This morning I woke up to a kiss on the cheek and a gleeful "momma, today is the first day of our vacation...so you can't sleep late!!!" Well, officially, I don't consider us "on vacation" until we actually leave home and arrive someplace else. However, it seems, for a 4 year old, vacation is more a state of mind than where you are physically...
So, I sat up and asked in return, "where are we going on our vacation?" Now, for those who haven't had a chance to see (or should I say "experience") Jake during this recent geography stage, you might be expecting an answer like "Florida" or "to see Uncle Sal, Uncle Michael, and/or my brother Cole. No, not these days... This morning I was treated to the state by state tour from NJ to Florida. Including the 2 states whose pronunciation I love to hear the most - "North CALORINA" and "South CALORINA".
It AMAZES me, especially in light of the fact that I couldn't put together a puzzle map of the United States if my life depended on it. I clearly got more than my share of math related braincells and just enough geography brain cells to be able to find my way to and from my house...LOL And he clearly got his from the donor.
A few weeks ago, we had the pleasure of attending a children's concert with Jake's sisters, Hallie and Baby Lea. Here's a picture of him with Ralph (the singer) and a couple of the kids playing at the playground. It was a wonderful day and we continue to feel SO lucky to have Sharon, Abby, Hallie and Baby Lea in our lives!!!
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Jake has been progressing in leaps and bounds this past month or so. (or should I say since he was born) He can now add two 2 digit numbers together (thanks to his Nanny) like 20 plus 20, 30 plus 40, etc. He can also tell you answers to questions like this one which I challenged him with on the ride to school one morning... If you have 50 slices of pizza and you need to give the same number to JJ, mommy, nanny, pops and yourself, how many would each of us get??? To which is promptly answered "10 momma, because it goes 10, 2o, 30, 40, and 50". Well, OK then!
One of the most amazing advances though has been his creative play, including drawing, coloring, writing and other art related things. This is the kid who would color for 5 seconds max only a month or so ago and now he's managed to blow through all of the paper I have in the house by stealing it from my printer, fax machine and even out of my briefcase, when necessary. He can write basically anything he wants to and I've been having him write out his Christmas list for Santa and continue to put things on my grocery list for me. At school, they said he writes his name on everything and always adds a "mommy" right next to it.
Speaking of school, I had Jake's conference a couple of weeks ago and they had nothing but great things to say about him (other than a little tattling that seems to be making it's way through the classroom and also some occasional name calling like... hippomapotomus face, which it seems does NOT go over well with the other kids). They told me amongst the teachers they call him Doogie Howser (sp?) now because they fully expect him to be attending medical school or at least college by the time he's 10. How scary is that? Heck, his college fund will not be ready by then!!!! Though, I guess there would be a pretty good chance he'd be getting a scholarship, eh? Then I could use that money to buy a cool new house...oh, sorry, I digress! LOL (And yes, Aunt Bear, you can use some to buy a new cyclo-cross bike...LOL)
Obviously, academics has never been an area of worry for me, but his early athletic endeavors, well, that's a whole other story. The good news is that gymnastics continues to be something he absolutely LOVES!! So much so that I've signed him up for 2 nights a week now. And starting last week, his "sister" (clearly he has a VERY broad definition for this word) Brianna has started attending Thurs nights with him. For him, it's like a big added bonus! We're still working on some muscle weakness, but he's getting better with every class. Best of all, he feels very confident out there and isn't afraid to try anything. Could not be better for balance and body control and self-esteem.
Well, that's all for now. We're off to the airport to visit family and Jake's adorable half-brother, Cole and his mommy, Tammi. Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!!
So, I sat up and asked in return, "where are we going on our vacation?" Now, for those who haven't had a chance to see (or should I say "experience") Jake during this recent geography stage, you might be expecting an answer like "Florida" or "to see Uncle Sal, Uncle Michael, and/or my brother Cole. No, not these days... This morning I was treated to the state by state tour from NJ to Florida. Including the 2 states whose pronunciation I love to hear the most - "North CALORINA" and "South CALORINA".
It AMAZES me, especially in light of the fact that I couldn't put together a puzzle map of the United States if my life depended on it. I clearly got more than my share of math related braincells and just enough geography brain cells to be able to find my way to and from my house...LOL And he clearly got his from the donor.
A few weeks ago, we had the pleasure of attending a children's concert with Jake's sisters, Hallie and Baby Lea. Here's a picture of him with Ralph (the singer) and a couple of the kids playing at the playground. It was a wonderful day and we continue to feel SO lucky to have Sharon, Abby, Hallie and Baby Lea in our lives!!!
.JPG)
Jake has been progressing in leaps and bounds this past month or so. (or should I say since he was born) He can now add two 2 digit numbers together (thanks to his Nanny) like 20 plus 20, 30 plus 40, etc. He can also tell you answers to questions like this one which I challenged him with on the ride to school one morning... If you have 50 slices of pizza and you need to give the same number to JJ, mommy, nanny, pops and yourself, how many would each of us get??? To which is promptly answered "10 momma, because it goes 10, 2o, 30, 40, and 50". Well, OK then!
One of the most amazing advances though has been his creative play, including drawing, coloring, writing and other art related things. This is the kid who would color for 5 seconds max only a month or so ago and now he's managed to blow through all of the paper I have in the house by stealing it from my printer, fax machine and even out of my briefcase, when necessary. He can write basically anything he wants to and I've been having him write out his Christmas list for Santa and continue to put things on my grocery list for me. At school, they said he writes his name on everything and always adds a "mommy" right next to it.
Speaking of school, I had Jake's conference a couple of weeks ago and they had nothing but great things to say about him (other than a little tattling that seems to be making it's way through the classroom and also some occasional name calling like... hippomapotomus face, which it seems does NOT go over well with the other kids). They told me amongst the teachers they call him Doogie Howser (sp?) now because they fully expect him to be attending medical school or at least college by the time he's 10. How scary is that? Heck, his college fund will not be ready by then!!!! Though, I guess there would be a pretty good chance he'd be getting a scholarship, eh? Then I could use that money to buy a cool new house...oh, sorry, I digress! LOL (And yes, Aunt Bear, you can use some to buy a new cyclo-cross bike...LOL)
Obviously, academics has never been an area of worry for me, but his early athletic endeavors, well, that's a whole other story. The good news is that gymnastics continues to be something he absolutely LOVES!! So much so that I've signed him up for 2 nights a week now. And starting last week, his "sister" (clearly he has a VERY broad definition for this word) Brianna has started attending Thurs nights with him. For him, it's like a big added bonus! We're still working on some muscle weakness, but he's getting better with every class. Best of all, he feels very confident out there and isn't afraid to try anything. Could not be better for balance and body control and self-esteem.
Well, that's all for now. We're off to the airport to visit family and Jake's adorable half-brother, Cole and his mommy, Tammi. Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!!
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