JJ Update

Well, this is an exciting week for JJ because Friday marks the return of our tournament trip travels!!! If I might remind you at the end of last summer JJ ‘played hotel’ to reenact our travels from the previous season. He still likes to play pretend but the scenario has now progressed into him being a player! First we go into his room where he gets all changed into his uniform, which is one of his many jerseys....

He then proceeds to have his game which involves making shots on the little hoop that hangs over his closet door.

He sort of goes through a play-by-play announcement the entire time. I am responsible for ‘coaching him’ and drawing up plays. :) Then once the game is over (and you know it’s over because he usually yells out “We did it! We won the championship!!!!”) it is time to pack up his little game bag and get changed. He changes into different clothes and puts his uniform, bball shoes, and a few other items into the bag (just like the big kids do) and he puts his sandals on (over his socks, just like the KH hoops players do).

After that we usually take a ride on the couch to go out to eat (usually he picks the Olive Garden) and then we head to the hotel (Mommy and Daddy’s bedroom). We pretend to go to sleep and then wake up when it’s time to head to practice back in JJ’s room. And so the scenario goes! I think he would play this for hours if the rest of us were up for it. The problem is that this scenario is best if someone else is playing along with it, which means he usually has to recruit me, or Daddy, or Sam to play with him! Sam is usually the one that ends up playing the longest!!! :)

JJ is doing really well with his numbers. He likes to count out loud and see how far he can get. I know for sure that he can count to 50, and I think Jake and him have been working on getting to 100. When Jake and JJ were going to the state tournament games a few weeks ago JJ got a hold of the book-sized program with all the teams and players listed in it. He started going through it and finding the players that he knew and memorizing their uniform numbers!!!! Then, this spurred him to want to start memorizing the uniform numbers of the players in Jake’s program that he really likes! Jake’s been working on team rosters at our dining room table, and JJ would sit next to him and spout off his favorite KH players and then he would make Jake tell him their numbers. After a week or so of that JJ would see a number somewhere (like on the clock or on a house address) and then say “#15 that is so and so’s number” and he was always right! It sounds a little crazy, but I guess he has a thing for numbers. Now, when it comes to letters, not so much!!!! He knows his alphabet perfectly, and we have now started working on the sounds that each letter makes, BUT, he is definitely not as interested in this as he is with numbers. He just doesn’t get quite as excited about it. We have also started practicing writing letters and that has been very hard for him. He does not like holding the pen/pencil/marker the correct way (he would rather hold it in his fist) so that is the biggest thing that we are working on.

He can trace letters pretty well , but cannot write them freehand (except for J’s). I’ve also noticed that when I have him write free-hand he writes some letters backwards (like L’s, B’s, and C’s). I bought a little white erase board book that you can trace letters on with a marker, and then wipe and erase and it has been pretty handy. I also bought a letter tracing coloring book which we will take with us to the tournaments, so hopefully we will get some good time to work on it while we sit in the bleachers.

Let’s see other changes are that when we are out at restaurants now JJ often orders a cheeseburger to eat!!!!! I don’t know why I think this is so funny, but it just seems so grown up to me! I am used to him always ordering mac n’ cheese, so to see him hold a cheeseburger and take a big old bite out of it makes me see him as such a big boy!!!! JJ can also FINALLY hold the wii controller by himself and bowl! Up until the past two weeks or so, Jake has always had to help him so that he could get the release right. Jake would have him try to see if he could do it on his own, but he couldn’t ever time it right. Then all of a sudden last week he tried to do it on his own and was able to release it right time and again. So, now he is a big boy and bowls all by himself! JJ has also become quite dramatic in his conversations now and he will say things like, “Are you kidding me?!?!” and “You know what I am talking about, right?” and “I think we need to leave in 20 minutes so that are not late.” It’s just hilarious hearing these things come from a 3 ½ year old! Enjoy some more pictures!

Playing wii bowling all by himself.

"Hi Mom!"

"Bye Mom!"

Swingin like a big boy!!!!

Mowing away the last of the snow!

Sometimes they like to switch cars. :)

Watching practice.

And yes, he's still sportin his blankey!