Freddie

At 3 years, 6 months:

Appearance:

• 30ish pounds, about 20th percentile
• 37.5ish inches, about 20th percentile
• Clothing sizes:  Varies from 2T-3T in pants.  Slim sizes work best, as usually 2T can fit in the waist but be too short.  Thsirt sizes 3/4 fits well.
• You're growing!  You've gained over two pounds and two inches in 6 months.  That's what Dr. G told me to expect for a year's growth, so I wonder what the next 6 months will bring.
• You're a pretty sweaty kid.  You're very active, so I imagine that's part of it, but you work up a sweat in no time flat.

 Diet:

• You're eating!  Not only have you recently tried a hot dogs, but for the most part you try everything.  I cannot say that you *eat* everything but you usually taste just about everything I serve.  I decided to no longer plan meals around your pickiness, and low and behold, it worked.  You can usually find something I am serving to fill up on.  And then there are some nights I can hear your tummy rumbling while we're reading bedtime stories.  This pains me, but I think I'm doing the right thing. 
• You're starting to eat breakfast.  I've been threatening to break you of your morning "special milk" (pediasure) habit because I think you'd be inclined to eat even more if you weren't loading up on liquid calories.  It's pretty expensive and high in sugar so it's got to go.
• You have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich every single day do lunch, and an apple. 

Activities:

• The scoot bike has been getting lots of action lately.  You have great balance, and you keep telling me you plan on asking Santa for a pedal bike.
•  You still love dancing.  We've been seeing some handstands incorporated into your "break dance" moves lately.  Along with something you call the crab walk.  Oh my.
•  You LOVE school.  Preschool has been so good for you. 
• Pretend play is by far your favorite activity.  You play in your kitchen, tend to your babies and stuffed animals, drive the boat (sled) around the house, drive the fire engine (play equipment at the playground) to put out fires.  It is never ending.  Your pretend play is gaining complexity and you assign roles to Hans and me.  I get to be the Dada a lot, or when we play school I am assigned the role of "Sam."  
• If you're not pretending, you're finding a way to be physical.  The sight of a new playground makes you giddy.  Your fear of heights is lessening and you are more eager to explore climbing on top of play structures.  Please, please, please don't break anything.
• Games are more and more fun with you.  Sometimes you are bothered by not winning and sometimes you have no problem congratulating the winner.  I suppose that is just part of being three.  You are a fan of hide and seek lately, and when Hans naps we're able to play Candyland and Go Fish.

Personality:

• You are pretty independent and assertive, although at school you tend to be a bit shy.  I have started to see a little shyness come out in certain situations outside of school, although your determination to not miss anything usually takes over and the shyness is stuffed down.  An example of this is at the pool you wanted me to go with you to ask the lifeguard for a kickboard, but when you saw another boy getting a noodle from the lifeguard you quickly raced over without me.
• You are very affectionate with me, Dada, and Hansie.  We hear lots of "I love yous" and you like to give us "pats" and kisses.
• You aim to please, for the most part. 
• You can get frustrated and tell me, "I'm so frustrated!"  I just tell you to take a deep breath and try again, and usually that does it.
• Sass, sass, sass.  But only at home.  Never ever at school.
• You are catching on to the art of telling jokes.  As Dada thanked me for supper one night (pizza), you pretended to put a phone to your cheek and blurted out, "Thank you, Dominos!" 

Learning:

• You are consistently reinforcing your knowledge of capital letters and I think you know most of the lower case letters as well.  You are showing awareness of lower case letters being placed within words and capital letters beginning names.  
• You are writing all kinds of letters and are gaining more fine motor control of the pencil.  The pencil grip has greatly strengthened because you love to do "mazes."
• You have started to do dot to dots and are so tickled to see the final product.  This has been a big motivator to learn your numbers.  You recognize numerals 1-5 fore sure, and sometimes surprise me with the others.
• Addition is on your radar.  You comprehend the concept and I've been hearing some simple addition problems from you as you look at your blocks, fingers, cars and such.
• It is amazing how much your cutting has improved in the last week.  You have become interested in craft projects and so your scissor practice has really increased.  
• You are able to enumerate without much issue.  Smaller objects on a page used to give you some trouble but recently I noticed you using your pencil to help manage this, perhaps a tip you learned in school.

Lovin'

• The tongue controlling cutting, and writing, and drawing, and even feeding the goats
• Cocktails on the rooftop, sans children and husband
• Fall weather
• Ealry morning quiet time
• Quiet time when both boys are in the same room
• Organizing long sleeved shirts and pants!
• Searching for states, cities, countries on the new maps
• Requests for a new room to decorate
• Halloween costumes
• Apple picking on the calendar
• Soups on the meal plan
• Boot shopping
• Shadowing a wobbly walker
• Hi Ho Cherry matches

Problem Solver

It won't be long before he opens two drawers to climb up to reach everything that's been pushed back out of his reach.

Hans Scoots

Nothing like having a big brother to show you how to do everything.

Let's make a scrapbook!

Freddie:  I've got an idea!  Let's make a scrapbook.  That's a great idea.  I need some squares and glue and some pictures. 

Yep, he lets everyone know when he thinks his ideas are great.  He'll also tell you when you come up with a great idea as well.

