RJ Plays Soccer

I have joked since Logan was born that RJ would be my soccer player and Logan would be my hockey player.  The city of Tracy offers inexpensive sessions of soccer (between 6 & 8 weeks per session) for preschoolers (and school-agers since that's what he'll be soon), so we thought we could let RJ give soccer a go in addition to his steady diet of gymnastics.  He's actually quite the natural and has decent control of the ball for a little kid and was the fastest one in his session (which makes sense because he's on the older end of  the age spectrum, but I didn't want him to be discouraged when trying the sport for the first time, so I went with the younger group that he was eligible for).

His soccer practices are really well run, where the coach has fun games for them to play to practice discreet skills, and most practices end in a short and friendly scrimmage.  I was really impressed and RJ enjoyed himself this month too!  

These pictures are living proof that I'm now a "soccer mom".

I think Logan will be starting soccer too next spring when he's old enough for the 3-4 year old session!

More soccer pictures from this month are here.

  

RJ Rocks the Monkey Bars

Earlier this month, I took the kids to Veteran's Park in Tracy.  It's actually one of my favorite parks because both structures are lower to the ground than some of the other parks in the area, and it inspires me to get exercise to get there since I put the kids into the bike trailer to go ( I could drive and be there in a few minutes, but that just seems wrong).  The kids love it because it has a sand pit and the spinney things that they run to first, every.single.time. The last time we went, RJ discovered that he can do the monkey bars! I credit the playground design (in addition to his strong arms from gymnastics) for giving him increased confidence to try them.  His feet were barely off the ground, so kudos to the designers of this playground for making a challenge for children that isn't so scary (for them and their parents).  But don't take my word for it.  Just watch the video.

We also took a picnic lunch that day too!

RJ Goes to the Ballpark

In June 2007 I bought some tickets to go to a Giants game but RJ was born so we never used the tickets. A few years later we felt it was worth another go and when Dreamworks was conveniently planning an event I picked up a couple tickets to take RJ to his first baseball game at AT&T Park.

This was just a chance for some Daddy-RJ bonding so we left Logan and Mommy at home. We drove into San Bruno where we hopped on a Caltrain into the city. I get to ride Caltrain free because of Dreamworks and RJ gets to ride for free because he's a kid. We know we had the right train because there were several groups of people with coolers drinking beer on the train.

RJ got the royal treatment at the game even though we were in literally the last row in left field. We had cotton candy, shared garlic fries and lemonade, and some ghiradelli ice cream.

The Giants beat the rival Dodgers as RJ got into the "Beat LA" chant a little bit and made it through about 4 innings before we decided to explore the park.

We played on the trolley in right field out by McCovey Cove and went into the mini-baseball field in left field where RJ got a chance to hit the ball -- and promptly ran into right field instead of first base. We'll work on that. We walked the full way around the park and checked out the game from every angle.

The CalTrain ride back to our car was interesting because both the SF Giants game and the SF 49ers games let out within 10 minutes of each other. It was quite crowded, but if you ask RJ, the train ride may have still been his favorite part (after the ice cream).

RJ's First Dentist Appointment

RJ had his first dentist appointment.  He was not a happy camper about going and it took a little while to get him in the chair (mommy was rejected, daddy, of course, worked like a charm), but he did calm down and then was pretty proud of himself after his cleaning.

This was immediately followed by a walk in the Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve,

Lunch with Daddy at DreamWorks,

A trip to the Bay Area Discovery Museum,

AND dinner and ice cream with Daddy in Redwood City.

RJ is 4

I realize that you might get a general idea of the kids' development from anecdotes on Facebook/Google+ (and if you're not on Google+, you SHOULD be), but I feel that an update on RJ's general development is in order as well.

