January 19, 2022

3 1/2 years of Wells

I'm not a huuuuuuuge half-birthday advocate here but Wells' half-birthday is my actual birthday so it's easy to remember and make note of.

+Wells is almost 5 whole months into preschool. I opted for a full-day preschool program this year for a few reasons: it was cheaper than daycare, I didn't find/see a daycare I really loved, it's a Christian school where he has learned a lot, and this school has no Covid protocols that I'm aware of. He's 3. He needs to see his teachers' faces because I don't want to create a speech impediment and he needs to be able to breathe and communicate freely. Truthfully, so many daycares in Kansas were getting randomly shut down last year due to outbreaks. When I started my childcare search in Missouri, I needed a reliable place that wouldn't be under threat of shutting down, and so I wanted to go as far away from the government-offered programs as possible. 

+I knew he'd be probably the youngest in his class when he started school but he was potty-trained and had a good practice run at daycare last spring for a few months. He seems to be doing okay with it...I mean, he's 3, and I do feel that I'm asking a lot of him these days; pushing him out the door at 7am, dropping him off at 7:30, expecting him to do all day of school (actual school, not just daycare), and then picking him up at 4:00. I am going to pull him out at spring break and we'll see what happens next fall. 

+Wells loves dinosaurs, Power Rangers, PJ Masks...I try to curb the Power Ranger thing because I think it's a little above his level. Basically, he loves anything that can transform into anything else. Go Go Dinos is his current favorite when it comes to toys. It's fascinating to listen to him play pretend. His memory and vocabulary has absolutely exploded and he often tells me things like God likes a kind heart if I yell at a dog. He is very focused on making sure the dogs aren't "hungry", which is quite the oxymoron. 

+He has discovered ginger ale and gatorade. Basically, it's what he will always ask to drink. My fault, I know. His favorite is still milk though. He calls milk "frozen milk" meaning, he wants it cold, in a sippy cup, on the couch, so he can relax (which really just means he needs to decompress after a day of preschool). 

+Favorite foods that he always asks for: macaroni and cheese, plain tortillas, grapes, popsicles. I know he gets a ton of treats at preschool so I find myself making sure we don't do a lot of sweet things for him over the weekends or at night. He doesn't really ask though. He always just wants "something to drink". He will eat just about anything in front of him, but if he's in a 3-year-old-mood of sorts, he won't eat at all. I don't force him. 

+Sleep: oh Lord. I don't know that this has ever really leveled out completely. He is in a toddler bed and goes to sleep just fine, but often wakes up once and will crawl into our bed or wants something to drink in the middle of the night. I've been reading a baby sleep book because I need to correct wherever I may have gone wrong with sleep before but, honestly, he probably falls into the sensitive category when it comes to sleep (from Dr. Harvey Karp's The Happiest Baby Guide to Great Sleep) and it just is what it is. He has always been a great napper, but he's given that up in the last couple of months. He'll still "rest" and sometimes nap, but I can't force him into a full-on nap the way I used to. I would say around December he gave up on the nap thing. And as long as he's not miserable, it's fine. I don't get nearly as tired as I did when he was 6 months, or 1, or 2 so *I* don't need the nap like I used to. 

+Looking forward, I was thinking about signing him up for soccer this spring but the season starts March 5th and ends by mid-April. It's still not quite warm here at that point and that seems kind of miserable to deal with snow, rain, and all that. Maybe a summer league? I do want to get him involved in something. Maybe swim lessons at some point again soon, but they don't even offer those around here, unfortunately. We might end up just relying on library story hours and playgrounds again for something to do. 

+I think 3.5 might be the perfect age to become a big sibling. He is very into taking care of his own baby (his lambie lovey). He cannot get enough of this baby bath tub. He's finally stopped yelling in protest if you mention a little sister. He seems willing to share now and we talk about how his little sister will get his crib and his rocking chair ("but she will fall out and we won't all fit"). We. will. see. how it goes, right? 





1 comment:

  1. Major props to you for finding a preschool that allows kids to have a normal experience. Forever my hill to die on.

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