Notes circa 2011-07-05

Grafton is doing well in his new pre-school class, and seems to have adjusted without much distress.

"Step in Time", from the movie Mary Poppins, is his favorite song (and dance) these days.

Walked a dog by himself while on a hike with his friends, Ivorie and Grahm.

Flew a kite in the park, with a little help from Daddy, but was able keep it aloft for a while on his own.

Finally has given in to eating pasta, and strawberries and apples (once again). There were certain things he just wouldn't eat, but he's coming around, and willing to try more things. Still a solid "no" to salad or broccoli on his pizza.

Can throw a Frisbee in approximately the right direction. Has a pretty good arm when throwing a ball too, though a very non-standard arm motion (kind of a side-arm pitch, with a half rotation of his torso); it actually amazes me that he can throw the ball in the right direction with this technique.

Enjoyed playing in a lake this weekend, with his life preserver on.  He got scared once or twice when he fell over onto his stomach and couldn't quite regain his balance, but other than that he was fearless and enjoyed splashing around on his own. Had fun with Dad, filling up a "lake" behind a sand dam, and watching it self-destruct after it was breached.

Now very capable on playground climbing structures, using his hands and feet to traverse all sorts of ledges, bars, ropes, etc.

He's increasingly more willing to hike, and is even willing to lead us on the trail now. Roots and rocks of all sizes are no longer an issue, and he can pretty much run along rutted and uneven surfaces without falling. We don't really worry about him falling anymore, or at least we don't worry about him falling and hurting himself badly.

Trying to teach him how to get dressed and undressed, although he usually gives up pretty quickly and tells us he can't do it. Tonight, he got most of his clothes off by himself (the shirt required some help from Mom), including his socks.

We've been trying to teach him his letters, so that he can recognize and draw them. Not making much progress yet, but he does seem to be able to recognize "G".

At Home Depot today, he remembered from earlier trips that there are "race car" equipped shopping carts, and asked for it before we even saw one, as soon as we stepped out of the car.

We can now usually ask him to tell us about something that happened earlier in the day, and he'll remember the event and tell us something about it (e.g, seeing a bear run across the road in front of our car). Or he'll just remember something on his own and incorporate it into his play time (e.g., I told him about how Mom was at the repair shop getting an oil change, and why cars need oil changes, and he explained to me how was going to remove the old gas from his car and replace it with new gas; well, he almost got it...)