In mid-April, Quintin began attending Alegria Montessori School, two days a week, from 8:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. He loves school, and regularly talks about his friends & teachers. Last week, it was Quintin's turn for Show & Tell. The assignment included bringing:
Favorite Book: He chose Snoozers, by Sandra Boynton. This series of bedtime poems includes precious illustrations & humorous lyrics, many of which Quintin can recite by memory :-)
Baby Picture: See first picture, above (One of Mommy's FAVORITES!)
Family Picture: The second photo, above, was taken at our church's Wednesday night dinner, just before halloween last year (Quintin's first Halloween, he was almost 11 mos. old).
One object which is important to you and be ready to share why it is important: Quintin chose his small Mac truck (from the Disney Cars movie), a "tweet" (treat) from Mommy & Daddy (We got it on sale at Big Lots - now, Quintin refers to him as his "tweet"). Mac has room for a Lightening McQueen ("Speed"), Hot Wheels sized car in his trailer, so Quintin insisted on packing him (He would have brought all of his cars if he could -- Mommy had to keep unpacking the backpack!). I'm certain he gave the class a lengthy lecture on the awesomeness of his cars, lol!
Looking over the treasures Quintin chose really emphasized to me how quickly he's growing up! The pictures, all taken within the last two years, obviously, document the incredible changes that have so rapidly transformed our completely helpless newborn into a very independent & opinionated little boy -- It's breathtaking to consider just how quickly it all happened! I've recorded, for our family, a quick update on some other changes in Quintin (Just because I keep forgetting these milestones, and we only have one so far, lol!):
Height: 38 inches
Weight: 29 lbs.
Shoe Size: 8
Clothing Size: 3T (I swear, this happened literally overnight -- he went to sleep in 2T pajamas a couple of weeks ago & when he woke up, I couldn't find anything that would fit him lol!).
Cognitive Development: Quintin learned his basic colors (red, orange, yellow, blue, green) just before his second birthday (Mommy & Daddy got him finger paints & he started referring to the colors by name right away); pink, purple, black & white followed quickly after (He had a real love affair with the color pink for a long time, including the huge temper-tantrum over the pink Converse shoes he wanted from Target -- He agreed to red after Mommy pointed out that Elmo & "Speed" are both red. Great-Grandmother, who was buying the shoes, would not get pink, lol); he's just recently learned grey, tan, burgundy. He learned his shapes from a great open-the-flaps book given by Aunt Tsa-Tsa (Teresa) & Aunt Patty for his second birthday. He can count clearly to ten (including objects, usually, with one-to-one correspondence), but 11-20 get a little fuzzy lol. He's been singing the alphabet for a long time, but just recently started identifying the letters (He can consistently identify the following capital letters: U, W, M, I, L, H, A, B, C, E, F, K, O, P, T, V, X, Z). He's been able to identify common zoo and farm animals (including hippopotamus & elephant) & do animal sounds since before his second birthday, but has become much clearer in his pronunciation, and can now sing Old MacDonald Had a Farm with the animal sounds. He speaks regularly in sentences, although there is still some deciphering required lol. He loves singing -- his favorites (and the ones he does best) are: the Alphabet Song, Old MacDonald Had a Farm, Row Row Row Your Boat, & Itsy-bitsy Spider). His all-time favorite, most requested song is The Quintin Song, which Mommy sings for him: Mommy loves Quintin, Daddy loves Quintin, Granddaddy loves Quintin, Grandpop loves Quintin, etc., etc., etc.! If I leave anyone out, he immediately corrects me & asks me to do it again, lol! He also likes for me to sing The Holden Song, The Gideon Song, The Elizabeth Song, etc., etc., in which I have to list people (including Quintin) who love that particular child. This song can go on and on and on, obviously, lol!
Social Development: Quintin regularly waves at other children and, sometimes, adults, and I've heard him introduce himself to people ("I'm Tin-Tin, What's your name? I'm two!"), though if I ask him to, he usually doesn't, lol (He does have his Little People and cars introduce themselves to one another, which is pretty cute to hear :-). He does act out aggressively sometimes (especially, when he's tired - he recently had a terrible night in the church nursery with several incident reports), but is generally pretty good at expressing himself verbally. Quintin regularly uses please, thank-you, bless you, and excuse me ("'cuse me"), and is great about asking for things rather than demanding them. He shares with us in the sweetest ways ("Mommy, You wanna have some goldfish?" "Can we get that for Holden?" "Let's get M&Ms for Sarah!" "Let's give that to my daddy!") He's very affectionate with Mommy, Daddy, Granddaddy & Nana (lots & lots of hugs & kisses!), but usually doesn't hug other adults (especially not if they ask him, lol). He's mostly over the terrible separation anxiety, and usually goes gladly into the church nursery & preschool, or with other adults he knows well.
Physical Devleopment: Quintin loves running, climbing, and jumping, and is great at all three (this has resulted in a number of panic-stricken Mommy & Daddy moments, lol!). He hasn't yet learned to hop on one foot, and his feet get tangled up pretty fast when he tries to skip ;-). He can put on his velcro shoes by himself (and gets them on the correct feet), but can't yet dress himself. He draws lines, circles and crosses, and just last night, colored in each of the tiny squares in a cross-word puzzle a different color. He can also cut with scissors (the child-proof kind!) and loves painting, either with his fingers or with a brush. Quintin loves doing puzzles and is really great about figuring out how to fit the pieces together. He's used the "potty" and has long dry periods, but is pretty obstinate about sitting on the potty with any regularity (If we suggest that he sit on the potty, he usually says, "No!" while vigorously shaking his head!) We're not forcing it, and hope that peer pressure at school -- a lot of his classmates are potty trained -- soon works where Mommy & Daddy's wishes haven't. He drinks well from a cup and carries things well, without spilling, but still makes a pretty big mess when using a fork and spoon, lol! He's great at throwing, and can aim pretty well, but isn't able, yet, to catch (he loves running after things, so he may be missing on purpose, lol). He loves helping with chores around the house, and feeds the dogs, carries small bags of garbage, and asks to carry groceries. He also "sweeps," but not very well, lol!
We are totally, completely in love with our precious son, and are so proud of his accomplishments, big and small! We love celebrating each new skill, but are the most happy when we're just snuggling & playing together! We love you, Quintin! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
