Ages
It has been ages since my last post. I don't spend much time writing these days, and I haven't done anything on flickr in years, but I had the idea today to try to start doing stuff at my desk while O's sleeping. Flickr needs attention, big time. I think I put pictures up last May, and before that, when O was under a year old.
So now he's three. We just started swimming class 4 weeks ago, and gymnastics class today. He really likes them both, and he does well, except for having a tendency to wander away from what he's supposed to be doing if something else catches his eye, usually a toy or prop that's not in use.
People say he's got exceptional verbal skills, which I don't doubt, but I don't have too many opportunities to chat with other kids his age to compare first-hand. He loves stories, and he spends large chunks of time acting out scenarios with his trains or his playmobil people or his Scooby gang. He's fallen head over heels in love with the show Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated (Velma especially. You see, he has excellent taste.) So I bought him a set of Scooby gang figures and a Mystery Machine lunch box for Fridays, when he stays for Lunch Bunch at school.
Other parents of kids this age, how much playing with toys with your kids do you do? I try really hard to give him some focused playtime attention every day, but sometimes it is so hard to stay engaged when he wants to act out the same thing OVER AND OVER AND OVER. I start reaching for my phone, because scrolling Facebook is more interesting than iteration 67 of Percy flying off the broken bridge, or whatever it is that day. Or, he'll be like, you hold so-and-so. . . which means that I must literally hold so-and-so and not do anything else with the toy until he tells me to, or I get yelled at for doing it wrong. I tried a while back explaining that I could play with it the way I want to, but it didn't go over too well. I'm waiting til he seems slightly more mature and then I'll try again with that discussion. So again, more staring at my phone. I don't like staring at my phone. I just do it because it's better than staring into space?
Don't get me wrong, we do have plenty of good playtime where we're both having fun. I just have a little frustration about the slow times. :/
I am very impressed by kids his age who can actually control a pen well enough to make shapes other than scraggly lines and circles. He just doesn't seem particularly interested yet. His teacher seems mildly concerned, but he passed the pediatrician's evaluation just fine, so I'm not worried about it. He is asking to get the art stuff out more often in the last few weeks, and that's encouraging.
Next week if all goes well, we're going to Austin to visit old friends and meet new. I'm excited, and O is excited because I told him about the Bob the Builder toys that the new friend found for him on craigslist. Shh, I'm excited about those, too. :)
So now he's three. We just started swimming class 4 weeks ago, and gymnastics class today. He really likes them both, and he does well, except for having a tendency to wander away from what he's supposed to be doing if something else catches his eye, usually a toy or prop that's not in use.
People say he's got exceptional verbal skills, which I don't doubt, but I don't have too many opportunities to chat with other kids his age to compare first-hand. He loves stories, and he spends large chunks of time acting out scenarios with his trains or his playmobil people or his Scooby gang. He's fallen head over heels in love with the show Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated (Velma especially. You see, he has excellent taste.) So I bought him a set of Scooby gang figures and a Mystery Machine lunch box for Fridays, when he stays for Lunch Bunch at school.
Other parents of kids this age, how much playing with toys with your kids do you do? I try really hard to give him some focused playtime attention every day, but sometimes it is so hard to stay engaged when he wants to act out the same thing OVER AND OVER AND OVER. I start reaching for my phone, because scrolling Facebook is more interesting than iteration 67 of Percy flying off the broken bridge, or whatever it is that day. Or, he'll be like, you hold so-and-so. . . which means that I must literally hold so-and-so and not do anything else with the toy until he tells me to, or I get yelled at for doing it wrong. I tried a while back explaining that I could play with it the way I want to, but it didn't go over too well. I'm waiting til he seems slightly more mature and then I'll try again with that discussion. So again, more staring at my phone. I don't like staring at my phone. I just do it because it's better than staring into space?
Don't get me wrong, we do have plenty of good playtime where we're both having fun. I just have a little frustration about the slow times. :/
I am very impressed by kids his age who can actually control a pen well enough to make shapes other than scraggly lines and circles. He just doesn't seem particularly interested yet. His teacher seems mildly concerned, but he passed the pediatrician's evaluation just fine, so I'm not worried about it. He is asking to get the art stuff out more often in the last few weeks, and that's encouraging.
Next week if all goes well, we're going to Austin to visit old friends and meet new. I'm excited, and O is excited because I told him about the Bob the Builder toys that the new friend found for him on craigslist. Shh, I'm excited about those, too. :)