All is well at the White House. Jackson is doing great getting his school work done these days and for that, I am thankful. I think he's very motivated to finish during the day because he's eager to play with friends that are tracked out right now. Whatever the reasons, I will gladly take it! Additionally, Jackson is doing very well with his reading. We are meeting with his tutor, Ms. Lisa, next week to go over his progress but she says he's doing great. I sat in on one of his sessions last week and I was so impressed with how he's progressed and what he's learned when it comes to spelling rules. Barton Reading and Spelling focuses on reading, spelling, and writing. Each level of Barton has different spelling rules. For example: Floss Rule- One syllable word, ending in a F,L,S or a Z, you need to double that letter at the end. He's learned little tricks to help him with reading and spelling. In addition, Jackson has moved from a child who hated writing to one who journals every day! We've certainly taken some baby steps but I'm just so thankful when I look at how far we've come together. I'm often reminded of a quote by Dr. Sears' which I first read when Jackson was a toddler:
"The conduct of a growing child is full of undesirable and desirable behaviors -- weeds and flowers. Given good nurturing, flowers grow so well you hardly notice the weeds. But often these flowers wilt at certain seasons and the weeds become more noticeable. If you just wait until that season is over, the weeds subside, and the flowers bloom again -- sometimes so beautifully that you forget the weeds are even there. Sometimes the weeds grow more quickly than the flowers, and you have to pull them out before they take over. So go the behaviors of a growing child."
What was true when Jackson was a toddler is still true today! Some days, it's easy to see the weeds over the flowers and some days, it's easier to wait patiently for the flowers to bloom.
Well, I think it's probably about time for me to post the quote on my refrigerator again because we have a full-fledged toddler in the house. He's wonderful and most days, fairly easy to parent. I'm sure that we'll need reminders from time to time about the weeds showing up in our beautiful garden. Sawyer had his first meltdown last week. He wanted to go outside with the basketball but it was dark. Eventually, Webb and I both had a billiant thought. Why not let Sawyer go outside and see that it was too dark to play? We did just that and he mostly calmed down a few minutes before crashing hard, for bed. His tantrum made us all very tired. Again, welcome to toddlerhood!
Sawyer had a check-up this past week and they confirmed that he's doing great. He is finally moving up in the charts away from the 10 percentile. He's now in the 25th-50th in height and 25th in weight. His head is still above average. They say that's typical of toddlers but I think he comes from a family with large noggins. That's a good thing though, right!
Sawyer loves to dance, sing, and play outside. His favorite things right now include popcorn, balls, and balloons. Did I mention that he really really loves balloons? He's fallen asleep a few times with a balloon in hand. No worries, he's not in a crib with one. He just loves living on the edge I guess since toddlers aren't really suppose to have balloons or popcorn.
We pulled out the little potties last month and Sawyer enjoys using them mostly as step stools. He decided that he'd rather stand on one and "pee pee" in the big potty. He's a ways from potty training but it's pretty neat when we ask, "You wanna go pee pee in the potty?" and he takes off running. Maybe our potty training days will be a little easier once they get here.
Well, the big boys are off to the batting cage. In less than a month, Spring ball starts. The temperatures this weekend are predicted to be in the upper 60's. I think we're getting another little taste of spring this January. No complaints here!
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| Hanging out |
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| Playing with brother's old pirate ship |
I LOVE to see Sawyer dance! And way to go, Jackson, on the schoolwork progress! You know, when I taught Anderson in 5th grade, I realized he had been taught all of those spelling rules, and they even helped me! :) Why wasn't I ever taught them? Anderson knew the rules and then the rule-breaker words, and I found them to be so helpful.
ReplyDeleteHe LOVES to dance, especially on our living room coffee table. Life is never dull around here with two boys, you know!
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