Grandma's Observations

The last couple of days I've noticed that Nathan continues to grow, challenging himself. He watches things that we do, and by golly he will at some point imitate the behavior.

Here are some of the things that I observed more recently and today. When we were playing battle, a card game sometimes known as who beats, the six was puzzling to him. Later I realized that it was because both the six and nine appear on the card, and because he can identify the numbers, he isn't counting to determine how many are actually on the card. Understanding the situation, I showed him the six and counted the six items on the face of the card.

Often we make puzzles, and he finds the favorite part is to pull it apart and make a mess, for grandma to put together. We never get tired of this game. I have noticed that he is getting more familiar with observing how the pieces go. At first, I would make the puzzle and let him press the pieces in. Then I would make all but a few pieces, and he would finish them. Now we are up to three or four pieces left which he can accomplish without losing his patience. He always says, "I did it," happily.

At three, he knows when to wait for the computer, when it is ready to go once turned on, how to use favorites and click on. He can click and drag, playing solitaire. He identifies numbers and with grandma's help gets it right. He knows how to left and right click.

He is staying in the lines better and has very good control of the crayon. When he colors, he fills in more, instead of scribbling.

While working on additions today, we needed to place a sticker which had the correct answer in the box. I saw that it did not follow the regular counting sequence, and he did also. I could tell that he expected to want to place the numbers in order.

After watching the movie CARS, he tried to place the plastic container in the box it came in. He can now remove his shoes, they have Velcro.

Two boys were playing basketball this morning when we went out for a walk. One player let him hold the big ball, impressive. The other was shooting hoops right and left, and when we noticed his ability we also noticed that he was polite. He told Nathan that he plays for a team. Nathan picked up on that word and said he was going to play on a team too.

He will wipe his own nose, going in the bathroom to get a tissue, and throw it away when finished.

The pen has become interesting to him, especially clicking it on and off. He has great control and can draw a decent line to connect the dots.

He has learned to use the words, "no thank you" to his own advantage. Example: Would you like to use the potty now? "No thank you."

His vocabulary is growing and he uses more adjectives, Especially concerning cars and trucks. He knows all the names and what they are for.

Today he wanted to know what route we were on, because in his Cars movie, they talk about route 66. He knows his full name and the name of the street he lives on.

When we sit at the table to eat, he wants me to share, but his is "mine" (meaning just for him). We will work on that.

Today, I asked him if he had to go to the bathroom, I was told to leave the room. So, I asked him if it was to make a poo-poo? And being the honest person that he is, he said, "yes." We will need to work on that, too!