Doodle is 5!

It is hard to believe that my first darling baby is five -- school-age, bike-riding age.  I haven't written about him much on this blog lately, which is not an indication of the attention he is getting at home. 

He is reading the level 5 BOB books.  He can sound out most words now and has a growing number of sight words memorized.  He is quite proud of his reading skills and has me keeping a list of every book he reads.  We do it by season, I just started the Spring 2011 list last night with Thomas Comes to Breakfast, a non-BOB book.  He can add and subtract in his head excluding 3-digit numbers.  It started when he wanted to figure out how old he would be when Pancake was a certain age.  Then he would subtract and figure out how old she will be when he's a certain age.  He improved himself and can do simple math on his own now. 

His knowledge of baseball continues to amaze me.  He received a baseball game from friends of ours for his birthday.  The game comes with a felt ball field and two teams of players in various positions (crouching catcher, ready to throw pitcher, runners, batters, fielders with their gloves ready to receive the ball, and an umpire).  Doodle immediately set up the field correctly.  Now he and Mr. D play with the game when Mr. D gets home from work.  Doodle is signed up for Rookie Baseball (as opposed to T-Ball) at a local league.  The season starts April 15th.

A few months ago Doodle was writing stories, well, he was dictating them to Mr. D who wrote them exactly as they were spoken.  Here are a few examples:

The Baseball Game
Doodle was going to a baseball game in Philadelphia so he could see the teams play.  It was the Philadelphia Phillies against the Mets.  Aidan got there in time.  The game started.  The Mets were up first.  The pitcher pitched and it was a fly ball, but Shane caught it.  Then the next batter came up to bat.  It was a hit; it went right through Chase Utley's legs.  But Shane caught it close to the dirt and threw it at second to hold the runner at first.  Then we met Maura.  

Doodle and Daddy brought nuts and cracked them open.  But that was no problem for Roy Halladay.  He struck  everyone out except the guy who got the single, and the Mets had to go back to the field. 

The Phillies got the lead by a single, then they got another single, then they got a triple to score two runs.  But then the Mets struck out everyone else on the Phillies, but they did score two runs.
In the ninth, Doodle wanted to go home.  The score in the 9th was 3-6 Phillies.  It was the last chance for the Mets to get ahead, but they just got strike outs and the Phillies won.

Then Doodle, Daddy, Pancake and Mommy went home and played all the rest of the day.  And all night long, Doodle dreamed of that baseball game.  The family the next day had a picnic.   The basket was filled with peanut butter and jelly, some carrots and cucumbers.   The baby had a yogurt.  They had water to drink.  Then when they went home, they took a nap.
The End.
Feb. 2, 2011

I'll post a few more of Doodle's stories in a future post.

He continues to be good to Pancake.  He hugs her when we pick him up at school (he's in pre-K five mornings a week), he usually shares his toys with her, unless he's playing with one of his friends.  The other day he couldn't wait for her to wake up from her nap so she could play with him.  They play nicely together most of the time.

Doodle does have an extremely annoying side.  He still refuses to pee when asked.  He always waits until the last possible moment leaving him no time to lift both seats on the toilet, and making it near impossible to not spray urine on the walls, floor and back of the toilet.  I have tried all kinds of motivation to get him to go to the bathroom well before it is imminent, but I've gotten nowhere.  He rarely has accidents, but a few weeks ago he had three in one week.  Now he's back to just barely making it to the bathroom.

He also doesn't like going to other people's birthday parties.  At first it was just girls' parties, but now it's anyone's.  I suspect it's because someone other than him is being celebrated.  What an awful, self-centered, narcissistic way to be.  I've tried talking to him about this too -- if people only wanted to celebrate themselves then no one would come to your birthday party because they wouldn't want to see someone else get attention, and it hurts the Fiendling's feelings when you don't go to his party because he invited you and he wants you to celebrate with him, etc. . .   He tests the boundaries with other issues too, but nothing out of the ordinary for a five-year old. 

In general, he's a sweet, kind, smart, athletic kid, who, unbelievably, will be starting Kindergarten in the fall!

Pancake is 2

My baby girl is not a baby any more.  She's a kid who interacts, has full conversations, knows what she wants and how to get it, either herself or by asking someone else.  She fully enjoys the playground now, climbing up the ladder, going down the slides, swinging and running around.  She is into pretend play.  She pretends to cook meals in her kitchen or at the playground.  She talks to her dolls the way I talk to her.

She put herself in time out the other day when I told her if she didn't leave the water off she was going to have to go to time out.  She said, okay, and walked off into her room.  About 30 seconds later she called out, "can I come out now?" exactly the way her brother says it.  The truth is she rarely has to go to time out.  I'm sure that will change in the coming year or two, but for now she's still pretty obedient.

She was extremely excited about her birthday.  Doodle at this age didn't know to be excited but with their birthdays so close together (back to back) the excitement in the house rubbed off on her and she would ask every day when her birthday was.  She asked so many times that she started telling other people that her birthday is "Maaahch firty-first."  She knows that she's two now and that Doodle is five.

She still copies everything Doodle does.  When he was having his vision tested at the pediatrician's office the nurse pointed to pictures on a chart and Doodle was supposed to say what each was.  Pancake repeated everything Doodle said, "cross cross, heart heart, teacup teacup."  Once the nurse pointed to a circle and Doodle took a moment to answer and Pancake blurted out, "circle!"  I guess her vision is 20/20 too.

She knows what things she is not supposed to do and will do them and deliberately hide them from me.  For example, she'll go into her crib and grab her pacifier.  She'll keep it in while she plays by herself in her room.  As soon as I come to check on her she'll either whip it out of her mouth or leave it in and give me a sly look saying, "I'm going to sleep now."

The other day she was quiet while I was busy doing something.  I was happy to have the peace while I worked, but of course, the silence meant she was up to no good.  I found a pile of half chewed gum, a puddle of saliva, and wrappers on the kitchen counter.  I reprimanded her and she said, "I didn't swallow, I threw it away."  A mantra she hears me tell her brother.

She knows many opposites.  She says, "Is it raining today?"  And I say, "Yes."  She says, "It's raining, not sunny today."  Or she says, "It's cold, not hot."  Or, "It's not your birthday, it's my birthday."  Or, "I'm not tired, I awake!"

Her hair is wavy and long and full.  I wish I had hair like hers.  I'll post a picture of it from the back.  She asks me to "play Josh Ritter" quite often, a request I almost always oblige. Right now she is pulling every CD off of our rack, looking at each one and saying, "Is this Josh Ritter?  No." and putting each back.

In the hour before we had to leave for their well visits with their pediatrician Doodle was crying, fearful of the vaccinations he knew he would be getting.  Pancake patted his legs and said, "It's okay, Doodle, Pancake is here."

She's a darling and a sweetie pie.