We took Jared to his well check up last week. Our pediatrician is so nice. Jared was a little nervous about going but not really. He kept asking if he was going to get a "stick". It was pretty much the highlight of the appointment. (The "sticks" are the flavored Popsicle sticks they give to distract kids or make it so they can look in their mouth.) Jared bravely got weighed and measured and is 42 inches tall and 38 pounds and doing well. We were headed to Boo at the Zoo after the appointment so Lydia was already in her costume and Jared was in his sweats and sweatshirt that his costume pulls over. We told his doctor was going to be a spider so Dr. Lorezell made the appointment more fun for Jared by calling every body part he checked "The spider ears, or the spider tummy, the spider legs. Jared loved it. We love him!
At 4 years old Jared asks "Why" at least 25 times a day. It is exhausting. I try to answer well but most of my answers just lead to another why. Eventually I get tired of all these why questions and ask him why HE thinks such and such is that way. Sometimes he answers other times he says he doesn't know and sometimes it makes him stop asking me why.
He
LOVES garbage trucks and wants to be a garbage man when he grows up. He also still loves "workers." Lately he has been into making up songs. Often when we are singing in Sacrament meeting he will sing his own songs which are pretty much "garbage trucks, construction workers, trash cans" on repeat while we are singing the hymns.
He really loves his preschool class. He gets super excited to go. I think his teacher is great and the other kids seem nice. In the last 3 months he has become so much more social. I can see how the other kids have influenced him as well in thankfully, mostly good ways. I always dreaded this because I feared that he would pick up the less then desirable habits of kids which I know sounds really rude but its true. Most of the "habits" are not so much habits but games or ideas which is fun. He often tries to get Lydia to play with him but sadly she has no idea what he is talking about. I am glad he is going but at times think I should have waited another year. Not because he is behind academically but because he does have another year before he can go to kindergarten. I feel like he keeps up and does well but he is just younger than the other kids. They are all going to kindergarten next year. I do wish I could have sent him to the first preschool I picked which was just 2 days a week and had a bigger focus on social interaction which is what he really needed, what I could not do at home but oh well. He is happy to be there. I started doing reading lessons with him but he was not that interested so I decided I wouldn't force it. We will try again in January.
He is very confident in the following:
Letters: all the upper and lower case letters and their sounds. He can write most of them, S 's are pretty tricky still.
Numbers: counting and recognizing them. He can count 1-30 easy but then gets pretty lost. He can count by 10's to 100 and can write out 1- 20 recognizably. 2 's are pretty tricky.
Patterns: He is getting really good at them. He can do most of the ones I start. I don't typically do more then 3 items. Lately we have been doing them with the fall mix of candy (the pumpkins and two types of candy corn) and he loves it.
Geography: over the summer I bought him a magnetic map of the United States. Each states is a magnet and he knows 31 out of 50 states plus Canada and Mexico. It is his favorite learning time activity.
He has long mastered shapes, colors and matching. He enjoys our art projects especially painting and still loves our bean sensory boxes. It makes the perfect construction site for his workers. Sometimes he loves the kinesthetic or tactile activities like our swamp, or shaving cream play or goop, but other times he is sort of freaked out by it (I thought he would love it all.) He is willing to try almost anything which I appreciate and think is more important. If he tries it and doesn't like it fine but I do want him to try. If only he did as well with vegetables.
I love seeing him learn. I feel like he has grown so much in the last 4 months, not just emotionally but physically. I look over at him and he looks like such a little boy. He is really using his imagination more and is doing really well with imaginative play. He is gaining more confidence in his skills and is a sweet boy. Although he does have a hard time sharing his favorite toys with Lydia and sometimes needs some alone time. He will often say "I need some deep breaths" (that is what we say to him when he is overreacting.) He is still incredibly attached to his blanket and as much as Lydia is a "daddy's girl"he is a "mommy's boy." We do love this little boy!
