More about Frankie at 5.5 (+)
-Frankie can write his name and all the letters, count to 30, do basic addition and subtraction, and he's beginning to want to sound out words phonetically. He's done it really well a few times, it seems to happen when he's not trying too hard and it was his idea, not mine. Funny how that works. I know one day it will just click for him and he'll be a pro. That's how he's been his whole life - he succeeds at his own pace. He can read a few sight words when he sees them.
-We are watching Sophie while Alison goes back to work to finish out the school year. I was worried he'd feel a little deprived because of the attention I need to give her, but instead he was sad on Saturday morning that she wasn't coming. He can make Sophie smile almost every time he tries.
-He can play outside with the neighborhood kids, and at my Mom's with cousins, independently. He's getting better at realizing he can't always choose what they play. Yesterday they had a great neighborhood water fight. I'm really grateful we have such good neighbors with good kids for him to play with. And of course for his cousins.
-He still loves insects and other slimy creatures, dinosaurs, and sea animals. I think insects are winning out these days. I will admit bugs are interesting. I will also admit I like them more as a picture then in person. I have learned a lot with Frankie, mostly thanks to library books. Due to his fascination with the animal kingdom Frankie has quite the words in his vocabulary: Metamorphosis. Carnivore, herbivore, omnivore. Nocturnal. Exoskeleton. Camouflage. Arachnid. Proboscis. Extinct. Amphibian. Habitat. Parasite. Paleontologist. Etc. We currently have a jar full of caterpillars undergoing metamorphosis in my house. Good times.
-He loves people. Especially his cousins, other kids, and his grandparents. But he is equally comfortable talking to almost any adult. He will tell whoever will listen all about his latest toy, or the bug or animal we last saw or collected, or our cats. Frankie is such a cool kid. It blows my mind. And people love him. Old people, young people, short people, tall people...
-Frankie has enjoyed every moment of preschool. He counts down the days to a preschool day. I love watching him run in when I drop him off. Sometimes skipping in. He has learned a lot and he loves all of his friends at school. He is excited for Kindergarten next year, more on that in another post.
-If Frankie gets to choose what we watch on Netflix, it is usually a documentary on wildlife.
(A caterpillar made from the Hullabaloo pads and crayons)
-His naps are more fleeting these days. We still sneak one in a few times a week, if he got to bed late the night before or if I can tell he's tired. When he does have one he still knocks out for a few hours, but he doesn't want to take them anymore, and I know that that's fine. (I'm not complaining, trust me, everyone always tells me how lucky I am that he napped for this long.)
-Two new notable sound effects: Frankie is close to mastering the Wookie sound that Jeremy can make, and he can recreate the frog croak of the frogs that live by us. Once we were down by the little creek trying to find some frogs, and after he made his sound they all started calling back.
-Frankie is creative. Lately he enjoys drawing on a blank sheet of paper, and coloring whatever comes to him. Or sometimes he'll ask us to tell him an animal to draw. One day he was using his blocks to make animals, and they were crazy good. He still likes to paint and play doh. But I'd say the crayons and markers are his favorite creating tools.
(The little bubbles that come off of these animals indicate the animal's habitat.)
-He has discovered video games. Sadness. He doesn't get to spend too much time playing them, but he would if he could. Our Wii has been broken since January, and I can't seem to make myself find room in the budget to replace it, so he often mourns that he can't play Mario Kart at home anymore. (He plays with Grandma and Grandpa Anderson, though, and he is getting quite good.) He also enjoys Club Penguin and the Disney Junior site, and various console games with his cousins. He is constantly begging me to find him a fun bug website, and thus far I haven't succeeded. Anyone have any ideas?
-Current Favorites:
Song: Can we say the entire Phineas and Ferb soundtrack that he got for his birthday? Sure, why not. Lately we battle over what music plays in the car. I need at least a few days of grown up music sometimes.
Movie: Cars II
Color: Red. Mostly because it's my favorite color, and when we play games he always picks the red token just to be a tease. Maybe he really likes it. It would do me proud.
Food: Still spaghetti and pizza. Pepperoni pizza to be exact.
Board Game: *Uno and his Cars Sorry Sliders game
Holiday: Probably still Halloween. But Christmas is gaining.
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*A great story that needs to be recorded involving Uno. Frankie was very obsessed with it for a few weeks. One day I came downstairs after showering and such and he had a game all laid out and ready to play. He had given himself all the special cards, and given me a whole lot of just normal ones. I explained that the way he had set up the game wasn't fair, but that I would still play if he wanted me to. So we did. By the time he was through all his cards I had 2/3 of the deck in my hands, but I called "Uno" on him so that he didn't win.
Soon we had to shuffle the discard pile, and I was drawing some special cards. Our Uno game has a wild card that gives you the option to switch hands with another player. Well, I played that one and told him I wanted to switch. Soon Frankie was hysterically crying, and me hysterically laughing, which made him even more mad. Probably not good parenting, but oh - the look on his face when he realized his setup had backfired on him. It was priceless. After a while I stopped laughing, tried to explain to him, and then walked away and told him I would love to finish the game when he was ready. We did, and hopefully he learned... something.
-This Year's Frankie Picture Collage:
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p.s. I have never had a harder time formatting a post. The line breaks and alignment are not making me happy. Bah.
