Playing Outside

Piper played outside almost the entire day today. She rode her bike and scooter here in the neighborhood. She played at grandma's house and drove her jeep and helped in the yard. We walked to the church, and played on the playground there. On the way back one of the neighbors came out to show her the bearded dragon she has. It was molting, and Piper got to take some of it's dead skin.

Painting Outside

General Update: April

NAME/ALIAS: AGE: Piper, 3 years 6 months

PSYCHOMOTOR STUFF: hopping better on one foot, seems very clumsy lately- maybe a growth spurt. For sure her feet are huge now. No real new milestones, just perfecting old skills.

COGNITIVE STUFF: I’ve noticed some different imagination techniques- for her at least. She is acting more and more like actual animals when she pretends, more so than just the noises- the real affectations of a cat or a dog. Amazing memory surfaces frequently. She is starting to question things on t.v. more and more, especially when characters are expressing emotion. We talk a lot about real and pretend.

ACADEMICS: Reading and writing growth in the last couple of months. She is going on pure sight words although we try to sound out words occasionally together. She is good with repetitive books, I’d say a level C right now. She points to words so I know she is really reading them and doesn’t just have the whole page memorized. Writing is hard still as there are many letters she just doesn’t know how to make on her own. She can write everyone’s name in the family without help, and a few other words. She has made a couple little books with pictures and words. We started working on telling time last night and she is spontaneously talking about and making patterns all the time.

CREATIVE OUTPUT: Is lately into playdoh again and asks to play most days with it. Is showing a bit more creativity in her designs so they look more like the real thing. Her people drawings are still pretty good, but no new leaps here. She also draws these strange but controlled circular designs.

EMOTIONAL ISSUES: typical 3 year old stuff. sibling rivalry. She is becoming more and more like me in terms of food issues. I try not to let her see mine- but she does all the same things I do. Her food can’t touch, she needs different utensils for each food item, food must be at the right temp. If it is supposed to be hot, it must be HOT not warm. Same with cold temps. I’m hoping she won’t inherit my noise sensitivity as she seems predestined to be as loud as possible. She is very in tune with my emotions though and tries to make me happy if I seem sad, turns down the t.v. if it’s loud, etc.

SCHOOL UPDATES: She did very well on her report card with the exception of social areas. The teacher commented that she has made good progress since she started though, so I am pleased. She has mastered everything else on the academic list (no surprise) I’ve signed her up for next year for two days a week again.

ANYTHING ELSE: Socialization is much improved in last couple of months. She plays regularly with kids in the neighborhood more often now, and seems to interact well with others at school. I’m waiting for a conference next week on this, as socialization is her weakest point at school, and was the main reason I enrolled her there. Oh, and she is pretty much potty trained at night now.

Pictures from Grandpa's House