I am trying to catch up on some stuff before baby brother gets here. And one thing on my list is to type an update on each kiddo. I want to have a reminder of what all they are up to. I really hate it that I haven't been better at keeping up with their progress.
Daniel is playing baseball in the 6 year-old tike league. It's pitching machine and a whole new world. :) He played t-ball last year, but this is definitely different. They play every Monday and Thursday night. He is really improving and starting to enjoy it more and more. His games are at 6 and 7 at night which is a pretty tough time of day for him to concentrate. But he is trying. :)
He is doing a good job in preschool. This year has been a much better experience for him. I am SO glad we decided to wait another year before sending him to kindergarten. I really feel like he is ready this year. He can write his first and last name, knows all of his letters and numbers. Can write them all, And knows all of the sounds the letters make. He has learned SO many kindergarten readiness skills. He knows a ton of sight words, Is doing great with his math skills, and is almost reading! Yes, you read that right. He follows the words with his finger as he says them, can usually figure out what the words are either by sounding them out or looking at the pictures on the pages. I am totally impressed! He is also writing some short sentences.
This kid loves puzzles! He can put together a 100 piece puzzle in no time. And he also really likes legos. Star Wars legos to be exact. He is great at following the directions that come with the legos that show you how to put them together. It really impresses me! He also loves to play the games on PBS kids dot com on my computer. He also still enjoys his leap pad. He loves to run and play outside, but only in the winter time when there are no bugs. This kid has a real fear of bugs! It kills me. He is also a movie lover. Not sure he gets more excited about anything as much as he does watching a new movie that he hasn't seen before. And the kid also loves to talk. Oh my. His little brother even asks him to just stop talking and be quiet. Multiple times a day. :) We are working hard on attentive listening. And that attentive listening involves your ears and brain only. Not your mouth. He enjoys spending time with family and loves it when we have people over. And really hates it when everyone goes home. He also really enjoys holidays. He is even still talking about when the leprechauns came to his preschool on St. Patty's Day! Ha! He asks when his elf is coming back and what he is going to be for Halloween often, also. He really asked some questions about the Easter Bunny this year. He just really wants to see what he looks like. Just once. But he won't tell anybody. But me. :)
Last week I registered him for kindergarten. I can't believe that I am going to have a kiddo in school next year! I am pretty excited for him. I really think he is ready and I know he will love it! I have also met with the school speech therapist and I think he will do great with her! And some other exciting news...he is finally getting his 2 front teeth. They were pulled way before he came to live with us. I've never seen him with front teeth, so it will be an adjustment. And his speech therapist said that once he gets those teeth she can really work with him on making all of his sounds correctly. Another thing that has really helped his speech is learning to read. When he reads the words he usually says them correctly. The hard part is correcting old habits just in conversation. He is going to continue his speech therapy twice a week throughout the summer. He also still goes to counseling every other week. His counselor is wonderful! She is so good with him and is a great help to Joe and I. I'm glad that she will be able to visit his elementary school and help with his transition next fall.
He is definitely the most excited of the 3 about his new baby brother. The things he has asked me have cracked me up! After the first ultrasound we took him to he wanted to know why he couldn't see what color the baby's skin, hair, and eyes are going to be. He really wants the baby to have the same color skin, hair, and eyes as him. :) When we were going to meet baby Parish for the first time he asked me if I was going to go next. I asked him what he meant and he asked if it was my turn after Marianne to get my baby out of my belly. :) I guess he was picturing all of the pregnant people lined up each having their babies removed one after the other. Gotta love a kids perspective. When I explained that we still had at least 60 days before we would meet his baby brother, his response..."That's so long it's like waiting for Christmas!" We took him, and just him, with us to our last ultrasound. He was excited to get to see his baby brother again. He loved seeing his fingers and his face. Today he asked me if he was going to have to be there to watch the doctor take the baby out of my belly. ha! I explained that no, only daddy and the doctor could be in the room for that. He let out a big sigh of relief. :) I told him that he was going to stay at home until baby Derek was born. And after they gave him a bath Nanny and Poppy would bring him to the hospital to see me, daddy, and the baby. And that he would get to hold him. His response, "oh that sounds great!" The things this kid worries about! He told me, "well, I've never seen a doctor take a baby out of a belly before." My response, "Me either!" He thought that was funny. He likes to sit with me at night and talk to his brother and sing him "baby" songs. It is really sweet, but I'm honestly not sure where he got the idea because we have never told him to do anything like that. He came up with it all by himself.
This kid has definitely taught me a lot, been a challenge to parent, and tests my patience daily. But, I'm not sure what I would do without him :) He is silly, strong willed, loves to please, and loves me no matter how good or bad of a day I'm having. I know without a doubt that he was meant to be our child! I really love watching him grow and overcome obstacles that I honestly wondered if he ever would be able to overcome. That strong willed trait isn't easy to parent, but it has definitely come in handy for his resilience. I can't wait to see him be a big brother again. And I pray that he stays just as excited about Derek after he gets here as he is now. :)
Rae
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