Physical Stats:
Height: 43" (95th percentile)
Weight: 37.5 lbs.  (65th percentile I believe. I can't remember but I knew it was between the 50th and 75th)
Teeth: 20, counted at the dentist, no cavities!
Sight: 20/20
Hearing: Normal
Sizes: Currently wearing 4T clothes, 5T pajamas, some shirts are 4-6 or 5T, and we're stocking up on bigger sizes with sales, or second hand opportunities!
Sleep:  ~9pm-7am, no naps at home but ~1hr nap at preschool

Favorites
Favorite Food: Sugary Sticky Crap (which I don't buy, but he seems to always manage to acquire!), Shrimp, Sushi, French Fries, Chocolate Milk, Ice Cream, Carrots, Broccoli, Chocolate, Spaghetti with Meatballs
Favorite Drink: Horchata, Hot Chocolate
Dislikes: Cheese, Orange Mac & Cheese, lettuce
Favorite Book: Whichever one is the newest usually.  Currently "Peaceful Piggies Meditation"  Also, Magic School Bus series, Berenstein Bears, Beatrix Potter books
Favorite Toy: Dinosaurs, Sea Creatures
Favorite Color: Red
Favorite Outdoor Activity: Riding his Skuut Bike
Favorite Indoor Activity: Playing with Dinosaurs
Favorite Sport: Football ("Go Steelers")
Possible Future Occupations: Paleontologist, Chef, Daddy
Favorite TV Shows/Movies: Dinosaur Train, Caillou, Cat in the Hat Knows a lot About That, The Magic School Bus, The Land Before Time movies

Fine Motor Development
RJ can write most of his letters in their capital form, and some in their lowercase form.  His drawings become increasingly complex by the day and since it clicked that he could draw faces and draw things that he could cut out and use as toys (stingrays, sharks), his drawing output has increased exponentially. He is getting better at buttoning and unbuttoning clothing and working snaps and zippers, but often still gets frustrated and asks for help.

Gross Motor Development

I am really impressed by RJ's balance on his Skuut Bike.  He picks up his feet and zooms along for longer and longer distances every day.  He's even more advanced than he was when I filmed him in late June and early July!  He can stay upright on his rollerblade trainer skates too.  He is also taking his gymnastics class, where he has mastered the forward roll and walking along the beam, working on his bar skills and backward roll.  He is constantly in motion and we are working on his body awareness in space because he is seemingly oblivious to where his body is at any given moment, which frequently results in Daddy being kneed in the groin or me getting elbowed in the boob.  He can pump his legs when swinging and can climb almost anything on the playground now.  We are working on ball skills, mostly because we just haven't pushed him playing with balls all that much. RJ will be taking a session of swim lessons next week and already likes to blow bubbles in the water.  We might try soccer in the fall after his session of gymnastics ends.

Cognitive Development
RJ fully engrosses himself in thematic study and while I have been selecting our themes for the past year (transportation, dinosaurs, ocean), he is now taking the reigns and asking to learn about things that interest him.  He is now learning about bees since he was interested in the bees that pollinate our "bee tree".  We go to the library and pick out books on his topic, and read them and he asks me to look up answers to questions that I don't know the answer to, such as "What do baby bees look like?", on the computer.  His curiosity is intense and he asks questions pretty much non-stop through the day.  He seems to have a preference for learning about animals, even though just a year ago, it seemed that all he would ever love was transportation!  I really enjoy teaching RJ because he retains the information so easily and because he loves demonstrations and experiments (such as when we cut up grass in the back yard, put it in water and then poured it over a sponge, so he could see how baleen whales eat!).

Language Arts:  It is clear that RJ's mind is always working.  As he plays, the animals or cars or whatever have intricate conversations and elaborate story lines, which often come out in made-up songs!  At bedtime, we read a book and then RJ makes up a story jointly with one of us (usually Daddy).  His stories are often off the wall imaginative, but do have a beginning, a middle, and an end, a structure which has impressed his teachers at school when he managed to get his whole class telling stories during circle time!

RJ is highly motivated in language arts skills, as he speaks mostly like an adult with a few occasional pronoun or grammatical quirks, and is constantly rhyming real and nonsense words, telling us when something rhymes, what letters start a word, or making up his own words (mostly as silly names for characters in his play).  He never stops talking and/or singing songs, which is not ideal when we want to try and encourage Logan to use words, but we are working on teaching him to talk to Logan rather than talk around him, which helps.  On the plus side, RJ has taken interest in independently "reading" picture books to Logan, where he does a good job of teaching Logan how to name things.  In terms of his pre-reading skills, he recognizes all his letters in capital form and many in lowercase form, and with help can sound out some words.  He has an uncanny ability to decode what Lance and I try to spell over his head too.  Our days of spelling to each other are numbered.  Perhaps we need to start speaking French or Spanish, until RJ picks that up too.  He does occasionally ask me how to say something in other languages, and when we visited Quebec, we taught him a few key phrases, which he has since forgotten most of them.

