Randomness

Dear Ace,

You are doing so much so quickly that it is getting harder and harder to keep up with you. Here are a few observations about you over the last several months:

In Words

"paper toilet" = toilet paper

"anymole" = anymore

"jacking jumps" = jumping jacks

"My not a...my a..." = I am not a...I am a...

"I'm ferstayyy" = I'm thirsty

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"You're teasing me, Dad? It's a joke? We're funny! Hahahaha!"

"The bug bite on my leg is my friend."

"Look, Mom! It's my friend! The millipede is my friend! Look, he's walking and I am catching him. I will take care of him, okay? He is my friend. I be careful with him."

"We're just hanging out, Mom? Want to hang out with me? Look! We're just hanging out, Mom! Daddy's in the office and we're in the kitchen - hahaha! I love hanging out!"

"Look! It's Jollibee! Jollibee is my friend." (Jollibee is the equivalent of a McDonald's in the Philippines)

"I say hi to the old people that live in San Miguel Village."

"I filled someone's bucket today, Mom! Not dipping. Just filling the bucket, Mom."

"And we don't eat meat. Some people eat meat and some people don't. And we know where it comes from."

"Daddy? We call people names?" (No, that's not kind.)

"Poo poo?" (Nope)

"Pee pee?" (Nope)

"Toot toot?" (Nope)

"Save it for the bathroom, okay Dad?" (Smile)

"Mommy?" (staring at my chest - Yes?)

"Some people have big ones and some people have little one?" (Yes, that's true.)

"And you have little ones, Mom? Tiny, tiny ones?" (Yes, Ace. You are correct."

You love to rhyme right now. You often say a person's name and then say 4 or 5 other words that are similar in sound. For example: "And I played with Marin Carin Larin Sarin today."

In Movement

- You can now swim without a life vest.

- You are now brave enough to wear your rock-climbing harness and climb up the wall at school and at the gym - all the way to the top, and without any fear whatsoever. You love to swing from the harness.

- You are trying out gymnastics because you are so agile. You absolutely love going to the school gym on the weekends and bouncing around on the mats, balancing on the beams and swinging from the rope.

- You are mega fast! You can sprint and beat kids who are older than you.

- You have started showing an interest in writing and like to write "notes" to us or for yourself. You can't really write your name yet, but you are starting to practice shapes and letters, experimenting as you go. You are good at cutting and get excited to cut pieces of paper into tiny pieces, which is always fun to clean up. 

- You are getting more particular about your pretend play. You have to assign each person a role and they must do and say what you want them to. This sometimes works out for you, and sometimes doesn't. But, either way, you still love to pretend!

Other

- You continue to love reading. You get very excited for Thursdays when you get to pick out a new book from the CMC. Your most frequent choices involve superhero or Disney princess books. Your face lights up when you realize Mommy or Daddy has also borrowed a huge stack of books from the library for you. (But little do you know that this is more for us than you - we get bored reading the same books to you again and again!)

- Lately, you have been tuning into peoples' feelings with deeper awareness. You will ask questions like, "Is he mad? Why she's crying? He looks frustrated! And she's scared?" You have also been talking a lot about death. This started before we tried to rescue the kitten in the park and we are not exactly sure how it came about. Finding the kitten in the park cemented your interest in the subject, though. We were on a walk and just about to enter the park when we both noticed a little orange kitten who couldn't move her legs. You saw my reaction and heard the hesitation in my voice and you were the one to suggest that we take it home to help it. We ran back to our house to get a box and we drove to the vet. You and I talked to the kitten all the way there, trying to comfort it. We stayed with her through an xray and through the diagnosis. We had to leave her there for a few nights as this was in the midst of our interviews for a new school and Mommy needed some time to sort out what to do as we could not keep this cat. Turns out, we did not need to be concerned. She ended up passing away and we had to pick up her body. You were there through it all and I think you learned a lot in our conversations. It is still hard for you to understand what death actually means, but I was so proud of the empathy you showed for this little creature and your sensibility in accepting its death as a fact of life. 

- Sometimes, you are brutally honest and sometimes, you lie every four seconds. While eating diner, you will often confess to hitting a classmate and exclaiming, "So and so is not my friend." This is great for talking about how to resolve conflict and for suggesting choices you can make, which you then repeat and try out the next day. We often know when you are not telling the truth because your phrases or sentences will not "match" and we will be confused. Luckily, you are developing your sense of what it means to be truthful. 

- Your sense of humor is immense. Your teacher commented on how she often makes sarcastic jokes that she knows her students will not get, but she says that you will look at her with this gleam in your eye and will sometimes giggle. You tend to understand little jokes that we make at home and you love to be teased and to tease us. 

- We love how you still love to be naked. You are young enough not to feel uncomfortable about your body, and we hope this never changes. In fact, you may even be too comfortable with being naked because you will often sit in your underwear while eating snack at school!

Oddles, boodles and toodles of kisses! Mom & Dad