Monday, September 1, 2014

Ryan: 4 Years, 11 Months

Ryan transitioned well to a new daycare this month, although he misses his old daycare provider and her kids a lot! He is having fun at the new place, though, and really enjoying making crafts, baking, playing outside, watching the puppies, building with blocks, and coloring a lot. He has started to skip afternoon naps most weekdays even though the rest for a while on couches in the afternoon. Preschool starts soon and he was excited after going to his Open House and having a home visit from his teachers. He definitely talks their ear off but they said they enjoy his stories and his willingness to "share facts he knows" about whatever they are talking about. 
He still has a big interest in science and nature and we love the variety of Usborne and other science books available at the library. Next month we are going to be starting the "1000 books by Kindergarten" program through the local library. Even though I'm fairly certain we've already attained this goal, it will be fun to see if we can do it again before he enters school next Fall.  He is also starting to understand math concepts and can do basic addition and subtraction word problems (usually using his fingers to help). A few books we've liked for this include Bedtime Math and Usbrone's First Picture Math, but I would only recommend if they are showing an interest and asking questions--don't force it!

He is also into imaginative play with various figures, usually involving the Angry Birds from his Knock on Wood game and characters from Jake and the Neverland Pirates (although he never chooses to watch the show anymore). Sometimes his DC Super Hero friends also get involved. He also likes to put the Angry Birds into various vehicles (Batmobile, Spiderman car, etc.) to create his own "Angry Birds Go!" characters. (Disclaimer: These are Amazon affiliate links, but I just wanted a good reference for what toys an almost-5-year-old boy is into, in case this helps anyone else, too).

Another thing that's relatively new is his attachment to a stuffed Mickey Mouse he's been "borrowing" from Adam's mom since the 4th of July sleepover. He takes it everywhere (it has to stay in the vehicle but sometimes he straps it in and sets up a book for Mickey to read while we are away from the van), sleeps with it, and genuinely plays with it every day. He has had several stuffed animals but hasn't been attached to any of them in the past year or two. He's even graciously given up his Curious George and Moosie to Cohen (which Cohen loves).
He is growing a lot and seems to be pretty tall for his age. He had a checkup this month before preschool and is in the 92% (46.25") for height and 87% for weight (45.5 lbs). He wears many size 4 clothes yet in shorts and tees, but needs size 5 for pants and sleeves to be long enough. He is also just getting into size 12 shoes. He's not terribly picky on clothes and will get dressed in whatever we've laid out the night before. But, I do have to take him shopping to try things on or ask his opinion when ordering online now.  Thankfully, he loved the  pajamas I got him after my Boston trip--guess you can't go wrong with Batman!

Ryan is looking forward to preschool starting, football concession stands, Pumpkin Land, and his birthday only 1 month away!




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