Classification: RJ has been naturally classifying objects for a while.  He knows the basic shapes - circle, square, triangle and generally understands bigger/smaller.  He typically separates his dinosaurs not only by type, but also by what they eat and lines them up from biggest to smallest on occasion, making nuclear families out of the various sized sets.

Math:  RJ can count to 100 with help remembering the tens.  He can count to 20 independently, and can count objects with a one-to-one correspondence.  He has spontaneously added small numbers of things together (e.g., "1 ball and 1 ball is 2 balls).  Additionally, he is starting to understand the concept of "half" thanks to sharing toys of a certain variety with Logan and cooking activities (which he LOVES).

Sequencing:  He knows the days of the week and knows which days are preschool days. He also knows that his birthday is in June, but his concept of how long a month or a year is is limited at best. He only understands time in terms of the sequence of the day, not at all by hours/minutes/seconds.

Spacial:  RJ is still not very interested in puzzles.  I can occasionally get him to work on one with me, but he just doesn't have the desire to do it.

Emotional/Behavioral
RJ is an intense kid and still working on how to interact with people when he's frustrated or angry, despite his ability to express himself verbally.  His emotions are intense and we still deal with him hitting other people when he's angry or frustrated or not getting his own way, although lately I've found that he says mean things instead in some cases, which is a change of pace.

He also tends to have an oppositional approach to new things, which is frustrating when we are trying to introduce him to something fun and he pitches a fit only to absolutely LOVE the activity afterward.  He is best behaved at preschool, most likely due to the consistent routine.  We follow a routine at home too, because we all thrive on routine, but of course, things always come up.  His behavior is worst when he is out of his normal habitat, but the more I can prepare him ahead of time, the easier things go.  We try not to bribe him to behave, but we do try to encourage him when he is acting appropriately.  In terms of discipline, we are against corporal punishment of any kind, and still using the most natural consequences possible for infractions (e.g., if he takes a toy from Logan, then he can't play with that kind of toy for a little bit; if he doesn't help during clean up time, any toys left go into a basket and he can't play with them the next few days).  We use a cool off time for him to calm down, but we don't typically use time out as a punishment.

Despite his intensity with negative emotions, RJ can also be quite a joy to have around when he's being nice!  His teachers love how kind he is and how well he plays with the other kids.  He also loves Logan very much and likes to kiss and squeeze him, which, while overzealous and not always appreciated, is well-intentioned.

He's growing up fast.  I can't believe he will start Kindergarten next year!

Good-bye to the Sternods

 At the end of May, we had to say goodbye to one of RJ's best friends, Hayden, who moved to Washington State this month.  We are going to miss the whole Sternod family lots!

We set up a last playdate the week before they left.  The boys had a great playdate (actually, the mommies did too!) and I'm glad that RJ had a chance to say good-bye when we met up a few days later to celebrate Tisha's MA graduation with a quadruple chocolate cake despite Dylan being sick (poor kid!).   

We're so happy for them that they will be closer to family, since we know how hard it is to raise children so far away from any family, but we are also sad because they are such a great family to spend time with.  RJ has known Hayden since they were only 15 months old in the infant room at the CDC, and up until a year ago when I quit my job, they had spent much of their weekday time at the CDC together.

I have always enjoyed watching them play together because they are always so in sync with one another.  Their interests are well matched, and while they certainly have their fair share of mischief together (e.g., RJ had a streak where he would inexplicably throw Hayden's shoes and/or hat into the toilet at school and once egged Hayden on to throw his hat into the duck pond) and had the usual occasional disputes over sharing, they inspire each others' play and I think Hayden brings out the best in RJ.  We have tried to get together as much as we could this year, and perhaps our more sporadic meetings served as a good taper off for them moving away, since the day to day shock will not be there. 

I told RJ the day before his playdate so that he would understand why Hayden was packing up all his stuff.  I also wanted him to have some closure since we weren't going to see them for quite a while unless we make a trip up to Washington.  Telling him was probably one of the hardest things that I've had to tell him in his life, though.   On one hand, that's a good thing since in perspective, there are a lot of worse things out there that we haven't had to deal with, but it was also really sad, because he took it pretty hard and cried that he didn't want Hayden to go and that he wanted to drive to Washington with him.   

