What a year! Lots has been going on with my little man and we're so proud of him. This time last year, he started going to preschool for the first time. Of course he loved it! Caleb went to Shadyside Presbyterian Church Nursery School and we have been so happy with the teachers, staff and other students there. He went Tuesday and Thursday mornings- just long enough to give Mommy and Sadie a little girl time. While preschool was lots of fun, it was not without it's challenges. Caleb was expected to be potty trained for school and while we all had those expectations and tried very hard to meet then, it just wasn't happening. We did manage to make it through most mornings without an accident and continued to work on the potty all year. We also had some troubles adjusting to the classroom and getting used to being with so many other kids. Fortunately, Caleb's teachers were so understanding and came up with some ideas that really helped him find his way. Can't say enough good things about them :-)
He went from wanting nothing to do with the craft/art projects and painting to completing his projects right when he got into the room. He continued to love music time and story time and even participated in both the Christmas and Year End programs. We were able to make some friends and even got to go to a few birthday parties. All in all a great school year and he's really excited to go back.
Other developments for Caleb...
He's mostly potty trained or rather, half? He is very good at #1 but not #2. It continues to be a frustration but there has been progress.
He has gotten very good at dressing himself even though the outfits are somewhat comical at times. We're still working on buttons, zippers and snaps.
Caleb continues to enjoy helping around the house. One of his favorite chores is putting away his clean clothes. He knows which drawer they go in and while they don't necessarily stay folded, they're in the dresser and not on the floor so I'm not going to complain. He also loves vacuuming. He doesn't really do it but anytime I get out the vacuum he has to get out his toy vacuum and clean the rug with me. It's really cute and sweet that he wants to help.
The biggest news this year has been his learning to read. Now Caleb has been able to recite books from memory almost since turning 2. About this time last year, he started recognizing the word Stop and would point it out any time he saw it. Around Christmas, he became really interested in the sounds that the letters make so we started talking about that more and more. That was about the extent of what we taught him. In the spring he started putting it all together and would go through the books he had memorized (mainly Curious George) and would read from memory but would break down the sounds that made up each word. Somehow it all clicked and since about 3.5 he's been going through books non-stop. His favorite stories now are a series about a pig named Mercy Watson. He reads them over and over. They're short chapter books but even Sadie loves them. Mercy has become another member of our family. We've also read through Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little and recently started reading Despareaux.
He's starting to get into more non-fiction books so we've been on the look out for easy readers that are more fact-based. I have to admit, it's been hard finding books that can give him the information that he wants but not over do it.
With his learning to read, he's also gotten his first library card. Last week, at the library with Daddy, Caleb was so excited to go to the librarian to ask for help finding a book and was even more excited when she found the book for him and let him check it out. (It was a Mercy Watson book of course)
Caleb continues to love puzzles but it's been a little tougher lately. It's been harder for us to find puzzles that challenge him but that he can still do. In short, there aren't too many 100 piece puzzles. Tons of 25 piece and tons of 500 but not much in between so he's turned his interest to Legos, which are kind of like puzzles to him. He's really enjoyed the couple of sets that he has. He usually needs a little help from Daddy to build it the first time but then he reads over the instruction booklet and starts figuring it out on his own. He also loves to play games. Right now the favorite is Candyland but he's also been having fun playing a game called Chicken Cha Cha Cha and Hungry Hungry Hippos. He and Sadie have even managed a game or two on their own but Sadie has a much harder time focusing on the game (big surprise) :-)
Another new development...Caleb loves bowling! We went for the first time on Labor Day and even with all the music and crazy lights, different shoes, and strange people, he went along with it and had a blast. We went to Funfest. There they had everything set up so that bumpers would come up for Caleb and Sadie but would disappear for Daddy and I. They also had little ramps so that the kids didn't have to try to throw their balls but simply put them on top of the ramp and pushed. Caleb would cheer his ball down to the pins and then would have to run back to check his score before taking his second turn. We're definitely planning on doing this again :-)
We're working on coloring a bit more. He still prefers to scribble more than draw but we have discovered that he loves Connect the Dots and he's pretty good at them.
He also really enjoys Playdoh and drawing with chalk on the front sidewalk.
We still struggle with change but have made lots of progress there too. One recent addition that has helped has been the use of a schedule. We outlined a vague order of activities for the day and Caleb and Sadie get stars when they complete the activity. Things like eating breakfast, getting dressed and going shopping. Caleb looks forward to checking out the schedule each morning to not only see what's going on that day but also to look at what the day is. He's learning the days of the week and loves figuring out if it's a work day or a stay home day for Daddy. I have to say, this might be more demanding if he wasn't reading but I've been having fun planning out our days a bit.
Caleb continues to be a joyful little guy who is almost always smiling and giggling. He is also a very affectionate big brother. It's not unusual to find the 2 of them snuggling in his "house" reading stories together or getting into other mischief together.
It's been a great year and we're looking forward to watching our little man grow more and more! Happy Birthday Caleb!
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