-- A Rough Patch. These last few weeks have been bumpy for Eli (and us). I think I mentioned a few posts ago, how all four of us had a stomach bug. Eli seemed to get the mildest case of it, but his has lingered and lingered. It has resulted in bloating, nausea and generally potty unhappiness. I took him to the doctor and she suggested laying off of dairy for a while. While helpful, the suggestion was devastating for him. He LOVES dairy. He drinks milk almost exclusively, he loves cheese, he likes yogurt and he loves cheese and creamy sauces with most of his favorite dinners. We've done the best we can, with Lactose Free Milk, substitutions and concentrating on other foods. But, it hasn't been fun. Fortunately, his milk issue seems to have almost resolved itself, and I'll be happy to have him back to his spunky self soon.
Possibly related, Eli's had separation anxiety at school ever since starting back after his super long Christmas break. He's never been extremely gung ho about school, but the mornings have never been especially hard. Yet, since Christmas, he's shed tears a few times and pleads me not to leave him each day. Thankfully, it's a little bit less of a process each morning. This week was optional, and out of the twenty students only about six have consistently attended, but I signed him up. Mostly, I didn't want to get him out of the school routine and lose ground again. His teacher, Ms. Via, said that she remembered her son went through a similar bout of separation anxiety right around his fifth birthday. No fun.
-- Emmi! The good news about school is that even by his own admittance, the second I leave he's fine. Then, when I pick him up after school he's usually bouncing to the car, glowing and bubbling over with news. Even though dropping him off in the morning can be rough, I know school's been amazingly good for him, especially socially. It's broken him out of his shell. When we go to parks now, he often will greet other kids and even initiate games.
Even though he's become more social, he will usually just talk about his favorite highschoolers when he talks about school. He loves Kerri, Lindy and Allison. I've offered to have friends over for a playdate, but until recently he didn't seem interested. Then, over the vacation, he started talking about Emmi. One Grammie day, he told Grammie that he LOVES Emmi and enthusiastically reported that he got to hold her hand on the way to the gym. A few weeks ago, I saw Emmi's mom when we were both dropping off and I told her about how Eli talks about Emmi. We hit it off, became facebook friends and finally, last Friday, got together for a playdate. It went wonderfully! Often I find that the kids can be a good match, or I can be a good match with the other mom, but it's hard to find both. I think with Emmi and her mom Niki, we both found a match. Emmi has a little brother Max and Emmi, Max and Eli played well together. Emmi also loves Keira. All in all, a good time was had by all. Here are some pictures that Niki took at the park of Eli and Emmi. Eli looks like he's working on his camera smile. :)
After the park, we all went to a cafe, where Niki snapped my favorite picture of the afternoon.
-- Literacy Centers. Being a teacher, it's always been interesting to me watching the kids develop. Especially of interest to me, is how Eli absorbs so much information, teaches himself things and practices his skills voluntarily. When I taught Kindergarten and First Grade I often used Literacy Centers. Literacy Centers were something the rest of the class did while I worked with a small group on Guided Reading. They involved all facets of reading and writing. Interestingly, Eli creates his own literacy centers. He loved writing his Thank You cards this year and has even asked me if we could write more, which we have. He also has invented an activity where he copies books either on to paper or types them on the computer. His latest fascination are crossword puzzles. If he's working independently, he will painstakingly look at the answers and copy down the appropriate letter into each box. Or if an adult is handy, we'll work on solving them with him. He even addressed all his Valentines cards this year, once I got him started he went down his class list addressed the card and crossed off each name as he finished them. Sometimes, I think he has a longer attention span than me!
-- Math. The boy has definitely inherited his Daddy's math brain. The other morning he told Scott and I that half of twenty-four was twelve. Then a couple of weeks ago, he successfully added sixteen plus sixteen on his fingers. I have no idea how he accomplished that since we don't have sixteen or thirty-two fingers! His math mind regularly floors and amazes me. A few weeks ago, Mrs. Via said he was doing division in school. She said that one of the teens asked him a question, he got it right and then they asked him a few more, which he continued answering correctly. I laughed and told her that I hope that she knew that I didn't sit around making him do math with me or forcing him to do flashcards. On the contrary, I just try to get him to play with me and get silly. She said that she knew, she could tell that he came to it naturally. Crazy stuff.
-- Amazing Big Brother. One of my very favorite things about him is what an amazing big brother he has continued to be. Even when he's being difficult with Scott and I, as he has been this past month, he's always sweet with Keira. He calls her "little." He is patient, kind and gentle with her. He will help her whenever he can without any prompting. He tries to entertain her and play with her and says to her, "Come on Baby Girl." I had a lot of anxiety about sibling relationships before I had Keira, yet their relationship takes little or no coaching or interference from us. It blows me away. We're so lucky. Keira's so lucky! They regularly hug and kiss several times a day, often for no reason at all.
No comments:
Post a Comment