Maybe, we will finally have the push we need to finally take the (ridiculously expensive) Starlight Express up to Seattle!

DeLancey Family Winter Travels Volume IV: Winter Activities Edition

We were in Buffalo. So, we played in the snow.

We went Ice Skating with Josh and Zach.

We went sledding down a hill a little too big for RJ at Chestnut Ridge. He was not a fan of sledding there, but Luke and my Mom had fun (and so did Lance, Amy, and I).
We went skiing at Holiday Valley. When RJ got carsick 5 minutes from the resort, we really did not have high hopes for him skiing, but he perked up after a snack and ended up LOVING it. We had to carry him in kicking and screaming to eat lunch. He especially loved the magic carpet. He also tried the tow rope lift later in the day, but had a harder time with that. He loved to go down the hill, but he could not make the "pizza" to stop himself.
Then we found a sledding hill more his speed at Westwood Park. Even Logan went down!
Then the adults played a rousing game of Asshole the night before Amy and Luke had to go home. The next morning, RJ laid on the guilt pretty thick too. "Aunt Amy, why can't someone ELSE teach your kids?"
And on New Years Day, we picked up Grandpa and headed to the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, which was great for everyone!

Early December Pictures

We didn't spend much of December at home, but there is some photographic evidence of us being home for the first 9 days of the month.

RJ tried out his new (to him) hockey stick at the park with Daddy.

Logan tried a California Roll for the first time (and loved it). RJ reached across the table and attempted to steal my smoked salmon nigiri in its entirety, so I shared a little of it and he loved it and the yellowtail too. I sometimes can't get him to eat macaroni and cheese, but sushi he will eat without any fuss. (I'm not complaining though - it's an excuse to get sushi more often!)

Co-op was in full swing until the day before we left.
And we managed to get a few of our friends over for a last-minute planned holiday party! We all had lots of fun, and the kids had a cute little pajama party at the end before everyone headed home. RJ of course waved goodbye to everyone in tears. Its hard for the fun to end!


As always, clicking on the pictures will take you to the respective picasa albums (there are two this month - December 2010 and Holiday Party)

Logan's First Halloween and RJ's First Jack-O-Lantern

Halloween started for us on Friday when our little lion and zoo keeper went to DreamWorks to have lunch with Daddy during the annual DreamWorks Halloween party. My favorite part of this outing was when RJ walked up to Frankenstein's monster and asked him who he was. Sadly, RJ did not want to be Alex the Lion from the DreamWorks Madagascar movies, but instead insisted that he was Simba from Disney's Lion King.

Then on Halloween morning, RJ carved his airplane pumpkin with Daddy while Logan and I carved the Baby Logan pumpkin.


Finally, I took RJ and Logan trick or treating with our friends Ashlan and Zach in their neighborhood. In past years, RJ has been fearful of anyone in a mask and some of the decorations. However, this year, we explained that to make scary things not scary, that we just laugh at them and the scary goes away. It worked really well! He fake-laughed at teenagers in hockey masks, at witch displays, and at a tall Frankenstein's monster, amongst a slew of other things. He was also a very polite trick or treater, saying thank you to everyone AND sometimes asking very nicely if he could have a piece for his little brother's bag when the porch was not stroller-accessible. He was really sweet and really enjoyed riding in Zach's wagon with Ashlan (Zach was too busy speed-trick-or-treating to go in the wagon!).

RJ Goes to the Petaluma Speedway

As part of my at-home thematic curriculum, we took RJ to the dirt track at the Petaluma Speedway.  I wrote about it on my curriculum blog, Momma, Ph.D.:Applying Child Development Principles At Home.


In general we had a fun day that Saturday after getting a slow start to Petaluma (Honda dealer took forever to service my car).  We ended up finding their farmer's market, which had Pony Rides for RJ!

Then we had sushi at Gohan right before heading to the races.  RJ enjoyed his carburator roll (Crispy tempura prawns and cucumber, with tobiko and snow crab salad on the top for those who are interested).  I love that the sushi restaurant even fit my transportation theme!

I think my favorite part of the races was seeing Logan with his earplugs.  He looked liked he had Shrek ears!

