And now to catch up Donovan! 5/26
Math Concepts: He can count to the twenties on his own, although he usually still starts at three. Sometimes he does one and two though. You have to tell him twenty, and thirty, and so on, but he can continue the pattern. He even did the forties once for me! And one time I handed him three crackers, and then put three in his other hand for his sister. He said, "I need four" and put an extra into his first hand. I was impressed that he could do that! He really just glanced down, saw that there were three, and added one to get four. Daddy counting him to sleep has really stuck with him. =)
June Pics and Stories:
6/18/13
Donovan has turned into a parrot =) It's so cute! He repeats whole sentences and phrases that he likes. He speaks very clearly and well! And he loves doing silly things to make you laugh. He still loves playing pretend, especially cowboys and pirates. While we were in Cali, Annie asked him what a pirate says, and he said "ARRRGH!" Then she asked what a baby pirate said and he immediately responded with a tiny falsetto "arrrgh." It was hilarious, especially since he came up with the answer so fast!
6/24
Donovan loves to sing! His repertoire is really impressive =) He doesn't get all the words but you can easily tell what he's singing. He sang Singing in the Rain the other day, one of Daddy's favorites! He sings the abc song, although he doesn't say all the letters. He also sings lots of Backyardigans songs, especially "What Can You Do With A Scurvy Pirate." (Make them walk the plank. =) He also sings Happy Birthday, to everyone =)
He does this funny thing where he holds your face in his hands and wiggles it a little saying "Honey Honey, Honey Honey." I have no idea where this came from but I'm sure it continues because it makes me giggle. =)
7/27
Donovan is doing so many new things! He sings nearly the entire alphabet, although lmnop get all smushed together. He suddenly adores the little computer (ipad), especially puzzle games like tozzle. He's playing monkey lunchbox right now, and can actually do it all by himself. He has to put together small puzzles, make eight matches in memory, find fruit that start with a particular letter, and several other little games. His motor skills have improved over the last month to the point that he can do it all himself. At first I would have to hold his hand so only one finger touched so he could really select things and drag them. He's also done the alpha pig game and picked the letter correctly every time. His favorite activity right now is playing puzzles. He got a set of four 12 piece dinosaur wooden puzzles for his birthday from Ann and John, and I think he's put them together at least once every day since then. He turns the piece and seems to be able to tell if they go together or not. I sometimes help him by saying, that's the dinosaur's teeth, can you find more teeth? And things like that. He often asks me or Serenity to play puzzle with him, and we sit happily at the little white table playing together. I love puzzles and I'm so excited he's reached this stage!
He still pretends to be a pirate a lot. It's too funny. I ordered a bookshelf from target and the box was lying down in the living room, and he started jumping off it saying he was walking the plank! He jumps a lot these days, it's his favorite gymnastics move at the moment. He also pretends to be a bear. I turned the secret room into a jungle using the leftover decorations from his birthday party and some green light bulbs. All the animal masks are in there and most of the animal related toys. He goes in there a lot with his jaguar, and Serenity takes her snow leopards. They have worn the felt masks a lot! Donovan likes the polar bear, and Serenity usually picks one of the birds or the jaguar. I'm so glad they like them. =)
We have started swimming lessons this week. I stressed over it for a month as Donovan recently became very resistant to bath time. But he loved it! The very first day he didn't want to get out of the water when class was over! He blew bubbles, and by the second day was doing that even when the teacher didn't tell him to. The only thing he doesn't care for is floating on his back. He's my swimming buddy =) He loves playing humpty dumpty, where he climbs up the wall and sits, and then I pull him in the water. And we sing all around the mulberry bush and swish him around and then I pop him up out of the water. And it wears him out to the point that he actually napped two days this week! Crazy cool.
I tried to explain to Donovan that there was a baby in my tummy, mostly to stop him from jumping on my stomach. He said, "Oh no, my baby!" And tried to look down my shirt to find her. Then he got out his noisy dinosaur and pointed it at my stomach, making it roar. I can only imagine that he was trying to scare the baby out. He also tried playing flutes for my tummy. It's hard to explain the baby will be in there for a lot longer!
July Pics:
