Three Months Later...

I made Bill go to the kids' evaluations. Yep, you read that right: they *both* had evaluations!

Gavin is hitting all of his milestones. I found out this week that one of his teachers is so attached to him that she doesn't like to put him down. He was also attached to her very early on. But this was starting to have a negative impact at home as he would scream bloody murder (no tears) just to have someone always be there talking to him or holding him. So we nipped that one in the bud this week. He is also doing things a little ahead of schedule. This morning, Bill tried to take him from me and he actually turned his whole body away from him! It was pretty funny.

Gavin is also a big-time babbler. He talks to anything and anyone that falls into his line of vision. I suspect this means he will also start talking early. I'm unsurprised by this since Gabby is always talking to him, and while this may come as a big surprise to many of you, I'm a big talker as well. One thing that drives me bananas with his teachers though, and thank goodness they are more caregivers than teachers, is that they have terrible grammar. They use random apostrophes to indicate plurals when they are communicating with us by newsletter and in the evaluation as well. Good thing they won't be teaching him to read...

Gabby is doing things that signify she's ready for kindergarten, even though she's in pre-school. I checked the MD state guidelines for kindergarten readiness and she was doing most of the things on the list already. She is, of course, going to stay with her peers for now but it's refreshing to know that she's ready when the time comes.

Her teachers told Bill that they didn't want to play favorites in the classroom, but Gabby is one of their favorites. She is also the smartest one in the class, while being one of the youngest. This is totally awesome news to hear. As far as reading goes, she can not only recognize her own name when it is written, but also "Gavin", "Mommy", and "Daddy" along with a couple others. She can write her own name and most letters in the alphabet. She is very assertive and loves to make her own choices. Recently though, she has started showing more patience and a willingness to wait her turn. That comes in very handy when I'm alone with the both of them and she needs something but I'm tending to Gavin. She loves to draw and paint and I'm really glad of the investment we made for her Christmas gift of an easel with rolls of paper, paint, and paintbrushes. We also have lots of sidewalk chalk to decorate the back patio. She is learning more coordinated movements too, and likes to dance; unfortunately she has Bill's sense of rhythm. Hopefully we can work on that one.

Both kids love being outside. I've found the easiest way to get Gavin to sleep is to have him outside for a bit. Gabby... that child has an immeasurable store of energy! She can go crazy outside for hours and still not go to bed early. And does not love to nap at home.