RJ Goes Fishing

On the Sunday after orientation (September 2009) we went to the nearby Bass Pro Shop in Manteca.

"The 120,000 square-foot store...and a 65' replica of the world's largest tree (in volume), The General Sherman in Sequoia National Park, welcomes visitors...Massive rockwork soaring 28' to 30' high above the aquarium replicates Yosemite's Half Dome and allows visitors to walk under the waterfall as it cascades into the fresh water aquarium.

The store is insanely impressive and made my dad completely awestruck (and RJ tired from running around it).



We picked up some bait and some hooks for our fishing poles and took RJ and Grandpa fishing at Caswell Memorial State Park, which is on the Stanislaus River.

RJ loved running into the water at the edge, but was initially a little scared at going in with me and Grandpa. However, by the end of it all, he was loving the water.

RJ was also really good at reeling in his fishing pole - but unfortunately the fishies were not biting that day for anyone. It seems that he might have some more fishing in his future though because at age 2, he was actually able to focus on the activity for more than a few minutes. We'll have to take him more often now that we have the gear (thank you cousin Zach for giving RJ your old fishing pole!) and the river is only about 30 minutes away!

RJ goes to Yosemite

Finally!

Three and a half years ago on our first trip to California for a conference, we had planned a trip to Yosemite. That trip got derailed when Cheryl was diverted to Turlock to interview for some sorta teaching gig at a state school. At long last we chose a weekend for a camping trip to Yosemite National Park. It is only a 3 hour drive after all and was a free weekend to boot.

We considered this trip more of an orientation to Yosemite since we weren't really ready to do any hard core hiking. Even with the little we tried to do, RJ wanted to be held rather than walk himself and he's getting rather heavy for the backpack we have.

Camping was a big hit with RJ. He got a kick out of sleeping in a tent in a sleeping bag, at least at night. Naps were a complete mess because the tent was too hot and because he thought the sleeping bags were more fun to get in and out of and roll around on, which basically meant that we did a lot of driving in Yosemite so he would get a nap and not be a complete brat all afternoon and evening. He entirely loved playing in the dirt and sand with his digger and dumptruck. I think he also appreciated the lack of bathing involved too! For most of the trip, he had dirt everywhere.

On Friday, we mostly just drove there and set up camp just outside Yosemite at the Summerdale Campground in the Sierra National Forest.

On Saturday, we explored the Southern portion of Yosemite until dinner time.

We took a short hike through the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees until RJ declared that he needed to go potty just before we got to see the California Tunnel Tree. At that point, going back to see it wasn't happening. Maybe next time we'll get farther and get to see more of the big trees.

Afterward, we visited the Pioneer Yosemite History Center in Wawona, where we saw some historical pioneer buildings and most notably watched a blacksmith making stuff. I think RJ's favorite part was peeking into the houses and seeing the horses in their yard though.

Then after lunch from the Wawona General Store, we drove (after an aborted tent nap back at the campsite) to Glacier Point for some site seeing of Half Dome. Someday we'll be in shape enough to hike it to the summit, but for now seeing it will have to do.

On Sunday, we spent the morning packing up the campsite and then drove North to Yosemite Valley to see what all the hype was about (since that's where most people go when they visit Yosemite). What we discovered is that it's generally where the civilization portion of Yosemite is, as well home to some pretty incredible scenery, which gave poor pregnant Cheryl the itch to climb again. I think she's already picked out RJ's climbing gear for next summer. El Capitan has some incredible sheer walls of rock that jut out from the valley floor, which also contains the Merced River. We ate lunch at the Yosemite Lodge Food court and then took a nice dip in the Merced River at Sentinel Beach. RJ was a little afraid of the water after he tripped and fell face first into it, all while holding Cheryl's hand, but we quickly got him back in to enjoy the gold-flecked water.




In the future, we're thinking that we'll need more of a specific plan to include some hikes and that perhaps group camping is a better option for camping with kids. Setting up the tent can be mostly done by one person, except for one step, which requires 2. Cooking dinner over a fire also sort of requires 2 people - one to prepare the food and the other to start the fire. Neither activity leaves an extra person to help occupy the toddler in a brand new and exciting environment, which would keep him out of the street, woods, or neighboring campsites.