Fishing

My son had fun with us on our fishing trip over the weekend. He loved reeling in the line as soon as we cast it out for him. He wasn't quite sure about the fish when we caught them. He didn't want to touch any of them. Can't blame him, I didn't want to touch them either. I definitely didn't want to stick my finger in their mouths to pull out the hook. And gutting them? No thanks.

He was so cute sitting in his dad's lap holding onto the fishing pole. Wish I'd had my camera to capture it.

He really enjoyed taking off his shoes and socks and throwing them into the water. Yep, I had to go after them and I was sure I'd end up in the water, but luckily I didn't. His shoes are now permanently soiled with lake water. I'm just glad he didn't decide to go for a full-on swim.

He loved being part of our first successful, as in we actually caught some fish, fishing trip. Maybe when he's a little older, he'll catch one too.

Drawing and Hand Movement

Permanent marker does not come off grout. How do I know? Because I live with an artist. My son draws on everything. Usually I can remove his "art" but last night he decided to take a black permanent marker to the tiles in the hallway. I was actually impressed that he'd drawn circles on the tiles (running over onto the grout), the floor, the stairs, and the back door. He used to only scribble, but now he's making deliberate shapes. Of course, I now have a permanent reminder of that on my grout.

When he was first born, the doctor examined his hands. I'd heard about the line thing, but in my mind, I'd envisioned some kind of colored line or something. Yeah, that doesn't make sense at all and when the doctor explained the common one line crease across the palm, I realized what a dork I was. My son actually has two creases which means that inside the womb he used his hands in a normal fashion. Many kids with DS only have one crease which means their hand movement is somewhat different and usually means they need some form of therapy.

My son can use each of his fingers and can pick up tiny objects. He can also grip a pencil, or, in this case, a permanent marker, and I'm hoping this means he'll be able to write easily when the time comes. I know he can draw easily.

It's fascinating to learn all these intricate details that I took for granted with my other children. Things I'd never considered, but that I've had to watch for and evaluate with my son. It's definitely a learning process and I'm sure I'll learn more from him than he'll ever learn from me.

A Puzzle

On Sunday, my son was playing with an unfamiliar wooden puzzle board. He removed all the pieces. Each one was a different shape. I watched him do this and then turned the board 1/4 turn so it was different when he looked at it. He grabbed each puzzle piece and placed it in the correct position on the puzzle board. After each placement, he stopped and gave me the thumbs up sign. I was surprised to see him put every shape in its correct place.

Yesterday, he was working on the computer and he was supposed to place the letters in the right place to form a word on the screen. Each letter was placed on a shape and below the letters there was the corresponding shapes without the letter. I watched him click on each shape and place it in the right order making a word. Now, I'm sure he wasn't reading the word or doing it correctly because he can spell, it was because he recognized the shapes and could match them. I think that's impressive.

He continues to surprise me. Today, he not only surprised me, but annoyed me when he found, launched, and then installed Norton Antivirus software on two of our computers. The problem? We use Trend Micro Antivirus and the two programs fought each other enough that it disabled both computers. I have no idea how he found Norton nor how he installed it since I have no idea how to do it, but he figured it out. He's quite the genius when it comes to electronics.

Yet, he's not potty-trained. He's a puzzle, that's for sure.

Starfall

Why is it that even my four-year-old is smarter than me when it comes to working a remote or the computer? He is a genius when it comes to anything electronic. I can always tell when he's had the remote to the DVR because he's set it to record cartoons. How does he do that?

He's also learned to navigate through one of his favorite internet sites www.starfall.com. This site allows kids to learn the letters as well as their sounds, learn to read, read simple books, and print out projects. My son is starting with the ABCs and he knows how to click on each letter. His favorite is when they show him how to do sign language for the letter. He loves to imitate the signs and he claps intermittently (which means he's pleased with himself).

Today when he got on the site, I tried to help him and he promptly told me "no" and instructed me (by pointing his finger) to leave the room.

I recommend this site for any kids who are just beginning to learn their letters all the way through reading fluently. It's a fun site. My other kids enjoy it as well. It's fun to watch my son while he learns his letters on this site.

www.starfall.com.

My Son is Not a Blob

When my son was born, I was worried he'd be a blob. Not so. In fact, so not so. I spend most of my day chasing after him, cleaning up his messes. One of his favorite things to do is to draw all over himself with marker. Somehow, he'll always find the permanent markers that I hide and use those because they're the hardest to clean off. Highlighters are also hard to wash off.

He also loves to draw on the walls, the floor, homework papers, and the toilet bowl. Yes, the toilet bowl. I didn't even know a pen could mark up a toilet bowl, but he's proven it can be done.

Today, he decided that the books on the shelves in the library were just too tempting to leave alone. Yep, I now have a pile of books, knee-deep, in my library.

He's also become obsessed with eating ice cream bars, usually my Weight Watcher ones. He opens the freezer, grabs an ice cream bar, and eats it as fast as he can before I can find him. He doesn't like some of the bars so I find those melted under the table, on the counter, or in the bathroom sink. I can't keep him out of the freezer.

He's also become proficient at turning on the computer and clicking his way into programs that he likes. He can manuever through programs faster than I can. On one online program, he can click on it and see someone do the sign language for each letter of the alphabet. He likes to imitate the person and it's really cute. It's not cute, however, when he opens my laptop and proceeds to give me the black screen of death, you know, the one where nothing happens and my only choice is to reboot.

So, yes, my son is not a blob and while I'm very thankful that he isn't, there are days when it'd be nice if he'd just slow down for a second.

I Have a Voice

Potty Training

I have potty-trained 9 kids. I'm not sure how it will go this time. I've read on others' blogs that it may take a couple of years to potty-train my son. I bought him a cute little Cars potty chair, but he doesn't seem too interested in it. Since he's my youngest, I'm not that concerned about it, but then I don't want him to start school still needing to potty-train. I would think he'd be embarrassed if he had accidents at school or had to wear pull-ups so I'm going to try really hard to get him trained before he attends school.

We watched a DVD today about going potty. It's Blue's Clues style and he seemed to enjoy it. I guess I'll see if it has any effect. I've never used videos/DVDs or potty chairs so this is all new to me. I'm going to be optimistic and hope it won't take too long.

If you have any hints, please, let me know. I'd love to hear any and all ideas to get through this next milestone.