I have no idea where he caught the scrapbooking bug.  He has some definite ideas about what scrapbooking entails and it seems to mostly revolve around pictures and squares.

He asked me to write the title and I asked if I should write his name as the author.  I'm not the author, I'm the illustrator.   He wrote his name, attempting to use some lowercase letters.  Those little Es are tricky.  He drew, I cut, he glued.

Viola!

And then there's Freddie on page 1...

Mama and Dada on pages 2 and 3...

And Hans on page 4...

He seems to be getting interested in crafts.  He is starting to want to draw more, but really looks for any reason to use glue, scissors and paint.  And he's prolific.  Thankfully lots of his artwork is on the chalkboard or whiteboard so that just gets erased.  The other stuff gets displayed for a while and then I feel guilty about tossing it.  So I decided I'll start photographing and archiving some of it here.  Lucky you.  {wink} I'm tagging it in "Freddie's Gallery" and think ultimately it will be nice to see the progression of his "craft." I think I'll put this scrapbook in his memory box though.

My Name

Freddie:  How do you spell your name?

Mama:  M...

Freddie:  No!  Your OTHER name. (Writing an E on the board.) E is for Erin.


I am really enjoying watching his writing evolve.  Just some talking about lowercase letters and he's adding them in on his own. 

Moving Up Ceremony

Summer is over, and we're transitioning into fall.  A new "school year" begins, and for some of Freddie's classmates this means they'll be moving to kindergarten at a new school.  To mark the end of their time in preschool, his class participated in a "Moving Up Ceremony."  Every time Freddie talked about it he confirmed he wasn't moving anywhere, but his teacher talked to the group about some friends leaving and those remaining in preschool moving into the role of leaders, helpers, and mentors.

There was a concert to begin the celebration.  All of the kids enjoyed it, and I loved watching Freddie.  He did all of the motions and sang his little heart out.

The preschool class performed a few songs.  Obligitory video (he's third from the right)...
 

It made me giggle.  He's always singing these songs around the house.

 Each child got a certificate, but Freddie was most impressed by the "goody bag" filled with pencils, notepads, bubbles, stickers, and tattoos.  He found ways to use the phrase "goody bag" at least ten times that evening.

H-Man couldn't wait to bolt out of my arms and make himself a part of everything.  Something tells me the time between now and when they are both in cap and gowns is going to fly by. 

Long Live Louisiana

August 29th was a big day in south Louisiana.  Seven years ago we watched our city being overtaken by flood waters.  Charlie and I were newlyweds and expecting our first child.  We were both enrolled in doctoral programs. Our neighborhood and home sat in seven feet of water for a very long time before the pumps were able to dry things out. 

The baby wasn't meant to be and neither was my PhD, apparently (although I do ponder getting back to it).  I thought Charlie was going to want to jump ship and start anew on higher ground.  We did move to higher ground, just off Magazine Street, and started our family and continued our lives in New Orleans.  And that was without a doubt the very best decision for our family.  

Waiting for another hurricane to arrive at our city, again on August 29th, made for a very long day here in New York City. We weren't sitting inside our boarded up home with the genrator gased up and at the ready, but I still felt overwhelemed with anxiety.  

I got teary when Freddie's teacher and our doorman asked about our family and friends.  There cannot be any fretting with two young boys so I channeled that energy and dressed the boys in Saints and LSU Tigers garb and we practiced our "Who Dat" and "Tiger Bait" chants.  We listened to the blues, read southern stories (The Cajun Night Before Christmas gets read year round around here), and there were shrimp poboys for supper. 

South Louisiana suffered with flooding.  I'm thankful those we love were spared any major damage.  I am hopeful the next news out of New Orleans will be of the few, very few, days of fall weather that arrive each October. 

Lake Life

Fleece and lunch (with cheetos!) outside.

Driving the boat...

 Even Mama gets in on the action...

Buckets providing hours on entertainment...

Lake pedicures...

Sunning buns...

Waiting for the chipmunks...

Digging...

Lounging..

Boating...

Bug hunting...

Fooling around...

And yes, Mama got in the lake.  Twice.

Camp Out

Just when you thought things couldn't get any better at Pelican Lake, the boys set up the tent.

Freddie's been reading a few books about camping and sleepovers, so he had a a list of expectations...spooky stories, trading cards (whatever that is!), games, and staying up late.

Charlie packed up a bag, and the boys headed out to the tent at bedtime.

They spent two nights in the tent.  Freddie was beside himself with excitement each evening on the way out.

I got invited out to spend the night on the third night.  We eventually came in at Freddie's request (I think he was too hot), so I missed out on sleeping on the ground but I did get to enjoy telling spooky stories, playing go fish, reading stories, and giggling.

I loved seeing Freddie so tickled with being out in the tent.  I may even be brave enough to go on a more adventures camp out with my guys.  

Cook Out

Nothing quite like eating outdoors.  We had many meals outside and even got to cook supper over the fire.

It was fun, and the novelty prompted Freddie to finally try a hot dog.

He liked it!  He ate the whole thing!!! 

There were also s'mores.

Perfection.

Freddie thought the s'mores were just ok, so he stuck to plain Hersey bars.

Hans made sure there were no leftover s'mores.