Jake Writes His First Novel

Ok...actually, Jake wrote his name, not a novel. But really, what writer can even start that great American novel without first writing his name?

Today a teacher's assistant (they rotate at Jake's school, since Guilford County has so graciously decided to cut aide budgets...we're lucky to have any at all) told me that Jake traced his name, first with her help, then on his own. In his classroom, they've been working on tracing by using a pin to trace the edges of things drawn on paper. He has brought home two birds that he "cut" out of the paper by tracing its edges. So, in what is apparently this amazing Montessori style (where learning something new seems to sneak up on a child instead of stressing them out and banging them on the head), he has now moved from that to tracing his name. He brought home his name--the very first time he's written it! I told him we'd keep it forever...

When he publishes that great American novel, maybe I can sell his name tracing on eBay...