a brainy little guy.

Today was Eat Lunch With Your Kid Day at school. In honor of Thanksgiving next week, turkey and stuffing were offered, along with some of the usual sides. As a vegetarian, I opted for the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It reminded me of why I haven't eaten a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in years. Did you know that schools now serve pre-packaged peanut butter sandwiches that are round, with sealed edges? I guess it's easier for little hands that way, since the insides don't leak out. But it sure looks unnatural.

 "Hello. I'm the assistant principal from your son's school."

No happy telephone conversation ever started out that way. I received such a call yesterday afternoon. The very nice man went on to tell me that my son's pants were badly ripped down the front of one leg. The bizarre part was how this happened. My son claimed another boy, Brian, ripped his pants. Brian admitted that he did it, but said that he ripped the pants only because my son told him to, and that afterward he congratulated him: "Great job, Brian!"

After another boy corroborated Brian's story, my son admitted that yes, he did tell him to do it. Asked why he would urge another boy to do such a thing, he replied only, "I don't know." My guess is that Brian is someone whose friendship he covets, and he thought this would be a way of amusing Brian and thus being accepted as "one of the cool kids." Beyond that, I'm mystified -- and ticked off, since the pants were expensive and were almost brand new; it was only the second time he had worn them! I don't think he had anything against these pants in particular. In fact, that morning when he put them on, he told me he liked them. They were the soft, elastic-waist, flannel pants that he finds especially comfortable. And while I'm no seamstress, I'm pretty sure they are unsalvageable now. I'm trying not to overreact. He's a kid; kids do really dumb things sometimes, and often for no good reason. But yesterday was NOT a good day.

Oh, to understand the brains of little boys.

I'm leaving for Richmond in a few hours, to attend the national conference of the  National Federation of Press Women. I'll miss my husband and little boy. It seemed like a great time to be away, when it was announced, but then I found out that tomorrow will be Cutie Pie's first day in his new kindergarten class; I would have liked to be there for it. On the other hand, he took the news in stride. And I did get a chance to speak with his new teacher on Friday, so I feel much better about it now. His dad will bring him to his new classroom tomorrow. I'm sure they'll be fine.

I really am looking forward to the trip. First I'm going on the pre-tour, which visits Williamsburg and Jamestown. I've been wanting to get back to Jamestown ever since they discovered the real town site and began excavations. But let's hope I don't get car sick on the bus tour. On Wednesday we'll be back in Richmond for the conference. My Stonehenge book has won an award, which will be presented at the Communications Contest banquet. And I'm taking part in a historical fashion show, where some of us will be dressed in costumes representing the different time periods that will be covered. I'm 1880-1900, and have rented a lovely "bustle dress" from a terrific costume shop called Charelle's in Frederick, Maryland. I'll post a photo afterward if I can get someone to take one. (My camera broke, and I haven't bought a new one yet.)

I'll be away until next Sunday, without a computer, so I may not be able to post at all for the next seven days. Have a great week!

I had no idea how much paperwork it takes to have a kid in kindergarten. Today, with my husband's help, I had to fill out forms to have our little Cutie Pie tested for the Gifted and Talented program. For kindergarten, there are no separate gifted classes, but the gifted specialists work with the teacher to provide extra challenges. It seems rather silly for a 5-year-old, but he's so far ahead in some things - especially math - that I'm afraid he'll get bored and act up if he already knows the lessons. For instance, one of the class goals for math this year is to learn to count to 20, out loud and in writing. By the time he turned 4, he could already count to 2,000. Now he's doing second-grade addition and subtraction, and knows some multiplication. When he was being potty-trained, I used to keep him occupied on the potty by quizzing him on square roots.

Unfortunately, I received the forms only yesterday afternoon, and they had to be turned in by today.

My son started kindergarten six weeks ago, and everything was going well. (His school has a year-round schedule, so he began the last week of July.) He likes his teachers and his new friends, and the teacher says he's doing well. I was relieved when it looked as if he was settling in. Then, today, there was a letter from the principal in his backpack. Because so many new kindergarteners have enrolled since the school year began, a new kindergarten class is starting up so that class size can be decreased. Children were chosen by lottery from the other classes to be in this new class -- and my son is on the list. So now he has to change to a different class. Sigh....