Let me start by saying how proud your daddy and I are of you.
You have grown so much since last year. Every day, I look at you and can't figure out how you got so big. It is bittersweet for me. I love to see the little boy that you are becoming, but I miss my baby.
You currently weigh a whopping 45 lbs. and measure 43".
Your likes and dislikes have stayed pretty consistent this past year. Although, we did discover some new fun things.
You Love:
- Dinosaurs--you are now going on about a 3 1/2 year love affair with them. You probably own 300+ dinosaurs (not including all the books and videos about dinos), and you are becoming an expert at saying their names and identifying them. You constantly impress people with your knowledge of dinosaurs. You know more than I do.
- Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood--a sweet new show on PBS that you have fallen in love with. Your favorite episode is "Prince Wednesday Goes To The Potty." Don't ask me.
- Wild Kratts--You still regularly ask to watch this.
- Dino Squad--I bought you the whole season of this cartoon on Amazon Instant Video--27 episodes--best $9.99 I ever spent.
- Sports--you say that football is your favorite, but you always ask to play baseball (and you are good at it).
- Tumbling
- School--Although, you don't like to get up in the morning for school, you always report that you had a good day and that you really like school and all your friends. At night you report to daddy and me who was nice to you that day and who got in trouble, who your best friend that day was and who you like.
- The color green
- Books/the library--You love the library. You insisted that I take you at least once a week during the summer and we never left with less than 15 books each time. You haven't quite figured out that you can't keep the books forever, though. There are about three that you really love and keep making me re-check out for you. After that many trips to the library, you would have thought that we would have found all the dinosaur and alligator books, but amazingly enough there are still plenty that we haven't checked out yet (thank God!).
- Swimming--You have improved so much. You can swim both, freestyle and backstroke, all the way across the length of the full-sized lap pool. You are just starting to learn the breaststroke. It's a bit of a mess right now, but you improve each week. You love both swimming and your swimming friends. It is something you look forward to each week.
- Anything and everything iPad related--This is quite possibly your favorite way to spend your time. Not great, I know. We do limit your time on the iPad, and we are working on listening and obeying the first time you are asked to turn it off. This has been our biggest challenge. However, it as an excellent motivational tool, and we use it. Your favorite games are:
- Doodle Jump
- Angry Birds (all the versions)
- Snail Bob
- Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
New Things:
- Glasses--yup. You had to get glasses this year. I was shocked. You had never complained about your eyes before, so when we went to my eye doctor for your first routine check-up I figured we would be in and out in no time. Three hours later (and many tears--both you and me) we were leaving having ordered glasses. The trip was so traumatizing that I decided to get a second opinion from a pediatric ophthalmologist, and sure enough they said you needed glass.
- Eye Patch--Because you have a focus issue in your left eye we have you wear a "pirate patch" for two hours each day. You are such a trooper and don't complain at all.
- Singing--You have started singing. A lot. You never used to follow along with songs on TV shows but now you sing all the time. It makes mommy happy. I hope you continue to love singing like I do.
- Friends--Not that you didn't always have friends, but you are really staring to build relationships. You talk about your friends and the things that you did at school. It is good to know that you are good in socials settings. Since you are an only child, mommy and daddy sometime worry that you get lonely. You seem to be doing fine and enjoy the friends you have made. Your favorite friends are Maison, Jade, and Ryan.
- School three days a week--Mommy got offered a full-time job this year and so you started going to school three days a week. I thought it might be too much for, but you are excelling and you love your new teachers, Mrs. Statts and Miss Sharp. We are so happy with our choice to send you to Primrose.
- Uniforms--Pre-K means uniforms. I thought you were going to fight me on wearing a uniform because of your love for everything dinosaur, but you have been fine with it. I will admit that I cried a bit the first time you put one on. My baby is growing up. :-(
- First friend birthday party--Up until now you have been perfectly content with a family-only birthday party. Not this year. You talked about your birthday for months before it actually happened, and you insisted early on that you wanted to have your party at Pump It Up, the local indoor bounce land. Not only that, but you wanted all your friends to be there. So cute.
- New speech teacher--You started your third year of speech this year. Unfortunately, Ms. Riley, your previous speech teacher, ended up leaving the district, so we were faced with getting a new speech teacher. We were worried but you ended up getting Mrs. Gray as your new therapist. She is the wonderful woman who originally evaluated you for speech years ago. You love her and you love speech. "Word school," as you affectionately call it, is one of your favorite parts of the week.
