The B-Man

Yesterday, the Blake-ster was lucky enough to get to visit the pediatrician for his 4-year well child check-up. I am THRILLED to say, it was the easiest doctor visit I can remember in 5+ years of parenting!!!

The day before our appointment, I gave him a briefing on what was going to happen at the visit: hearing check, eye/ear/nose/mouth check, eye test (playing pirate), standing on scale, playing follow the leader with the Dr, and answering questions. He did it all, without a whine, whimper or hesitation, which is SO unlike him (or at least how he can be at times!). And he did it all, without promise of any gift or treat either!!! Made my day!!

From a numbers perspective, he's 39.7 pounds and 42 inches. He's 75th percentile in both, and quickly catching up to and overtaking Trevor, who STILL doesn't weigh that much!!

To top it off, he's really proving to me just what a 'big boy' he has become. School has been no issue for him, right from the start. I'm not sure why I worried so much (guess it's cause I'm a mom!). There was part of me that was also worried that he wasn't going to a Montessori style preschool, and how that would affect his learning. I really feel there's a huge advantage to that style of learning, especially for a kid like Blake who I think is a tactile learner.

He came home Tuesday with a great activity that they had done at school and that he got to bring home and keep doing. It's such a simple activity, that any of us can do at home with our kids. ANd it's an activity that I've never thought to do before. They didn't do it at the Montessori school that T went to for 2 years, and I don't think I saw it in my 10 years of teaching.

The activity?? Using playdoh to form the letters of his name. Yup, that's it. But for Blake, it's an AWESOME activity. He LOVES playdoh. He doubts his ability to use a pencil and to make straight lines, and he seems to make that a self-fullfilling prophecy (every time he tries to write if he makes a tiny mistake, he's SO upset, and then he 'accidentally' draws a crazy squiggly line ALL over the paper!).

The teacher in me, also realized that for kids who aren't sure what the letters look like, you can write their name and then they can make the playdoh match those shapes.

After watching B do this a few times, and show-off to Daddy and Grandma, I realized how proud of himself he is. In fact, I think it's given him new confidence; he wrote his name, unassisted, twice this morning and took it to school to show off!

So here's a video of it, just cause!