I took Jared to the Doctor last week for his 6 year old well check. 6 years old! I can't believe how fast time has gone by. He is currently 48 inches (4 feet tall, 90th percentile) and 49 pounds (70th or so percentile) Jared is a kind, smart, silly, sensitive boy. This past year has been a big year for him. Some of his milestones included: learning to swim, learning to tie his shoes, learning to read, learning to ride his bike (well right when he turned 5), starting Kindergarten and many more. He and Lydia can be each others best friend or the person they most want to be away from. Sometimes I worry that Jared is a little more focused on himself then I would like but I hope that we can help him learn to put others needs ahead of his own, to think of others more. He will still often start crying when he is upset (did I mention he is pretty sensitive?) but I can see him trying to think of other ways to handle his feeling which makes me proud of him. He has come a long way in the past year or so. It is so hard to teach kids how to deal with big emotions. Crying is not a bad thing but there are some situations where I feel it is a bit much. I think he really thinks that world should be "fair" to everyone but his views of fair are not always the same as the worlds. He is a sweet boy who makes me smile.
Since he has been in school his writing has really taken off. I really enjoy seeing his work. The other day he picked a calendar assignment from school (they get a monthly calendar with fun little "assignments" and need to complete 2 - 3 each week) where he needed to draw a picture with a bat, pumpkin, and moon. He did so and added every other Halloween item he could think of. I loved seeing him try his best to draw things on his own. For such a long time he would only draw pirate ships which he does very well but I love seeing him try other things. He even said that art was his favorite class at school which I did not expect. Another days assignment was to write about his picture. When I would have him write (very minimally) before he was in school he would drag his feet. This time he chose to write about it and did an awesome job describing his drawing. He has made some good friends in school and enjoys going to school. It has been a really long transition for us but I feel we are pretty much there now. I am glad he enjoys school and his teacher. He loves doing races in PE and often finishes first which makes him very proud. He has been playing soccer this Fall (when it hasn't been rained out which has been most weeks) and enjoys it. I feel he places a lot more emphasis on winning than on just having fun so we are really trying to teach him that exercising and being active and with friends is more important than just winning. I am not sure he believes us and hope he can learn to be a good sport.
He is learning the Articles of Faith (has 1 - 4 down) and seems to really enjoy scripture study with our family. We have been reading the Magic Tree House books and he loves doing chapter books. We are going to try the Little House series next. He still loves Pirates and wants to be one again for Halloween. He loves our family movie nights and playing with my phone which is funny because he loves taking pictures, using the maps app and the weather app (my phone is pretty boring). He still needs to wear his eye patch for 2 hours each day and dreads it but has been a good sport about it. I wish he didn't have to but want his eye to improve so we will keep at it. Maybe by January when we see the Dr. again it will have improved enough.
Mark and I went to our first official parent teacher conference on the 21st. I was so anxious I had a terrible stomach ache and am so glad I didn't have to go alone. Jared is a good kid so I am not really sure why I was so nervous. We met with Mrs. Franklin and had a good conference. Jared is doing really well academically. He met all the PALS (first state test of the year) benchmarks for first quarter and is performing basically as if he was in the third quarter of kindergarten based on their benchmarks. Mrs. Franklin said he is doing really well with sounding out words and reading and understanding what he reads. She said he is a hard worker and wants to do well. Earlier this year he was having a hard time getting his work done in the set amount of time and she said that has really improved and most of the time when he doesn't finish something it is because he is very meticulous about his work. I didn't really expect to hear that. She explained that most kids just scribble on it and try to get it done but he tries to stay in the lines and do it perfectly so it takes him much longer. It will be interesting to see if this is a long standing habit. There were two main areas she hoped to see him improve in and both are very social. One is that he still cries when things don't go as he wanted. Such as if he wanted to do the listening center (his favorite) and it filled up before he got to do it then he did not handle it well. She said that he is coming out of it really quick now and turning it around (especially compared to the beginning of the year) and ends up having fun in whatever center he ends up in. Along with this he seems to only want to be with his friend Tyler. She mentioned that a lot of other kids want to play with Jared and try to include him but he just wants Tyler. I really like Tyler and am happy Jared likes him too but I really want him to understand that its important to get to know other people. Next year he and Tyler may not be in the same class or Tyler may make new friends and want to play with them. If Jared is ignoring other kids they will give up and then he will be sad and lonely. So we are going to really try to encourage him to get to know other kids. I know he is only 6 but I really don't want him to be a needy kind of friend of a monopolizing one. That never works out well. I am not entirely sure how to work on this but hope he can understand what we mean.
I asked her if he seemed like he was happy at school and he liked being there and she said she thought he was. I can't really ever tell when I pick him up. I am not an overly excited/emotional person. I do get excited but I don't really show it much. Maybe Jared is that way too. I really don't know why I was so nervous. I know he is a good kid and tries hard to do what is right. It is strange how well he does academically but needs to work a lot more on social hitting lI can't imagine what it would be like if he had started last year without this extra year at home. It is also nice to know that I really did teach him a lot and he is doing so well in that area. I hope he can have a good experience at school and not dread going.
2015 Birthday Interview:
What is your favorite color? Blue
What is your favorite toy? Blanket
What is your favorite fruit? Strawberries
What is your favorite movie? Any with Pirates in it
What do you do well? My morning work at school
What do you like to do with Daddy? Play with him
What makes you happy? My blanket
What is your favorite scripture story? Ammon
What is your favorite song? Row your Boat (alligator version)
What is your favorite animal? Raccoon and Cat
What is your favorite book? All the books
Who is your best friend? Tyler and Sam (Shaw)
Where is your favorite place to go? A playground
What is your favorite thing to do outside? Swim and ride bikes
What is your favorite drink? Sprite
What is your favorite holiday? Halloween
What do you like to do with Mommy? Play with her
What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Cereal
What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Ham, Potato and Broccoli Soup
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