- Super Heroes--You have a new interest in these. Some of your favorites are Spider Man (you picked this for your Halloween costume this year), Batman, and "Green-man-alligator" (The Lizard from the Spider Man movie).
- Star chart--We implemented a star chart incentive program this year. It works for you. You are very motivate to earn stars so you can pick something out of your treasure box after you earn twenty stars. You have definitely learned how to work the system, though. It is not uncommon for you to randomly walk up to me and say, "Mommy, I really like your shirt; it is so pretty" or "Mommy your nails look really nice," and then quickly following it up with, "Do I get a star for that??" Also, the second I walk in the door to your classroom when picking you up, you have taken to immediately saying, "Mommy, I ate my lunch and took a nap. I get a star for that??" Too smart for your own good.
- Penny (i.e. the bane of my existence)--We got a third dog...well, we found a third dog shortly after your 4th birthday. You fell in love and named her Penny. Now you have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Penny. She is a lot bigger than she was when we first got her and her puppy behaviors (jumping and nibbling) are often a bit too much for you. You yell and tell her to get away but when I ask you if you want me to give her away you get upset and say no. You really do love her. She just is so rambunctious that you get frustrated. She will grow out of it and will hopefully be a good companion for you for many years.
- The Knock-Knock Joke--You mastered it (sort of) thanks to cousin Linsey who was patient enough to work with you for 45+ minutes until you got it.
- Teddy Ruxpin--Grandma Marni bought you the new version of Teddy. While he isn't quite as cool at the 1985 version that Mommy had when she was little, you still really like him.
- Pretend Play--This has really taken off this year. You sit in your car seat with your dinosaurs and act out scenes with them. Often I will hear you in your playroom doing different voices for all your toys. Most often you have some sort of super hero and dinosaur working together to solve a problem or fighting. I so enjoy listening to you from the other room. You are quite creative.
- Blocks--You were never really interested in building things until recently. Now you always ask to play with blocks. Most often you build a castle for your dinosaurs to live in. You are very creative with the structures that you make. Perhaps one day you will be an architect.
- Legos--You love them, and you are good at them. You are able to look at the directions, identify the pieces that you need and put them together according to the directions.
- Self-awareness--Prior to this year, you never really noticed that your right hand was different than your left hand, your friends' hands, or even our hands. You didn't care. When kids would question you about your hand being different, you would look at them like they were crazy. But this year, you started to verbalize the difference, and you embraced it. Other than the couple of times that you have asked me why you have a little hand, or when your hand was going to grow, you have had a very positive attitude about it. Now you purposely show people your "little hand" and tell them that it makes you special and that you were born that way. It makes mommy and daddy's hearts happy to see you so open about it. I hope you hold onto this attitude for the rest of your life.
Food:
You not are nearly as picky as you used to be, and the biggest improvement has been that you are way more willing to try new things and most times you end up liking them. Some new things that you now like are:
- strawberries
- pineapple
- nectarine
- fresh peaches
- apple-berry apple sauce
- ground beef
- Kraft Mac and cheese--new found love
- pesto sauce
- BBQ sauce
- chocolate
- Taco Bell taco (soft and crunchy sans lettuce and cheese)
School:
You have mastered:
- All the letters and their corresponding sounds
- Numbers 1-25ish
- Days of the week
- Improving art skills (we're getting there)--at least now we don't look like Mr. and Mrs. Potato-head when you draw us.
- Writing many letters (trace all letters and numbers)
- Count backward from 10
- Improving cutting skills. This is hard for you and we take for granted holding a piece of paper and cutting it with the other. You don't have this luxury, but are doing great, nonetheless.
You still don't like to:
- Go to bed
- Wake up in the morning
- Take a nap
- Leave Grandma and Papa's house
- Stop playing iPad/computer
- Wash your hands after playing
- Come inside after playing outside
- Say goodbye to Joey and Gianna when it is time for them to leave.
A few random things:
You constantly say the funniest things, and I try to record them in this blog. You have such a sweet nature and people always talk about how polite you are. You still like to snuggle and voluntarily offer hugs and kisses without being prompted. You are silly and sweet, and we are so happy about it.
I'm sure there are so many things that I missed, but this letter is my best attempt at giving you a glimpse into what your life was like this last year. One thing that I am sure you know is that we love you so much, and couldn't be happier about the little man you are growing into.
Happy Birthday, sweet boy.
Love,
Mommy and Daddy
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